In Q1 2023, a total of 41.8 million tonnes of goods was transported by road, compared with 40.8 million tonnes carried in Q1 2022.
The commodity group Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat represented a quarter (25%) of all tonnes carried by road in Q1 2023.
In Q1 2023, the total distance covered by road freight transport was 441 million kilometres, a decrease of 6% when compared with Q1 2022.
| Road freight activity, Q1 2019-2023 | ||||||
| Q1 2019 | Q1 2020 | Q1 2021 | Q1 2022 | Q1 2023 | % change Q1 2022 - Q1 2023 | |
| Tonne-km (million) | 2,890 | 2,873 | 2,852 | 3,048 | 3,082 | 1% |
| Tonnes carried (thousand) | 36,579 | 36,596 | 34,343 | 40,764 | 41,766 | 2% |
| Vehicle kilometres (million) | 418 | 405 | 417 | 468 | 441 | -6% |
| Laden journeys (thousand) | 3,488 | 3,254 | 3,242 | 3,539 | 3,612 | 2% |
Figure 1 shows that in Q1 2023, a total of 41.8 million tonnes of goods were transported by road. This represents an increase of 2% compared with Q1 2022.
Figure 2 shows that goods vehicles involved in the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites carried 15,495 thousand tonnes in Q1 2023, which was the highest among all types of work carried out by goods vehicles.
Figure 3 shows that the commodity group 'Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat' represented a quarter (25%) of all tonnes carried. This was the largest share among the categories of commodity groups in the survey.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 August 2023) published results from the Road Freight Transport Survey for Quarter 1 (Q1) 2023.
Commenting on the quarterly figures, Dr. Nele van der Wielen, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “The figures for Q1 2023 show a slight increase in the tonnes of goods transported by road. In January , February, and March (Q1) 2023, a total of 41.8 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 40.8 million carried in Q1 2022. This was an increase of 14% when compared with Q1 2019 (pre-COVID-19) with 36.6 million tonnes.
Activity measured as weight by distance, or tonne-kilometres (tkm), was 3,082 million tkm in Q1 2023, an increase of 1% compared with Q1 2022 at 3,048 million tkm.
The total distance covered by road freight transport in Q1 2023 was 441 million kilometres, down 6% compared with Q1 2022. The commodity groups that were contributing most to vehicle kilometres were Foodstuffs, and the miscellaneous category Other Goods.
The largest amount of work undertaken by goods vehicles in Q1 2023 was the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites at 15,495 thousand tonnes, followed by the category Delivery of Materials & Fuels to Factories at 5,457 thousand tonnes.
The commodity group Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat represented a quarter (25%) of all tonnes carried. This was the largest share among the categories of commodity groups in the survey, followed by Other Non-Metallic Mineral Products at 6,645 thousand tonnes.”