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Transport Omnibus 2013

Road Freight Transport

Road freight transport

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In 2013, Irish registered goods vehicles made 9.9 million laden journeys and transported a total of 108.8 million tonnes of freight. Overall road freight activity was 9.1 billion tonne-kilometres.

The main commodities transported by Irish registered goods vehicles in terms of tonnes carried in 2013 were quarry products, metal ores & peat and foodstuffs. The greatest share (26%) of total freight activity in terms of tonne-kilometres related to the carriage of foodstuffs.

In 2013, there were 3,852 licensed hauliers in the State, a decrease of 3.7% on 2012.

Road freight transport

Table 6.1 Road freight transport statistics summary, 1999 - 2013

Year	Tonne-kilometres	Tonnes carried	Vehicle kilometres	Average number of vehicles	Laden journeys
	Million	Thousand	Million	Number	Thousand

1999	10,228	162,355	1,416	56,090	14,014
2000	12,263	191,264	1,595	64,248	15,605
2001	12,291	199,829	1,585	70,825	15,770
2002	14,282	224,907	1,851	71,005	17,621
2003	15,679	251,791	1,966	71,459	19,709
2004	17,011	273,557	2,139	73,075	20,767
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

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 6.1 (XLS 34KB)

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Table 6.2 Road freight transport activity classified by main type of work and main use of vehicle, 2013

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	69	2,306	2,374	432	11,779	12,211
Carriage of livestock	37	73	110	607	654	1,261
Carriage of other farm produce from farms	107	228	335	1,756	3,720	5,476
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs etc. to farms	115	260	376	1,944	3,473	5,418
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites	417	561	978	14,349	16,227	30,576
Delivery of goods to retail outlets	435	861	1,296	4,989	8,389	13,378
Delivery of goods to wholesalers	162	803	965	1,512	6,850	8,362
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories	111	707	818	1,767	7,594	9,361
Delivery of goods to households	175	34	210	3,330	474	3,804
Other work	540	1,135	1,675	8,573	10,410	18,983

Total	2,169	6,969	9,138	39,260	69,571	108,831

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 2013 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, 2013

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	6,347	6,347	0	60,898	60,898	0	414	414	0	618	618
Manufacturing industry	647	0	647	14,975	0	14,975	75	0	75	122	0	122
Mining & quarrying (incl. sand & gravel merchants)	120	0	120	4,976	0	4,976	6	0	6	12	0	12
Creameries & agricultural cooperative societies	22	0	22	371	0	371	3	0	3	5	0	5
Manufacture of food & feeding stuffs	143	0	143	2,110	0	2,110	25	0	25	36	0	36
Manufacture of drink & tobacco	26	0	26	182	0	182	2	0	2	3	0	3
Manufacture of glass, cement & clay products	180	0	180	5,619	0	5,619	11	0	11	21	0	21
Other manufacturing	156	0	156	1,717	0	1,717	28	0	28	45	0	45
Building & construction	139	0	139	4,254	0	4,254	22	0	22	39	0	39
Distribution	926	507	1,433	11,748	7,538	19,287	178	48	226	266	76	342
Agriculture & livestock dealing	145	37	181	2,293	356	2,649	21	3	24	37	6	43
Local authorities	74	0	74	2,447	0	2,447	7	0	7	14	0	14
Other	238	78	317	3,544	778	4,323	41	19	60	59	24	83
Total	2,169	6,969	9,138	39,260	69,571	108,831	345	484	829	538	724	1,261

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 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, 2003-2013

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

2003	115,994	61.6	135,797	38.4	251,791
2004	90,014	51.1	183,543	48.9	273,557
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

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 6.4 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.5 Transport activity classified by national/international journeys and main use of vehicle, 2013

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	2,045	5,094	7,139	38,396	64,365	102,761

International journeys
Goods loaded in Ireland	49	777	826	383	2,025	2,407
Goods unloaded in Ireland	39	661	701	304	1,773	2,076
Cross trade	29	379	408	44	821	865
Cabotage	6	58	64	134	588	721
Total international	124	1,875	1,999	864	5,206	6,070

Total journeys	2,169	6,969	9,138	39,260	69,571	108,831

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 6.5 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.6 Road freight transport activity classified by region of origin and region of destination, 2013

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	283	50	69	147	42	27	61	24	4	165	873
Midland	57	95	31	63	20	29	66	45	7	42	456
West	50	23	252	123	45	27	46	28	1	25	620
Dublin	218	139	209	414	184	146	252	334	28	206	2,130
Mid-East	59	39	57	138	174	24	56	66	3	51	667
Mid-West	30	27	50	94	28	210	91	140	4	44	719
South-East	44	44	43	193	78	80	380	208	10	139	1,218
South-West	15	28	31	152	50	120	194	595	0	97	1,280
Northern Ireland	6	6	4	21	0	0	7	0	10	3	58
Other countries	93	18	37	282	45	24	109	48	9	450	1,115

Total	856	469	783	1,627	665	689	1,263	1,489	75	1,223	9,138

	Tonnes carried (thousand)

Border	7,109	419	450	1,191	570	121	243	75	50	723	10,953
Midland	582	2,889	300	668	254	433	648	216	33	118	6,142
West	600	241	5,965	552	243	306	204	158	3	29	8,300
Dublin	1,703	1,244	956	13,482	4,130	707	1,661	1,303	157	717	26,060
Mid-East	998	531	292	2,849	5,198	140	561	286	18	132	11,006
Mid-West	118	211	370	483	184	6,025	879	1,659	11	57	9,997
South-East	215	355	192	1,252	889	846	8,858	1,764	28	223	14,622
South-West	48	134	159	588	184	1,093	1,538	14,237	0	107	18,088
Northern Ireland	122	28	18	105	0	2	20	0	112	5	413
Other countries	567	69	112	659	101	40	171	62	14	1,455	3,250

Total	12,062	6,122	8,813	21,829	11,752	9,713	14,784	19,761	427	3,568	108,831

	Vehicle kilometres (million)

Border	54	7	8	26	8	5	5	2	1	12	129
Midland	8	18	5	14	5	6	7	4	1	3	70
West	8	5	52	18	6	6	5	4	0	3	108
Dublin	27	15	19	92	29	17	30	30	2	15	275
Mid-East	8	5	6	27	33	3	11	8	0	5	107
Mid-West	4	6	7	16	3	39	11	19	0	4	110
South-East	5	7	5	29	11	11	65	21	0	10	165
South-West	2	4	4	26	7	19	23	106	0	6	198
Northern Ireland	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	5
Other Countries	9	2	3	21	5	1	9	5	1	37	93

Total	127	69	110	271	109	108	166	200	6	95	1,261

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 6.6 (XLS 14KB)

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Table 6.7 Road freight transport activity classified by country of origin and country of destination, 2013

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	2	6	68	7	1	5	47	2	0	138
Germany	2	3	36	0	2	0	29	4	2	78
Ireland	130	52	7,139	50	43	30	456	33	32	7,965
Italy	3	0	17	3	0	0	8	0	0	31
Netherlands	2	9	57	0	3	0	25	6	0	101
Spain	7	0	52	0	0	0	3	0	0	62
United Kingdom	13	9	419	7	7	13	203	7	2	680
Other EU	0	3	41	1	4	0	15	3	0	67
Other countries¹	0	0	12	0	0	0	4	0	0	16

Total	159	82	7,840	69	60	48	791	55	35	9,138

	Tonnes carried (thousand)

France	4	8	72	8	2	7	66	10	0	178
Germany	5	13	26	0	4	0	32	11	2	92
Ireland	132	42	102,761	30	41	19	2,107	24	14	105,168
Italy	5	0	8	11	0	0	5	0	0	28
Netherlands	4	19	64	0	18	0	38	6	0	148
Spain	6	0	26	0	0	0	3	0	0	35
United Kingdom	19	14	1,842	3	14	7	1,189	13	2	3,103
Other EU	0	5	32	2	5	0	17	5	0	65
Other countries¹	0	0	7	1	0	0	3	0	2	13

Total	175	101	104,837	54	83	33	3,459	70	19	108,831

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

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 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, 2013
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	246	794	1,040	3,577	8,138	11,715
Coal & natural gas	16	47	63	284	472	757
Quarry products, metal ores & peat	284	520	804	10,702	13,791	24,493
Foodstuffs	409	1,986	2,395	5,466	14,693	20,159
Textiles & leather	35	79	114	358	671	1,029
Wood, pulp & paper	73	428	502	846	3,444	4,291
Coke & refined petroleum products	359	437	796	3,970	5,273	9,243
Chemicals & plastics	62	385	447	614	3,949	4,563
Other non-metallic mineral products	250	331	581	7,525	5,970	13,495
Metal products (exc. machinery & equipment)	46	216	262	570	1,628	2,198
Machinery & equipment	54	175	229	750	1,076	1,826
Furniture & other manufactured goods	37	100	136	513	676	1,189
Secondary raw materials & waste	136	90	226	2,048	1,220	3,268
Other goods	161	1,381	1,542	2,035	8,569	10,604

Total	2,169	6,969	9,138	39,260	69,571	108,831

Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 6.8 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.9 Number of licensed road hauliers by county, 2007 - 2013
							Number
County	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013

Carlow	118	124	118	110	93	86	82
Cavan	129	128	124	108	107	93	89
Clare	156	155	157	132	118	100	96
Cork	580	609	605	549	516	471	461
Donegal	174	184	179	178	168	158	160
Dublin	660	702	680	626	581	549	522
Galway	216	222	218	199	195	169	168
Kerry	161	178	172	157	147	136	131
Kildare	350	368	353	302	275	256	248
Kilkenny	159	164	159	145	135	123	120
Laois	147	148	142	130	118	108	108
Leitrim	30	36	41	38	35	28	23
Limerick	211	232	231	207	183	167	155
Longford	50	56	54	51	47	42	40
Louth	213	222	211	198	174	157	153
Mayo	156	171	163	146	137	118	112
Meath	328	340	323	286	252	218	217
Monaghan	174	193	186	172	160	153	145
Offaly	98	105	103	83	77	73	64
Roscommon	92	99	99	91	87	80	78
Sligo	84	82	80	78	73	64	61
Tipperary	254	272	268	232	210	190	175
Waterford	84	88	87	82	61	65	60
Westmeath	84	94	89	80	71	66	64
Wexford	287	292	270	243	225	213	215
Wicklow	178	189	184	160	135	116	105

Total	5,173	5,453	5,296	4,783	4,380	3,999	3852

Source: Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2013 6.9 (XLS 13KB)

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