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Transport Omnibus 2015

Road Freight Transport

Road freight transport

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In 2015, Irish registered goods vehicles made 10.3 million laden journeys and transported a total of 118.1 million tonnes of freight. The overall amount of road freight activity was 9.8 billion tonne-kilometres in 2015, which was virtually unchanged from 2014.

The largest commodity group transported by Irish registered goods vehicles in terms of tonnes carried in 2015 was quarry products, metal ores & peat and foodstuffs (22.9%).The greatest share of total freight activity in terms of tonne-kilometres related to the carriage of foodstuffs (27.7%).

In 2015, there were 3,765 licensed hauliers in the State, a decrease of 2.0% on 2014.

X-axis label	Other companies	Transport companies
2006	208.3	90.7
2007	190.5	108.9
2008	146.4	99.4
2009	81.9	66.5
2010	67	58.8
2011	55.4	54.8
2012	49.7	58.3
2013	47.9	60.9
2014	47.3	65.2
2015	51.1	67

Road freight transport

Table 6.1 Road freight transport statistics summary, 2005 - 2015
Year	Tonne-kilometres	Tonnes carried	Vehicle kilometres	Average number of vehicles	Laden journeys
	Million	Thousand	Million	Number	Thousand
2005	17,819	291,883	2,312	79,916	22,425
2006	17,322	299,030	2,242	87,135	23,248
2007	18,707	299,307	2,332	97,752	23,646
2008	17,289	245,788	2,207	97,640	20,085
2009	12,071	148,328	1,585	87,616	12,659
2010	10,924	125,865	1,457	84,025	11,177
2011	9,941	110,260	1,338	81,178	10,168
2012	9,895	108,078	1,316	79,971	10,057
2013	9,138	108,831	1,261	76,967	9,925
2014	9,772	112,499	1,307	83,650	10,094
2015	9,844	118,059	1,302	87,094	10,279

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.1 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.2 Road freight transport activity classified by main type of work and main use of vehicle, 2015

Main type of work done by vehicle	Tonne-km (million)			Tonnes carried (thousand)
Main type of work done by vehicle	Own account	Hire or reward	Total	Own account	Hire or reward	Total

Import/export work¹	55	2,280	2,335	397	11,463	11,860
Carriage of livestock	41	75	116	599	776	1,375
Carriage of other farm produce from farms	119	273	392	1,790	3,963	5,753
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs etc. to farms	106	299	404	1,872	4,254	6,126
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites	451	514	965	16,460	16,096	32,556
Delivery of goods to retail outlets	433	1,000	1,433	4,977	8,831	13,808
Delivery of goods to wholesalers	230	925	1,154	2,191	7,838	10,029
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories	175	954	1,129	2,716	10,413	13,129
Delivery of goods to households	148	51	199	2,932	604	3,536
Other work	576	1,140	1,716	8,387	11,501	19,888

Total	2,334	7,510	9,844	42,319	75,740	118,059

¹Includes work done to and from ports as well as roll-on/roll-off and cross-border work
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.2 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.3 Road freight transport activity classified by business of owner and main use of vehicle, 2015

Business of owner of vehicle		Tonne-km (million)			Tonnes carried (thousand)			Loaded vehicle kilometres (million)			Total vehicle kilometres (million)
Business of owner of vehicle		Own account	Hire or reward	Total	Own account	Hire or reward	Total	Own account	Hire or reward	Total	Own account	Hire or reward	Total

Transport		0	6,863	6,863	0	66,974	66,974	0	448	448	0	662	662
Manufacturing industry		723	0	723	18,120	0	18,120	80	0	80	133	0	133
	Mining & quarrying (incl. sand & gravel merchants)	199	0	199	7,675	0	7,675	10	0	10	20	0	20
	Creameries & agricultural cooperative societies	25	0	25	318	0	318	2	0	2	3	0	3
	Manufacture of food & feeding stuffs	161	0	161	2,211	0	2,211	27	0	27	40	0	40
	Manufacture of drink & tobacco	3	0	3	34	0	34	1	0	1	1	0	1
	Manufacture of glass, cement & clay products	207	0	207	6,602	0	6,602	14	0	14	27	0	27
	Other manufacturing	128	0	128	1,280	0	1,280	26	0	26	42	0	42
Building & construction		67	0	67	1,527	0	1,527	14	0	14	27	0	27
Distribution		1,144	503	1,647	15,541	7,179	22,720	183	41	224	281	61	342
Agriculture & livestock dealing		132	49	181	1,891	407	2,298	20	4	24	36	7	43
Local authorities		67	0	67	1,769	0	1,769	7	0	7	12	0	12
Other		200	96	295	3,470	1,180	4,650	29	29	58	44	39	83

Total		2,334	7,510	9,844	42,319	75,740	118,059	334	523	856	533	769	1,302

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.3 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 6.4 Quantity of goods carried ('000 tonnes) and share of road freight activity (tonne-km) by business of owner, 2005-2015

Year	Business of owner				Total tonnes carried
Year	Transport companies		Other companies		Total tonnes carried

	'000 tonnes carried	% share (tonne-km)	'000 tonnes carried	% share (tonne-km)	'000 tonnes carried

2005	81,047	47.3	210,836	52.7	291,883
2006	90,724	49.9	208,306	50.1	299,030
2007	108,855	57.0	190,452	43.0	299,307
2008	99,385	58.5	146,403	41.5	245,788
2009	66,478	60.2	81,850	39.8	148,328
2010	58,839	61.7	67,026	38.3	125,865
2011	54,839	66.5	55,421	33.5	110,260
2012	58,337	69.3	49,741	30.7	108,078
2013	60,898	69.5	47,933	30.5	108,831
2014	65,240	71.3	47,260	28.7	112,499
2015	66,974	56.7	51,085	43.3	118,059

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.4 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.5 Transport activity classified by national/international journeys and main use of vehicle, 2015

Type of journey		Tonne-km (million)			Tonnes carried (thousand)
Type of journey		Own account	Hire or reward	Total	Own account	Hire or reward	Total

National journeys		2,219	5,489	7,707	41,477	69,714	111,191

International journeys
	Goods loaded in Ireland	65	785	851	462	2,478	2,941
	Goods unloaded in Ireland	34	653	687	312	2,021	2,333
	Cross trade	13	534	548	40	967	1,007
	Cabotage	2	49	51	28	559	587
Total international		115	2,022	2,137	842	6,025	6,867

Total journeys		2,334	7,510	9,844	42,319	75,740	118,059

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.5 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.6 Road freight transport activity classified by region of origin and region of destination, 2015

Region of origin	Region of destination										Total
	Border	Midland	West	Dublin	Mid-East	Mid-West	South-East	South-West	Northern	Other
	Border	Midland	West	Dublin	Mid-East	Mid-West	South-East	South-West	Ireland	countries
	Tonne-km (million)

Border	282	41	55	155	63	23	58	41	22	171	911
Midland	51	123	50	82	46	23	44	54	7	17	498
West	65	41	253	90	23	52	48	28	4	53	658
Dublin	223	148	204	481	237	150	231	394	53	185	2,307
Mid-East	106	42	43	167	192	32	84	65	11	59	801
Mid-West	28	45	63	96	28	231	52	126	5	37	712
South-East	42	48	27	172	103	75	450	159	31	135	1,242
South-West	15	41	41	195	72	150	236	620	2	59	1,429
Northern Ireland	25	5	4	18	6	2	16	2	14	8	99
Other countries	80	12	27	253	38	11	119	70	18	559	1,187

Total	918	545	767	1,710	808	749	1,338	1,559	167	1,283	9,844

	Tonnes carried (thousand)

Border	7,036	412	443	1,318	642	89	319	136	269	716	11,379
Midland	656	2,919	502	840	638	246	466	272	44	61	6,644
West	653	478	6,303	442	125	404	238	142	23	92	8,900
Dublin	1,839	1,372	983	15,766	5,287	720	1,624	1,560	320	643	30,115
Mid-East	1,251	632	241	3,957	5,121	200	839	281	67	164	12,754
Mid-West	136	396	447	508	174	5,716	637	1,566	17	58	9,655
South-East	186	431	145	1,202	1,190	816	10,426	1,325	134	266	16,120
South-West	47	223	208	793	319	1,402	1,945	13,561	4	62	18,565
Northern Ireland	460	24	27	114	26	5	62	4	140	11	874
Other countries	526	48	82	532	93	13	210	107	22	1,421	3,053

Total	12,790	6,936	9,381	25,473	13,614	9,610	16,765	18,955	1,040	3,494	118,059

	Vehicle kilometres (million)

Border	49	7	10	25	11	3	5	4	3	13	131
Midland	8	23	8	15	7	4	6	6	1	2	79
West	10	7	54	18	5	7	5	5	0	4	115
Dublin	27	17	18	96	36	16	24	32	3	15	284
Mid-East	12	7	5	33	34	5	12	9	1	5	123
Mid-West	3	4	7	15	4	39	9	19	0	3	104
South-East	5	6	4	23	13	9	65	20	2	8	155
South-West	3	6	5	31	8	19	22	101	0	4	200
Northern Ireland	3	1	0	3	1	1	2	0	1	0	12
Other Countries	7	2	3	20	4	1	7	6	1	50	101

Total	127	80	114	279	124	103	157	201	13	105	1,302

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.6 (XLS 14KB)

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Table 6.7 Road freight transport activity classified by country of origin and country of destination, 2015

Country of origin	Country of destination									Total
Country of origin	France	Germany	Ireland	Italy	Netherlands	Spain	United Kingdom	Other EU	Other countries¹	Total
	Tonne-km (million)

France	11	2	52	18	1	10	45	3	0	141
Germany	0	6	61	0	4	0	39	7	0	117
Ireland	75	57	7,707	62	49	26	505	57	19	8,558
Italy	12	0	53	4	0	0	12	2	0	83
Netherlands	0	3	72	0	1	0	8	2	0	86
Spain	0	0	29	0	0	4	10	0	0	43
United Kingdom	19	11	380	9	10	3	209	32	0	673
Other EU	10	8	29	1	4	4	49	16	7	128
Other countries¹	0	0	10	0	0	0	6	0	0	16

Total	127	86	8,394	93	69	46	882	119	27	9,844

	Tonnes carried (thousand)

France	22	2	52	24	3	13	69	7	0	192
Germany	0	13	48	0	8	0	40	12	0	121
Ireland	90	46	111,191	40	48	14	2,644	44	15	114,132
Italy	13	0	32	19	0	0	8	1	0	73
Netherlands	2	6	84	0	12	0	13	2	0	118
Spain	0	0	18	0	0	4	4	0	0	26
United Kingdom	37	12	2,062	7	14	2	1,086	28	0	3,248
Other EU	11	14	29	1	4	3	43	25	4	134
Other countries¹	0	0	7	0	0	0	4	0	2	13

Total	174	94	113,524	90	89	35	3,912	118	21	118,059

¹Includes any country which is not a member state of the EU
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.7 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 6.8 Road freight transport activity classified by group of goods and main use of vehicle, 2015
Group of goods (NST 2007)	Tonne-km (million)			Tonnes carried (thousand)
	Own	Hire or	Total	Own	Hire or	Total
	account	reward	Total	account	reward	Total

Products of agriculture, forestry & fishing	294	875	1,169	3,842	9,441	13,283
Coal & natural gas	32	44	77	446	305	752
Quarry products, metal ores & peat	397	529	926	13,204	13,845	27,049
Foodstuffs	492	2,230	2,722	5,714	16,937	22,651
Textiles & leather	31	91	123	304	513	816
Wood, pulp & paper	49	431	480	561	3,830	4,390
Coke & refined petroleum products	357	500	857	4,614	6,076	10,690
Chemicals & plastics	46	395	441	564	3,371	3,935
Other non-metallic mineral products	246	427	673	7,615	7,735	15,350
Metal products (exc. machinery & equipment)	42	168	209	432	1,292	1,725
Machinery & equipment	51	148	199	671	909	1,579
Furniture & other manufactured goods	36	78	114	392	546	937
Secondary raw materials & waste	149	141	290	2,423	1,860	4,283
Other goods	111	1,453	1,564	1,537	9,081	10,618

Total	2,334	7,510	9,844	42,319	75,740	118,059

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.8 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.9 Number of licensed road hauliers by county, 2008 - 2015
								Number
County	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015

Carlow	124	118	110	93	86	82	80	72
Cavan	128	124	108	107	93	89	87	85
Clare	155	157	132	118	100	96	91	85
Cork	609	605	549	516	471	461	460	445
Donegal	184	179	178	168	158	160	154	148
Dublin	702	680	626	581	549	522	534	537
Galway	222	218	199	195	169	168	166	170
Kerry	178	172	157	147	136	131	132	120
Kildare	368	353	302	275	256	248	237	234
Kilkenny	164	159	145	135	123	120	123	114
Laois	148	142	130	118	108	108	109	109
Leitrim	36	41	38	35	28	23	24	25
Limerick	232	231	207	183	167	155	152	144
Longford	56	54	51	47	42	40	39	37
Louth	222	211	198	174	157	153	151	144
Mayo	171	163	146	137	118	112	112	106
Meath	340	323	286	252	218	217	218	217
Monaghan	193	186	172	160	153	145	142	144
Offaly	105	103	83	77	73	64	63	68
Roscommon	99	99	91	87	80	78	79	79
Sligo	82	80	78	73	64	61	54	55
Tipperary	272	268	232	210	190	175	181	182
Waterford	88	87	82	61	65	60	63	63
Westmeath	94	89	80	71	66	64	65	64
Wexford	292	270	243	225	213	215	214	209
Wicklow	189	184	160	135	116	105	110	107

Total	5,453	5,296	4,783	4,380	3,999	3,852	3,840	3,765

Source: Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2015 Table 6.9 (XLS 12KB)

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