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Transport Omnibus 2016

Road Freight Transport

Road freight transport

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In 2016, Irish registered goods vehicles made 12.1 million laden journeys and transported a total of 141.7 million tonnes of freight. The overall amount of road freight activity was 11.6 billion tonne-kilometres in 2016, an increase of 17.5% compared with 2015.

The largest commodity group transported by Irish registered goods vehicles in terms of tonnes carried in 2016 was quarry products, metal ores & peat (24.7%).The greatest share of total freight activity in terms of tonne-kilometres related to the carriage of foodstuffs (25.2%).

In 2016, there were 3,796 licensed hauliers in the State, a slight increase of 0.9% compared with 2015.

X-axis label	Other companies	Transport companies
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	67.0
2016	54.7	87.0

Road freight transport

Table 6.1 Road freight transport statistics summary, 2006 - 2016
Year	Tonne-kilometres	Tonnes carried	Vehicle kilometres	Average number of vehicles	Laden journeys
	Million	Thousand	Million	Number	Thousand
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
2016	11,564	141,669	1,558	98,656	12,090
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 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, 2016
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	34	2,344	2,378	256	11,007	11,263
Carriage of livestock	35	86	122	481	822	1,302
Carriage of other farm produce from farms	75	312	387	1,423	5,225	6,648
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs etc. to farms	119	331	450	2,182	4,233	6,415
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites	634	840	1,474	21,514	24,006	45,520
Delivery of goods to retail outlets	602	1,194	1,796	6,339	9,710	16,048
Delivery of goods to wholesalers	231	1,160	1,391	2,617	9,279	11,897
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories	211	1,377	1,588	2,739	15,105	17,844
Delivery of goods to households	205	48	253	3,562	454	4,015
Other work	535	1,189	1,724	7,942	12,774	20,717
Total	2,681	8,883	11,564	49,054	92,615	141,669
Source: CSO
¹Includes work done to and from ports as well as roll-on/roll-off and cross-border work

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 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, 2016
Business of owner of vehicle		Tonne-km (million)			Tonnes carried (thousand)			Loaded vehicle kilometres (million)			Total vehicle kilometre (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	8,414	8,414	0	86,970	86,970	0	555	555	0	825	825
Manufacturing industry		892	0	892	23,093	0	23,093	104	0	104	179	0	179
	Mining & quarrying (incl. sand & gravel merchants)	297	0	297	10,545	0	10,545	15	0	15	30	0	30
	Creameries & agricultural cooperative societies	12	0	12	184	0	184	1	0	1	2	0	2
	Manufacture of food & feeding stuffs	186	0	186	2,667	0	2,667	36	0	36	54	0	54
	Manufacture of drink & tobacco	0	0	0	11	0	11	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Manufacture of glass, cement & clay products	221	0	221	7,621	0	7,621	14	0	14	27	0	27
	Other manufacturing	175	0	175	2,065	0	2,065	38	0	38	66	0	66
Building & construction		113	0	113	2,717	0	2,717	23	0	23	41	0	41
Distribution		1,216	272	1,488	15,012	3,428	18,440	206	28	235	301	44	345
Agriculture & livestock dealing		124	47	171	2,025	358	2,383	20	4	23	36	6	42
Local authorities		54	0	54	1,751	0	1,751	6	0	6	12	0	12
Other		282	150	433	4,457	1,859	6,316	40	39	79	59	53	111
Total		2,681	8,883	11,564	49,054	92,615	141,669	400	626	1,026	630	928	1,558
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 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, 2006-2016
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
2006	90,724	49.9	208,306	50.1	299,030
2007	108,855	57	190,452	43	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
2016	86,970	61.4	54,700	38.6	141,669
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 Table 6.4 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.5 Transport activity classified by national/international journeys and main use of vehicle, 2016
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		2,545	6,671	9,216	48,061	85,736	133,796
International journeys
	Goods loaded in Ireland	100	977	1,077	729	3,136	3,865
	Goods unloaded in Ireland	18	662	680	190	2,142	2,331
	Cross trade	17	541	558	58	1,068	1,126
	Cabotage	1	33	33	17	534	551
Total international		136	2,213	2,348	994	6,880	7,873
Total journeys		2,681	8,883	11,564	49,054	92,615	141,669
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 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, 2016
Region of origin	Region of destination										Total
Region of origin	Border	Midland	West	Dublin	Mid-East	Mid-West	South-East	South-West	Northern Ireland	Other countries	Total
	Tonne-km (million)
Border	323	66	55	167	107	29	62	56	100	161	1,126
Midland	66	139	47	108	45	39	41	53	30	48	616
West	72	39	326	132	49	50	43	41	21	65	839
Dublin	322	198	278	577	314	293	280	455	149	144	3,009
Mid-East	107	56	43	212	252	48	65	67	34	38	922
Mid-West	41	48	73	136	58	354	105	187	22	44	1,069
South-East	50	58	53	148	66	70	358	144	63	86	1,096
South-West	23	48	55	214	55	194	199	755	32	41	1,615
Northern Ireland	49	9	11	70	14	10	41	12	18	9	243
Other countries	66	9	24	232	45	23	46	20	29	535	1,028
Total	1,119	671	965	1,995	1,005	1,110	1,240	1,791	497	1,171	11,564
	Tonnes carried (thousand)
Border	7,611	687	440	1,322	1,254	117	278	185	1,258	207	13,360
Midland	746	3,936	450	1,058	576	403	425	277	161	94	8,127
West	639	420	9,354	630	250	443	211	196	81	54	12,278
Dublin	2,694	1,832	1,401	18,954	7,204	1,331	1,773	1,797	903	299	38,189
Mid-East	1,307	748	244	4,803	6,681	297	855	288	185	58	15,467
Mid-West	187	454	638	751	372	9,281	1,011	2,247	71	55	15,067
South-East	222	626	259	1,179	826	716	8,453	1,126	221	97	13,724
South-West	61	229	267	812	215	1,837	1,458	16,452	82	39	21,451
Northern Ireland	703	58	51	434	98	37	148	33	414	33	2,010
Other countries	108	19	20	442	79	25	50	26	44	1,185	1,998
Total	14,277	9,010	13,124	30,386	17,556	14,486	14,662	22,626	3,421	2,121	141,669
	Vehicle kilometres (million)
Border	63	9	11	31	17	3	6	5	10	15	170
Midland	8	26	9	18	9	6	6	8	2	2	95
West	11	9	65	24	8	9	4	5	1	5	141
Dublin	33	20	24	109	47	27	29	38	11	10	347
Mid-East	19	9	8	44	40	8	9	9	4	2	150
Mid-West	4	7	10	23	8	59	11	24	1	4	151
South-East	7	6	6	26	10	12	53	19	4	5	147
South-West	4	8	5	34	8	26	20	129	1	4	238
Northern Ireland	9	2	1	9	3	1	3	1	2	1	33
Other Countries	4	2	2	16	3	2	3	4	2	48	85
Total	162	97	140	335	153	154	143	241	38	95	1,558
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 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, 2016
Country of origin	Country of destination										Total
Country of origin	Belgium	France	Germany	Ireland	Italy	Netherlands	Spain	United Kingdom	Other EU	Other countries¹	Total
		Tonne-km (million)
Belgium	0	0	8	19	2	0	0	11	1	3	44
France	0	12	5	56	19	8	10	40	0	2	152
Germany	4	1	4	62	0	6	0	49	0	1	127
Ireland	28	112	54	9,216	44	79	28	658	48	25	10,293
Italy	0	11	0	28	9	2	0	11	0	0	60
Netherlands	2	1	2	67	0	1	0	12	1	0	85
Spain	0	1	0	31	0	0	1	4	0	0	37
United Kingdom	11	39	19	398	0	18	0	217	3	9	712
Other EU	0	0	2	13	1	2	0	16	3	1	39
Other countries¹	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	6	1	0	15
Total	45	176	95	9,896	76	116	39	1,024	57	41	11,564
		Tonnes carried (thousand)
Belgium	0	0	17	25	1	1	0	18	1	5	68
France	1	34	7	57	19	6	10	64	0	3	201
Germany	5	2	25	53	0	12	0	44	0	2	142
Ireland	31	121	45	133,796	32	73	18	3,508	22	15	137,662
Italy	0	9	0	17	23	2	0	6	0	0	57
Netherlands	3	2	4	77	0	6	0	17	1	0	110
Spain	0	1	0	18	1	0	1	3	0	0	24
United Kingdom	21	51	22	2,071	0	24	0	1,172	1	6	3,369
Other EU	0	0	3	6	3	2	0	7	3	2	25
Other countries¹	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	5	2	0	12
Total	61	220	123	136,128	79	125	29	4,843	29	32	141,669
Source: CSO
¹Includes any country which is not a member state of the EU

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 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, 2016
Group of goods (NST 2007)	Tonne-km (million)			Tonnes carried (thousand)
Group of goods (NST 2007)	Own account	Hire or reward	Total	Own account	Hire or reward	Total
Products of agriculture, forestry & fishing	250	954	1,205	3,305	10,816	14,120
Coal & natural gas	29	49	78	465	437	902
Quarry products, metal ores & peat	426	704	1,130	15,139	19,829	34,968
Foodstuffs	562	2,353	2,915	6,382	17,540	23,922
Textiles & leather	12	96	108	128	654	783
Wood, pulp & paper	99	560	659	1,169	4,612	5,781
Coke & refined petroleum products	377	666	1,043	5,082	8,017	13,098
Chemicals & plastics	54	471	525	563	4,047	4,610
Other non-metallic mineral products	327	527	854	9,615	9,527	19,142
Metal products (exc. machinery & equipment)	48	201	249	598	1,463	2,061
Machinery & equipment	57	160	217	872	1,332	2,204
Furniture & other manufactured goods	41	160	201	498	899	1,397
Secondary raw materials & waste	181	178	359	2,712	2,280	4,992
Other goods	218	1,803	2,021	2,527	11,162	13,690
Total	2,681	8,883	11,564	49,054	92,615	141,669
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 Table 6.8 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.9 Number of licensed road hauliers by county, 2009 - 2016
County	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Carlow	118	110	93	86	82	80	72	75
Cavan	124	108	107	93	89	87	85	86
Clare	157	132	118	100	96	91	85	88
Cork	605	549	516	471	461	460	445	436
Donegal	179	178	168	158	160	154	148	156
Dublin	680	626	581	549	522	534	537	539
Galway	218	199	195	169	168	166	170	171
Kerry	172	157	147	136	131	132	120	117
Kildare	353	302	275	256	248	237	234	234
Kilkenny	159	145	135	123	120	123	114	118
Laois	142	130	118	108	108	109	109	111
Leitrim	41	38	35	28	23	24	25	25
Limerick	231	207	183	167	155	152	144	143
Longford	54	51	47	42	40	39	37	38
Louth	211	198	174	157	153	151	144	150
Mayo	163	146	137	118	112	112	106	106
Meath	323	286	252	218	217	218	217	226
Monaghan	186	172	160	153	145	142	144	145
Offaly	103	83	77	73	64	63	68	65
Roscommon	99	91	87	80	78	79	79	73
Sligo	80	78	73	64	61	54	55	59
Tipperary	268	232	210	190	175	181	182	186
Waterford	87	82	61	65	60	63	63	63
Westmeath	89	80	71	66	64	65	64	66
Wexford	270	243	225	213	215	214	209	204
Wicklow	184	160	135	116	105	110	107	116
Total	5,296	4,783	4,380	3,999	3,852	3,840	3,763	3,796
Source: Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2016 Table 6.9 (XLS 12KB)

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