New figures from Dutch statistics office the CBS, show lorries from the Netherlands made the second highest number of European border crossings last year.

This means, says public broadcaster NOS, that Dutch hauliers will be hard hit by extra border controls in the Schengen area, originally an area of free movement across most of Europe.

CBS figures show that lorries from Poland make the most European border crossings to deliver goods (17.8%), followed by trucks from the Netherlands (13.4%) and Germany (13%).

Last year, Dutch lorries made around 20,000 deliveries a day, crossing borders 7.4 million times. There are 10,000 deliveries crossing the Dutch borders daily, and more than 80% of road exports from the Netherlands go to Germany and Belgium. The next most common destinations are France and Great Britain.

Some freight companies have already complained about delays caused by additional border controls. NOS reports that trade organisations TLN and EVO have a meeting with the government later this month to propose measures to allow trucks to ride through borders.