In Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023, a total of 40.8 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 43.4 million tonnes carried in Q3 2022. This was a decrease of 6%.
The commodity group Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat represented 28% of all tonnes carried by road in Q3 2023.
In Q3 2023, the total distance covered by road freight transport was 453 million kilometres, up 7% when compared with Q3 2022.
| Road freight activity, Q3 2019-2023 | ||||||
| Q3 2019 | Q3 2020 | Q3 2021 | Q3 2022 | Q3 2023 | % change Q3 2022 - Q3 2023 | |
| Tonne-km (million) | 3,277 | 3,110 | 3,326 | 2,969 | 3,236 | 9% |
| Tonnes carried (thousand) | 42,061 | 39,771 | 43,184 | 43,366 | 40,798 | -6% |
| Vehicle kilometres (million) | 454 | 401 | 455 | 422 | 453 | 7% |
| Laden journeys (thousand) | 3,711 | 3,306 | 3,601 | 3,344 | 3,647 | 9% |
Figure 1 shows that in Q3 2023, a total of 40.8 million tonnes of goods were transported by road.
Figure 2 shows that goods vehicles involved in the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites carried 15,927 thousand tonnes in Q3 2022, 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 more than a quarter (28%) of all tonnes carried. This was the largest share among the categories of commodity groups in the survey.
Please note that the COVID-19 pandemic could impact on the yearly comparison of data.
More detailed statistics can be found under “Data”.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (28 February 2024) published results from the Road Freight Transport Survey for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023.
Commenting on the quarterly figures, Dr. Nele van der Wielen, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “The figures for July, August and September (Q3) 2023 show a 6% decrease in the tonnes of goods transported by road. In Q3 2023, a total of 40.8 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 43.4 million carried in Q3 2022.
Activity measured as weight by distance, or tonne-kilometres (tkm), was 3,236 million tkm in Q3 2023, an increase of 9% when compared with Q3 2022 at 2,969 million tkm.
The total distance covered by road freight transport in Q3 2023 was 453 million kilometres, up 7% compared with Q3 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 Q3 2023 was the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites at 15,927 thousand tonnes, followed by the category Delivery of Materials & Fuels to Factories at 3,942 thousand tonnes.”