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Transport Omnibus 2019

Road Freight Transport

Road freight transport

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In 2019, Irish registered goods vehicles made 14.5 million laden journeys and transported a total of 159.4 million tonnes of freight. The overall amount of road freight activity was 12.4 billion tonne-kilometres in 2019, an increase of 7.5% compared with 2018.

The largest commodity group transported by Irish registered goods vehicles in terms of tonnes carried in 2019 was quarry products, metal ores & peat (26.4%). The greatest share of total freight activity in terms of tonne-kilometres related to the carriage of foodstuffs (24.4%).

In 2019, there were 3,799 licensed hauliers in the State, a decrease of 1.9% compared with 2018.

X-axis label	Other companies	Transport companies
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
2016	54.7	87
2017	62.7	84.6
2018	67.4	82.7
2019	70.1	89.3

Road freight transport

Table 6.1 Road freight transport statistics summary, 2009 - 2019
Year	Tonne-kilometres	Tonnes carried	Vehicle kilometres	Average number of vehicles	Laden journeys
	Million	Thousand	Million	Number	Thousand
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
2017	11,759	147,229	1,592	108,479	12,827
2018	11,537	150,036	1,599	118,032	13,360
2019	12,403	159,414	1,734	128,434	14,480
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 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, 2019
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	70	2,453	2,523	387	11,703	12,090
Carriage of livestock	54	132	186	815	1,502	2,316
Carriage of other farm produce from farms	111	370	481	1,826	5,377	7,203
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs etc. to farms	150	331	482	2,384	4,202	6,586
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites	1,064	968	2,032	32,530	27,282	59,813
Delivery of goods to retail outlets	597	1,304	1,901	6,972	11,549	18,521
Delivery of goods to wholesalers	462	1,312	1,774	4,528	10,043	14,571
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories	254	1,202	1,456	3,374	12,418	15,792
Delivery of goods to households	203	57	261	4,173	542	4,715
Other work	493	816	1,309	8,374	9,433	17,807
Total	3,458	8,945	12,403	65,362	94,052	159,414
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 2019 Table 6.2 (XLS 11KB)

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Table 6.3 Road freight transport activity classified by business of owner and main use of vehicle, 2019
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	8,578	8,578	0	89,343	89,343	0	580	580	0	861	861
Manufacturing industry		1,353	0	1,353	33,208	0	33,208	140	0	140	237	0	237
	Mining & quarrying (incl. sand & gravel merchants)	395	0	395	14,154	0	14,154	21	0	21	40	0	40
	Creameries & agricultural cooperative societies	34	0	34	498	0	498	2	0	2	3	0	3
	Manufacture of food & feeding stuffs	225	0	225	2,657	0	2,657	49	0	49	73	0	73
	Manufacture of drink & tobacco	7	0	7	139	0	139	1	0	1	2	0	2
	Manufacture of glass, cement & clay products	479	0	479	13,591	0	13,591	28	0	28	54	0	54
	Other manufacturing	213	0	213	2,169	0	2,169	39	0	39	65	0	65
Building & construction		155	0	155	4,061	0	4,061	30	0	30	59	0	59
Distribution		1,199	163	1,362	15,941	2,442	18,383	217	19	236	334	27	361
Agriculture & livestock dealing		187	51	238	3,109	376	3,485	25	3	28	43	5	49
Local authorities		59	0	59	1,771	0	1,771	6	0	6	10	0	10
Other		503	154	657	7,271	1,891	9,162	76	37	113	103	53	156
Total		3,458	8,945	12,403	65,362	94,052	159,414	496	640	1,135	787	947	1,734
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 Table 6.3 (XLS 14KB)

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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, 2009-2019
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
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	69.7	51,085	30.3	118,059
2016	86,970	72.8	54,700	27.2	141,669
2017	84,557	70.7	62,672	29.3	147,229
2018	82,663	69.1	67,373	30.9	150,036
2019	89,343	69.2	70,071	30.8	159,414
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 Table 6.4 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.5 Transport activity classified by national/international journeys and main use of vehicle, 2019
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		3,255	6,708	9,963	63,987	87,329	151,316
International journeys
	Goods loaded in Ireland	121	826	947	834	2,951	3,786
	Goods unloaded in Ireland	56	601	657	393	1,788	2,182
	Cross trade	22	757	779	37	1,482	1,519
	Cabotage	5	52	57	110	502	612
Total international		203	2,237	2,440	1,375	6,723	8,098
Total journeys		3,458	8,945	12,403	65,362	94,052	159,414
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 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, 2019
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	297	40	93	215	100	30	71	43	99	119	1,107
Midland	84	157	68	129	64	43	68	53	48	25	738
West	55	37	283	202	43	50	47	40	7	31	795
Dublin	225	220	249	589	451	210	261	445	164	123	2,938
Mid-East	119	91	52	368	560	62	119	91	45	41	1,547
Mid-West	24	80	76	147	35	362	92	185	20	50	1,071
South-East	33	88	43	146	119	70	403	153	45	70	1,169
South-West	16	60	42	222	72	153	132	788	19	42	1,547
Northern Ireland	36	24	8	68	13	7	35	27	19	9	246
Other countries	48	22	19	212	21	15	52	49	32	776	1,247
Total	938	819	933	2,297	1,478	1,002	1,281	1,873	497	1,286	12,403
	Tonnes carried (thousand)
Border	7,683	340	705	1,618	1,482	119	305	147	1,107	146	13,652
Midland	995	3,969	684	1,287	960	529	669	284	261	43	9,681
West	617	398	6,827	959	239	455	241	177	39	35	9,986
Dublin	1,620	1,951	1,218	21,963	8,825	1,022	1,896	1,724	904	371	41,494
Mid-East	1,491	1,159	286	8,303	13,137	333	1,005	371	357	60	26,500
Mid-West	124	823	634	815	229	10,091	1,032	1,967	69	72	15,857
South-East	139	1,124	198	1,051	1,337	575	9,194	1,053	150	81	14,902
South-West	61	344	230	875	292	1,672	1,013	18,451	44	48	23,030
Northern Ireland	512	155	46	406	158	25	108	68	391	19	1,889
Other countries	69	34	29	395	37	21	58	60	34	1,685	2,423
Total	13,309	10,298	10,856	37,672	26,697	14,843	15,520	24,303	3,356	2,560	159,414
	Vehicle kilometres (million)
Border	58	9	11	33	12	4	5	3	10	7	152
Midland	10	20	8	26	13	9	8	9	3	2	108
West	10	7	66	29	8	11	4	8	1	3	146
Dublin	30	28	29	123	85	20	30	38	12	9	405
Mid-East	17	11	8	75	91	7	14	10	5	2	240
Mid-West	3	8	10	21	6	61	13	26	2	4	153
South-East	4	9	4	27	14	12	66	17	3	4	161
South-West	3	9	7	33	12	26	17	129	1	5	242
Northern Ireland	8	3	1	10	3	1	3	1	4	1	36
Other Countries	3	1	1	14	2	1	6	5	2	56	92
Total	147	104	145	390	247	154	164	247	43	92	1,734
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 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, 2019
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	1	3	8	30	3	1	0	16	1	0	64
France	0	46	4	53	33	1	9	68	1	3	218
Germany	2	4	3	62	0	11	0	48	13	2	144
Ireland	11	73	49	9,963	38	67	29	621	48	12	10,910
Italy	0	16	0	15	22	0	1	32	0	0	85
Netherlands	1	1	13	54	0	3	0	17	9	0	98
Spain	0	16	0	22	0	0	9	4	0	0	51
United Kingdom	12	37	13	406	5	7	0	227	23	4	734
Other EU	0	6	11	1	0	5	0	21	28	0	72
Other countries¹	0	0	0	13	0	0	0	1	10	2	26
Total	27	202	101	10,620	100	94	48	1,056	133	22	12,403
		Tonnes carried (thousand)
Belgium	8	8	21	34	2	5	0	31	3	0	113
France	0	93	9	49	39	3	18	121	1	3	336
Germany	3	7	15	55	0	24	0	48	22	4	179
Ireland	12	102	40	151,316	26	73	23	3,474	28	9	155,102
Italy	0	19	0	12	42	0	2	19	0	0	94
Netherlands	4	3	25	68	0	26	0	32	10	0	168
Spain	0	16	0	17	0	0	28	5	0	0	65
United Kingdom	23	62	16	1,938	3	14	0	1,152	14	3	3,225
Other EU	0	4	21	1	0	7	0	15	68	0	116
Other countries¹	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	1	4	4	16
Total	50	314	148	153,498	112	152	71	4,897	149	22	159,414
Source: CSO
¹Includes any country which is not a member state of the EU

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 Table 6.7 (XLS 14KB)

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Table 6.8 Road freight transport activity classified by group of goods and main use of vehicle, 2019
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	339	975	1,313	4,218	9,965	14,183
Coal & natural gas	42	46	88	552	371	923
Quarry products, metal ores & peat	647	799	1,446	20,947	21,106	42,053
Foodstuffs	571	2,453	3,024	6,608	19,291	25,899
Textiles & leather	17	63	80	263	411	674
Wood, pulp & paper	88	446	535	1,043	3,994	5,037
Coke & refined petroleum products	398	319	717	5,981	4,343	10,324
Chemicals & plastics	56	449	504	760	3,752	4,512
Other non-metallic mineral products	461	655	1,116	13,940	11,883	25,822
Metal products (exc. machinery & equipment)	67	194	261	710	1,412	2,121
Machinery & equipment	106	168	274	1,181	1,288	2,470
Furniture & other manufactured goods	51	166	217	593	1,104	1,698
Secondary raw materials & waste	328	141	469	4,647	1,496	6,143
Other goods	287	2,072	2,358	3,919	13,635	17,554
Total	3,458	8,945	12,403	65,362	94,052	159,414
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 Table 6.8 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 6.9 Number of licensed road hauliers by county, 2012 - 2019
County	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Carlow	86	82	80	72	75	77	75	79
Cavan	93	89	87	85	86	89	93	91
Clare	100	96	91	85	88	85	91	84
Cork	471	461	460	445	436	439	429	414
Donegal	158	160	154	148	156	158	156	153
Dublin	549	522	534	537	539	561	574	562
Galway	169	168	166	170	171	168	162	160
Kerry	136	131	132	120	117	118	115	115
Kildare	256	248	237	234	234	231	236	234
Kilkenny	123	120	123	114	118	113	110	105
Laois	108	108	109	109	111	115	118	118
Leitrim	28	23	24	25	25	26	27	28
Limerick	167	155	152	144	143	143	138	147
Longford	42	40	39	37	38	38	38	42
Louth	157	153	151	144	150	148	146	134
Mayo	118	112	112	106	106	111	112	115
Meath	218	217	218	217	226	234	227	224
Monaghan	153	145	142	144	145	145	155	157
Offaly	73	64	63	68	65	63	69	65
Roscommon	80	78	79	79	73	76	78	74
Sligo	64	61	54	55	59	63	59	55
Tipperary	190	175	181	182	186	185	191	188
Waterford	65	60	63	63	63	60	59	57
Westmeath	66	64	65	64	66	67	71	71
Wexford	213	215	214	209	204	215	220	210
Wicklow	116	105	110	107	116	122	124	117
Total	3,999	3,852	3,840	3,763	3,796	3,850	3,873	3,799
Source: Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2019 Table 6.9 (XLS 11KB)

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