Bulgaria's goods transported by land transport increased by 34.2% year on year in the first quarter of 201, according to the country's National Statistical Institute.

A growth was registered in both national and international carriages by 31.3 and by 40.5% respectively. In the road freight transport the increase of the goods carried was 2 948.6 thousand tons, representing 56.0% of the total growth.

In the first quarter of the year, Bulgaria's transport performance, measured in tonne-kilometres, reached 6 053.2 million km, or 32.7% more than the first quarter of 2010, mainly due to the increased volume by 41.5% of the international carriages. The biggest rose (by 38.6%) was observed in the road freight transport and the lowest (by 2.3%) in the railway transport.

For the same period, the passengers transported by land transport were 126 975.5 thousand or by 7.8% less than the first quarter of 2010. The international carriages rose by 9.7%, but the low share (0.2%) in the structure of the passengers carried did not influence the total trend. The number of passengers transported by the bus fell by 10 714.3 thousand, while in the railway transport the passengers decreased by 76.3 thousand.

The transport performance in the first quarter of 2011 reached 2 793.3 million passengers-kilometers and compared to the corresponding period of 2010 decreased by 4.4%. In the international and as well in the national carriages a decline was registered.

In international transport, despite of the growth of the transported passengers, the transport performance fell by 3.5%, due to the decreased average distance traveled (from 985 km in the first three months of 2010 to 866 km in the first quarter of this year).