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Transport Omnibus 2020

Road Freight Transport

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This publication has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this publication reflect some of the economic impacts of the COVID-19 situation.

Road freight transport

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In 2020, Irish registered goods vehicles made 11.8 million laden journeys and transported a total of 141 million tonnes of freight. The overall amount of road freight activity was 11.4 billion tonne-kilometres in 2020, a decrease of 8.2% compared with 2019.
The largest commodity group transported by Irish registered goods vehicles in terms of tonnes carried in 2020 was quarry products, metal ores & peat (26.1%). The greatest share of total freight activity in terms of tonne-kilometres related to the carriage of foodstuffs (26.3%).
In 2020, there were 3,787 licensed hauliers in the State, a decrease of 0.3% compared with 2019.

X-axis label	Other companies	Transport companies
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
2020	64.6	76.4

Road freight transport

Table 6.1 Road freight transport statistics summary, 2010 - 2020
Year	Tonne-kilometres	Tonnes carried	Vehicle kilometres	Average number of vehicles	Laden journeys
	Million	Thousand	Million	Number	Thousand
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
2020	11,383	140,998	1,488	137,617	11,775
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2020 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, 2020
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	48	2,393	2,441	270	10,957	11,227
Carriage of livestock	26	103	129	441	1,153	1,594
Carriage of other farm produce from farms	146	359	505	2,350	5,403	7,752
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs etc. to farms	181	355	536	2,664	4,287	6,951
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites	912	753	1,665	30,065	21,982	52,047
Delivery of goods to retail outlets	528	1,453	1,981	5,917	11,890	17,807
Delivery of goods to wholesalers	376	1,232	1,608	3,905	9,162	13,067
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories	243	1,062	1,305	2,897	11,332	14,229
Delivery of goods to households	341	41	382	5,597	640	6,237
Other work	337	494	831	5,145	4,941	10,086
Total	3,138	8,244	11,383	59,252	81,746	140,998
Source: CSO
¹Includes work done to and from ports as well as roll-on/roll-off and cross-border work

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Table 6.3 Road freight transport activity classified by business of owner and main use of vehicle, 2020
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	7,783	7,783	0	76,362	76,362	0	489	489	0	714	714
Manufacturing industry		1,293	0	1,293	31,167	0	31,167	134	0	134	226	0	226
	Mining & quarrying (incl. sand & gravel merchants)	370	0	370	12,243	0	12,243	19	0	19	37	0	37
	Creameries & agricultural cooperative societies	54	0	54	666	0	666	4	0	4	4	0	4
	Manufacture of food & feeding stuffs	300	0	300	3,799	0	3,799	45	0	45	75	0	75
	Manufacture of drink & tobacco	3	0	3	20	0	20	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Manufacture of glass, cement & clay products	384	0	384	12,569	0	12,569	27	0	27	51	0	51
	Other manufacturing	182	0	182	1,870	0	1,870	39	0	39	59	0	59
Building & construction		136	0	136	3,471	0	3,471	28	0	28	50	0	50
Distribution		1,104	194	1,298	13,465	2,723	16,188	191	16	207	278	21	299
Agriculture & livestock dealing		137	78	215	2,213	769	2,982	23	6	29	41	11	51
Local authorities		48	0	48	1,881	0	1,881	6	0	6	10	0	10
Other		420	189	610	7,055	1,893	8,948	58	38	96	84	53	137
Total		3,138	8,244	11,383	59,252	81,746	140,998	439	549	987	689	799	1,488
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2020 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, 2010-2020
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
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
2020	76,362	68.4	64,636	31.6	140,998
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2020 Table 6.4 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.5 Transport activity classified by national/international journeys and main use of vehicle, 2020
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		2,942	6,074	9,016	58,067	76,011	134,078
International journeys
	Goods loaded in Ireland	110	776	886	643	2,310	2,952
	Goods unloaded in Ireland	57	582	639	412	1,511	1,923
	Cross trade	27	769	796	68	1,491	1,559
	Cabotage	2	44	46	62	424	486
Total international		196	2,171	2,367	1,184	5,735	6,920
Total journeys		3,138	8,244	11,383	59,252	81,746	140,998
Source: CSO

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Table 6.6 Road freight transport activity classified by region of origin and region of destination, 2020
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	278	41	51	240	79	32	41	66	59	86	973
Midland	61	144	72	116	74	40	64	44	26	14	655
West	55	38	312	179	48	44	26	35	11	39	788
Dublin	205	223	294	541	337	273	231	386	131	162	2,783
Mid-East	99	92	85	325	372	53	77	82	52	53	1,290
Mid-West	20	40	60	138	53	320	115	169	11	71	998
South-East	27	56	14	130	103	67	318	112	46	73	944
South-West	22	42	68	217	66	176	154	674	7	45	1,471
Northern Ireland	39	8	9	53	26	7	17	28	14	31	232
Other countries	17	11	12	256	27	35	65	35	38	752	1,249
Total	824	695	977	2,196	1,184	1,048	1,107	1,631	395	1,326	11,383
	Tonnes carried (thousand)
Border	6,920	387	357	1,566	840	138	191	208	777	117	11,501
Midland	693	4,486	808	1,028	926	447	574	212	95	25	9,295
West	620	431	7,080	884	267	356	125	157	57	40	10,016
Dublin	1,395	2,022	1,371	19,289	6,393	1,310	1,572	1,604	716	296	35,968
Mid-East	1,021	1,184	521	7,333	10,916	295	867	345	329	66	22,877
Mid-West	89	398	614	809	345	8,840	1,321	1,903	38	91	14,448
South-East	125	561	62	856	1,034	657	8,016	798	157	89	12,354
South-West	61	217	318	884	309	1,830	1,093	15,800	15	44	20,570
Northern Ireland	457	35	36	308	231	21	50	67	236	37	1,477
Other countries	36	22	23	441	45	44	68	44	49	1,718	2,490
Total	11,417	9,742	11,191	33,397	21,307	13,938	13,876	21,137	2,471	2,522	140,998
	Vehicle kilometres (million)
Border	44	7	11	21	12	3	3	5	6	5	119
Midland	9	21	9	22	11	6	9	8	2	1	98
West	11	9	54	25	9	7	2	6	1	2	126
Dublin	22	23	25	107	55	28	26	36	11	10	343
Mid-East	13	13	9	48	70	7	15	9	6	4	194
Mid-West	2	6	6	25	7	46	12	21	1	5	132
South-East	2	8	2	23	19	11	59	14	3	5	146
South-West	5	8	6	34	8	25	16	108	0	3	214
Northern Ireland	6	2	1	9	4	1	3	1	2	2	30
Other Countries	1	1	1	15	2	2	4	2	2	55	86
Total	115	98	125	329	198	136	148	211	35	93	1,488
Source: CSO

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Table 6.7 Road freight transport activity classified by country of origin and country of destination, 2020
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	2	6	30	0	2	0	24	0	0	64
France	3	46	11	58	23	1	18	57	3	3	223
Germany	8	5	7	28	7	5	0	33	20	5	117
Ireland	15	73	54	9,016	71	53	41	508	53	18	9,902
Italy	0	29	0	38	14	0	0	8	0	0	89
Netherlands	1	2	9	62	0	4	0	26	3	0	107
Spain	0	16	0	33	0	0	5	16	1	0	71
United Kingdom	10	45	28	358	0	31	6	213	12	0	703
Other EU	2	0	19	31	0	1	1	9	27	0	91
Other countries¹	0	0	0	7	0	0	0	8	0	0	16
Total	39	219	134	9,661	115	96	71	903	119	26	11,383
		Tonnes carried (thousand)
Belgium	1	9	12	30	0	7	0	37	0	0	97
France	7	99	17	66	29	2	20	100	3	3	345
Germany	17	8	23	24	9	12	0	36	35	3	169
Ireland	17	89	47	134,078	43	54	26	2,635	27	13	137,030
Italy	0	25	0	22	38	0	0	5	0	0	91
Netherlands	2	4	22	86	0	39	0	42	3	0	198
Spain	0	22	0	18	0	0	15	10	2	0	67
United Kingdom	20	74	25	1,658	0	47	3	1,025	8	0	2,862
Other EU	3	0	29	17	0	2	3	6	68	0	127
Other countries¹	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	7	0	0	12
Total	68	331	176	136,005	119	162	67	3,904	147	19	140,998
Source: CSO
¹Includes any country which is not a member state of the EU

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2020 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, 2020
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	268	917	1,185	3,569	8,942	12,511
Coal & natural gas	54	35	89	481	289	770
Quarry products, metal ores & peat	525	669	1,194	18,483	18,311	36,794
Foodstuffs	575	2,414	2,990	6,647	17,655	24,301
Textiles & leather	18	60	78	164	445	609
Wood, pulp & paper	106	458	564	1,176	3,775	4,951
Coke & refined petroleum products	434	376	810	5,904	4,607	10,511
Chemicals & plastics	52	364	416	542	2,956	3,497
Other non-metallic mineral products	454	506	960	13,007	8,492	21,499
Metal products (exc. machinery & equipment)	37	126	164	395	750	1,145
Machinery & equipment	36	91	127	460	755	1,214
Furniture & other manufactured goods	42	138	180	480	971	1,452
Secondary raw materials & waste	260	132	393	4,289	1,254	5,542
Other goods	277	1,957	2,234	3,656	12,545	16,200
Total	3,138	8,244	11,383	59,252	81,746	140,998
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2020 Table 6.8 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 6.9 Number of licensed road hauliers by county, 2013 - 2020
County	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Carlow	82	80	72	75	77	75	79	78
Cavan	89	87	85	86	89	93	91	90
Clare	96	91	85	88	85	91	84	82
Cork	461	460	445	436	439	429	414	413
Donegal	160	154	148	156	158	156	153	161
Dublin	522	534	537	539	561	574	562	559
Galway	168	166	170	171	168	162	160	156
Kerry	131	132	120	117	118	115	115	114
Kildare	248	237	234	234	231	236	234	226
Kilkenny	120	123	114	118	113	110	105	105
Laois	108	109	109	111	115	118	118	121
Leitrim	23	24	25	25	26	27	28	30
Limerick	155	152	144	143	143	138	147	141
Longford	40	39	37	38	38	38	42	41
Louth	153	151	144	150	148	146	134	141
Mayo	112	112	106	106	111	112	115	121
Meath	217	218	217	226	234	227	224	229
Monaghan	145	142	144	145	145	155	157	147
Offaly	64	63	68	65	63	69	65	61
Roscommon	78	79	79	73	76	78	74	73
Sligo	61	54	55	59	63	59	55	59
Tipperary	175	181	182	186	185	191	188	185
Waterford	60	63	63	63	60	59	57	56
Westmeath	64	65	64	66	67	71	71	74
Wexford	215	214	209	204	215	220	210	205
Wicklow	105	110	107	116	122	124	117	119
Total	3,852	3,840	3,763	3,796	3,850	3,873	3,799	3,787
Source: Department of Transport

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2020 Table 6.9 (XLS 11KB)

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