In Q2 2023, a total of 45.7 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 40.9 million tonnes carried in Q2 2022 (a 12% increase).
The commodity group Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat represented 32% of all tonnes carried by road in Q2 2023.
In Q2 2023, the total distance covered by road freight transport was 453 million kilometres, down 2% when compared with Q2 2022.
| Road freight activity, Q2 2019-2023 | ||||||
| Q2 2019 | Q2 2020 | Q2 2021 | Q2 2022 | Q2 2023 | % change Q2 2022 - Q2 2023 | |
| Tonne-km (million) | 3,136 | 2,406 | 3,225 | 3,364 | 3,278 | -3% |
| Tonnes carried (thousand) | 42,782 | 30,034 | 39,974 | 40,875 | 45,704 | 12% |
| Vehicle kilometres (million) | 450 | 305 | 426 | 464 | 453 | -2% |
| Laden journeys (thousand) | 3,966 | 2,403 | 3,191 | 3,516 | 3,540 | 1% |
Figure 1 shows that in Q2 2023, a total of 45.7 million tonnes of goods were transported by road. This represents an increase of 12% compared with Q2 2022.
Figure 2 shows that goods vehicles involved in the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites carried 19,264 thousand tonnes in Q2 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 32% 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 (23 November 2023) published results from the Road Freight Transport Survey for Quarter 2 (Q2) 2023.
Commenting on the quarterly figures, Dr. Nele van der Wielen, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “The figures for April, May, June (Q2) 2023 show an increase in the tonnes of goods transported by road. In Q2 2023, a total of 45.7 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 40.9 million carried in Q2 2022.
Activity measured as weight by distance, or tonne-kilometres (tkm), was 3,278 million tkm in Q2 2023, a decrease of 3% when compared with Q2 2022 at 3,048 million tkm.
The total distance covered by road freight transport in Q2 2023 was 453 million kilometres, down 2% compared with Q2 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 Q2 2023 was the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites at 19,264 thousand tonnes, followed by the category Delivery of Materials & Fuels to Factories at 4,865 thousand tonnes.”