The International Union of Combined Rail-Road Transport (UIRR) industry association characterized 2023 as an “annus horribilis.” “The sharp decline of European Combined Transport performance accelerated between July and September of this year to −16.85%. The decline exceeds the 14.67% historic quarterly contraction suffered during Q2. 2020 with the worst COVID lockdowns in Europe,” UIRR President Ralf-Charley Schultze wrote today in Combined Transport, the association’s newsletter.