In July, August, and September (Q3) 2024, a total of 38.5 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, compared with 40.6 million tonnes in Q3 2023.
The commodity group Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat represented a quarter (24%) of all tonnes carried by road in Q3 2024.
In Q3 2024, the total distance covered by road freight transport was 459 million kilometres, up 2% compared with the same period in 2023.
| Road freight activity, Q3 2020-2024 | ||||||
| Q3 2020 | Q3 2021 | Q3 2022 | Q3 2023 | Q3 2024 | % change Q3 2023 - Q3 2024 | |
| Tonne-km (million) | 3,110 | 3,326 | 2,969 | 3,225 | 3,223 | 0% |
| Tonnes carried (thousand) | 39,771 | 43,184 | 43,366 | 40,639 | 38,507 | -5% |
| Vehicle kilometres (million) | 401 | 455 | 422 | 451 | 459 | 2% |
| Laden journeys (thousand) | 3,306 | 3,601 | 3,344 | 3,628 | 3,254 | -10% |
Figure 1 shows a total of 38.5 million tonnes of goods were transported by road in Q3 2024. This was a decrease of 5% on the Q3 2023 total, a fall of 11% on the Q3 2022 total and a decline of 3% when compared with Q3 2020.
Figure 2 shows that the commodity group Quarry Products, Metal Ores & Peat represented a quarter (24%) of all tonnes carried. This was the largest share among the categories of commodity groups in the survey with 9,094 thousand tonnes carried.
Figure 3 shows that vehicles involved in the Delivery of Goods to Road Works or Building Sites carried 13,697 thousand tonnes in Q3 2024, which was the highest among all types of work carried out by goods vehicles.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 February 2024) published results from the Road Freight Transport Survey for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024.
Commenting on the release, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “The figures show that in Q3 2024, a total of 38.5 million tonnes of goods were transported by road, which was a decrease of 5% on the Q3 2023 total (See Table 1).
Activity measured as weight by distance, or tonne-kilometres (tkm), was 3,223 million tkm in Q3 2024, showing little to no change when compared with Q3 2023 at 3,225 million tkm.
The total distance covered by road freight transport in Q3 2024 was 459 million kilometres, an increase of 2% compared with Q3 2023. The commodity groups that were contributing most to vehicle kilometres were Foodstuffs, and the miscellaneous category Other Goods.”