This release has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this release reflect some of the economic impacts of the COVID-19 situation.
In 2021, a total of 154.9 million tonnes of goods was transported by road.
The commodity group 'Quarry products, metal ores & peat' represented nearly a third (29%) of all tonnes carried in 2021.
In 2021, the total distance covered by road freight transport was 1.7 billion kilometres.
Road freight tonnage increased by 8% in Q4 2021.
| Road freight activity, 2019-2021 | ||||
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | % change 2020-2021 | |
| Tonne-km (million) | 12,403 | 11,383 | 12,485 | 10% |
| Tonnes carried (thousand) | 159,414 | 140,998 | 154,900 | 10% |
| Vehicle kilometres (million) | 1,734 | 1,488 | 1,685 | 13% |
| Laden journeys (thousand) | 14,480 | 11,775 | 13,092 | 11% |
Figure 1 shows that in 2021, a total of 154.9 million tonnes of goods was transported by road. This represents an increase of 10% on the 2020 total but a decrease of 3% when compared with 2019.
Goods vehicles involved in the 'Delivery of goods to road works or building sites' carried 57.9 million tonnes in 2021, which was the highest among all types of work carried out by goods vehicles.
The commodity group 'Quarry products, metal ores & peat' represented nearly a third (29%) 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 June 2022) published results from the Road Freight Transport Survey for 2021.
Commenting on the annual figures, Dr Nele van der Wielen, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “The figures show an increase in the tonnes of goods transported by road. In 2021, a total of 154.9 million tonnes of goods was transported by road, which represents an increase of 10% on the 2020 total, but a decrease of 3% when compared with 2019. See table 1B.
Activity measured as weight by distance, or tonne-kilometres (tkm), reached 12,5 billion tkm in 2021, also an increase of 10% compared with 2020. See table 1B.
The total distance covered by road freight transport in 2021 was 1.7 billion kilometres. The commodity groups that were contributing most to vehicle kilometres were 'Foodstuffs' and the miscellaneous category 'Other goods'. See table 2."
Looking at the results of the Road Freight Transport Survey Q4 2022, Dr Nele van der Wielen further commented: “A total of 37.4 million tonnes of goods were transported by road. This represents an increase of 8% when compared with Q4 in 2020.
The total distance covered by road freight transport in the fourth quarter was 387 million kilometres compared with 377 million kilometres in the same quarter in 2020, and 412 million kilometres in 2019.
Activity measured as weight by distance (tkm) increased by 3% to 3,082 million tkm in the fourth quarter of 2021 when compared with the same quarter in 2020. See table 1A.”