The German State railway operator has announced that their rail freight and logistics sector suffered most during the recession, producing a big loss in 2009 compared with a healthy profit in the previous year. Rail Freight was down by 10%, while logistics overland volumes was down by 3.8%. This was largely caused by global falling GDP, but the logistics industry suffered particularly badly in Germany, where the export market collapsed. Experts do not expect to see a return to pre-recession volumes for some years.