04/07/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/07/2024 10:18
In 2023, a total of 165.2 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 164.3 million tonnes in 2022.
In October, November, and December (Q4) 2023, a total of 37.1 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 39.2 million tonnes carried in Q4 2022.
The commodity group Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat represented nearly a third (28%) of all tonnes carried by road in 2023.
In 2023, the total distance covered by road freight transport was 1.8 billion kilometres, which was the same as that recorded in 2022.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (04 July 2024) published results from the Road Freight Transport Survey for Quarter 4 and Year 2023.
Commenting on the annual figures, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: "The figures show a slight increase of 1% in the tonnes of goods transported by road. In 2023, a total of 165.2 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, which represented an increase of 1% on the 2022 total, and an increase of 4% when compared with 2019 (See Table 1B).
Activity measured as weight by distance, or tonne-kilometres (tkm), reached 12.6 billion tkm in 2023.
The total distance covered by road freight transport in 2023 was 1.8 billion kilometres, the same as that recorded in 2022. The commodity groups that were contributing most to vehicle kilometres were Foodstuffs and the miscellaneous category Other Goods (See Table 2)."
Road freight activity, 2019-2023 | ||||||
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | % change 2022 - 2023 | |
Tonne-km (million) | 12,403 | 11,383 | 12,485 | 12,384 | 12,596 | 2% |
Tonnes carried (thousand) | 159,414 | 140,998 | 154,900 | 164,258 | 165,165 | 1% |
Vehicle kilometres (million) | 1,734 | 1,488 | 1,685 | 1,788 | 1,823 | 2% |
Laden journeys (thousand) | 14,480 | 11,775 | 13,092 | 13,814 | 14,759 | 7% |
Figure 1 shows that in 2023, a total of 165,165 thousand tonnes of goods were transported by road. This represents an increase of 1% on the 2022 total, a rise of 7% on the 2021 total and a growth of 4% when compared with 2019.
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TFA01
Table 1A Road freight activity, Q4 2019-2023 | ||||||
Q4 2019 | Q4 2020 | Q4 2021 | Q4 2022 | Q4 2023 | % change Q4 2022 - Q4 2023 | |
Tonne-km (million) | 3,100 | 2,994 | 3,082 | 2,998 | 3,010 | 0% |
Tonnes carried (thousand) | 37,992 | 34,597 | 37,399 | 39,180 | 37,056 | -5% |
Vehicle kilometres (million) | 412 | 377 | 387 | 433 | 478 | 10% |
Laden journeys (thousand) | 3,315 | 2,812 | 3,058 | 3,415 | 3,979 | 17% |
Table 1B Road freight activity by business of owner, 2021-2023 | |||||||||||
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||||||
Transport | Other | Total | Transport | Other | Total | Transport | Other | Total | |||
Tonne-km (million) | 8,589 | 3,896 | 12,485 | 8,590 | 3,794 | 12,384 | 8,714 | 3,882 | 12,596 | ||
Tonnes carried (thousand) | 87,734 | 67,166 | 154,900 | 91,331 | 72,927 | 164,258 | 92,661 | 72,504 | 165,165 | ||
Vehicle kilometres (million) | 828 | 857 | 1,685 | 867 | 921 | 1,788 | 910 | 913 | 1,823 | ||
Laden journeys (thousand) | 5,120 | 7,973 | 13,092 | 5,365 | 8,458 | 13,823 | 5,738 | 9,021 | 14,759 |
The commodity groups that were contributing most to vehicle kilometres were Foodstuffs and the miscellaneous category Other Goods.
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TFA19
Table 2 Road freight activity by commodity group carried, 2023 | |||
Commodity | Tonne-km | Tonnes carried | Vehicle kilometres |
million | thousand | million | |
Products of agriculture, forestry and fishing | 1,526 | 18,303 | 147 |
Coal and natural gas | 74 | 610 | 4 |
Quarry products, metal ores and peat | 1,754 | 46,883 | 94 |
Foodstuffs | 2,913 | 25,656 | 238 |
Textiles and leather | 158 | 1,113 | 19 |
Wood, pulp and paper | 493 | 4,680 | 54 |
Coke and refined petroleum products | 737 | 8,776 | 46 |
Chemicals and plastics | 397 | 3,193 | 38 |
Other non-metallic mineral products | 1,344 | 27,628 | 106 |
Metal products (except machinery and equipment) | 252 | 2,406 | 26 |
Machinery and equipment | 282 | 2,442 | 46 |
Furniture and other manufactured goods | 190 | 1,550 | 56 |
Secondary raw materials and waste | 398 | 5,302 | 35 |
Other goods | 2,079 | 16,621 | 914 |
Total | 12,596 | 165,165 | 1,823 |
Goods vehicles involved in the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites carried 64,817 thousand tonnes in 2023, which was the highest among all types of work carried out by goods vehicles.
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TFA06
Table 3 Road freight activity by main type of work, 2023 | |||
Tonne-km | Tonnes carried | Vehicle kilometres | |
million | thousand | million | |
Import/export work | 2,413 | 13,325 | 215 |
Carriage of livestock | 123 | 1,483 | 35 |
Carriage of other farm produce from farms | 330 | 5,026 | 37 |
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs, etc. to farms | 549 | 6,899 | 58 |
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites | 2,468 | 64,817 | 303 |
Delivery of goods to retail outlets | 1,701 | 15,632 | 383 |
Delivery of goods to wholesalers | 1,590 | 13,953 | 245 |
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories | 1,498 | 17,334 | 162 |
Delivery of goods to households | 239 | 3,763 | 88 |
Other work | 1,685 | 22,932 | 296 |
Total | 12,596 | 165,165 | 1,823 |
Table 4 Road freight activity by country of origin, Quarter 4 2023 | |||||
Country of destination | |||||
Country of origin | Ireland | United Kingdom | EU countries | Non-EU countries | Total |
Tonne-km (millions) | |||||
Ireland | 2,397 | 151 | 72 | 0 | 2,621 |
United Kingdom | 97 | 65 | 17 | 0 | 180 |
EU countries | 52 | 21 | 133 | 0 | 206 |
Non-EU countries | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Total | 2,546 | 241 | 223 | 0 | 3,010 |
Tonnes carried (thousands) | |||||
Ireland | 35,168 | 679 | 67 | 0 | 35,914 |
United Kingdom | 391 | 352 | 23 | 0 | 767 |
EU countries | 48 | 35 | 288 | 1 | 373 |
Non-EU countries | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Total | 35,607 | 1,069 | 379 | 1 | 37,056 |
Table 5 Transport activity classified by country of origin and country of destination, 2023 | |||||||||||
Country of origin | Country of destination | Total | |||||||||
Belgium | France | Germany | Ireland | Italy | Netherlands | Spain | United Kingdom | EU countries | Non-EU countries | ||
Tonne-km (million) | |||||||||||
Belgium | 0 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 48 |
France | 3 | 93 | 29 | 40 | 37 | 6 | 30 | 29 | 8 | 0 | 278 |
Germany | 8 | 13 | 11 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 19 | 2 | 85 |
Ireland | 13 | 88 | 31 | 10,432 | 31 | 41 | 18 | 588 | 40 | 5 | 11,288 |
Italy | 0 | 55 | 1 | 11 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 3 | 38 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 71 |
Spain | 0 | 16 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 30 | 2 | 0 | 86 |
United Kingdom | 4 | 49 | 0 | 290 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 176 | 2 | 0 | 533 |
EU countries | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 34 |
Non-EU countries | 0 | 3 | 0 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 74 |
Total | 40 | 331 | 92 | 10,907 | 87 | 83 | 77 | 874 | 95 | 12 | 12,596 |
Tonnes carried (thousand) | |||||||||||
Belgium | 18 | 33 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 110 |
France | 20 | 229 | 46 | 60 | 47 | 15 | 30 | 76 | 8 | 0 | 531 |
Germany | 15 | 23 | 40 | 16 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 13 | 24 | 4 | 155 |
Ireland | 15 | 120 | 30 | 157,768 | 24 | 43 | 10 | 3,028 | 22 | 4 | 161,064 |
Italy | 0 | 61 | 3 | 9 | 72 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 155 |
Netherlands | 13 | 4 | 5 | 59 | 0 | 65 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 163 |
Spain | 0 | 18 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 106 |
United Kingdom | 11 | 49 | 0 | 1,708 | 0 | 19 | 3 | 965 | 3 | 0 | 2,759 |
EU countries | 4 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 51 | 4 | 81 |
Non-EU countries | 0 | 4 | 2 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 42 |
Total | 95 | 544 | 153 | 159,664 | 144 | 172 | 104 | 4,143 | 129 | 17 | 165,165 |
Table 6 Road freight activity by unladen weight of vehicle, 2023 | ||||||||
Unladen weight (tonnes) | Tonne-km | Tonnes carried | No. of vehicles | Laden journeys | ||||
million | % | thousand | % | number | % | thousand | % | |
2 - 5 | 472 | 4% | 9,587 | 6% | 133,773 | 77% | 5,144 | 35% |
>5 - 7.5 | 129 | 1% | 2,221 | 1% | 4,736 | 3% | 559 | 4% |
>7.5 - 10 | 819 | 7% | 10,854 | 7% | 7,023 | 4% | 1,360 | 9% |
>10 - 12.5 | 2,218 | 18% | 33,294 | 20% | 9,216 | 5% | 2,043 | 14% |
Over 12.5 | 8,959 | 71% | 109,207 | 66% | 19,081 | 11% | 5,654 | 38% |
Total | 12,596 | 100% | 165,165 | 100% | 173,831 | 100% | 14,759 | 100% |
Table 7 Response rates by age and unladen weight of vehicle, 2023 | |||||||||||
Unladen weight | Total | ||||||||||
2 - 5 tonnes | 5 - 10 tonnes | 10 tonnes and over | |||||||||
Year of manufacture | Forms issued | % response | Forms issued | % response | Forms issued | % response | Forms issued | % response | |||
Before 2015 | 741 | 39% | 1,356 | 42% | 6,893 | 34% | 8,990 | 36% | |||
2015 - 2018 | 808 | 37% | 542 | 41% | 5,622 | 32% | 6,972 | 33% | |||
After 2018 | 1,182 | 34% | 500 | 38% | 6,241 | 32% | 7,923 | 33% | |||
Total | 2,731 | 36% | 2,398 | 41% | 18,756 | 33% | 23,885 | 34% |