CSO - Central Statistics Office Ireland

04/07/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/07/2024 10:18

Road Freight Transport Survey Quarter 4 and Year 2023

A total of 165.2 million tonnes of goods were transported by road in 2023

Online ISSN: 2009-7174
CSO statistical publication, 04 July 2024, 11am

Key Findings

  • 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.

Statistician's Comment

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%

Tables and Figures

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.

Figure 1: Tonnage of goods transported by road, 2019-2023

© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TFA01

\n\n').text(); var isSnippetPrivate = t4Sdk.pxWidget.utility.isSnippetPrivate("chart", snippet); if(isSnippetPrivate) { $("#px-stat-widget-487334").addClass("px-stat-widget-error"); pxWidget.queue(null, "px-stat-widget-487334"); }
Table 1A Road freight activity, Q4 2019-2023
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
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.

Figure 2 Road freight activity by commodity group carried for all national and international journeys, 2023

© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TFA19

\n\n').text(); var isSnippetPrivate = t4Sdk.pxWidget.utility.isSnippetPrivate("chart", snippet); if(isSnippetPrivate) { $("#px-stat-widget-487331").addClass("px-stat-widget-error"); pxWidget.queue(null, "px-stat-widget-487331"); }
Table 2 Road freight activity by commodity group carried, 2023
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.

Figure 3 Quantity of goods carried by main type of work, 2023

© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TFA06

\n\n').text(); var isSnippetPrivate = t4Sdk.pxWidget.utility.isSnippetPrivate("chart", snippet); if(isSnippetPrivate) { $("#px-stat-widget-487325").addClass("px-stat-widget-error"); pxWidget.queue(null, "px-stat-widget-487325"); }
Table 3 Road freight activity by main type of work, 2023
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
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
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
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
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%