This publication has been compiled during the COVID-19 crisis. The results contained in this publication reflect some of the impacts of the COVID-19 situation.
Figure 6.1 shows that in 2021, a total of 154.9 million tonnes of goods was transported by road. This represents an increase of 10% on the 2020 total but a decrease of 3% when compared with 2019.
Goods vehicles involved in the 'Delivery of goods to road works or building sites' carried 57.9 million tonnes in 2021, which was the highest among all types of work carried out by goods vehicles.
| Table 6.1 Quantity of goods carried ('000 tonnes) and share of road freight activity (tonne-km) by business of owner, 2011-2021 | ||||||
| Business of owner | Total tonnes carried | |||||
| Transport companies | Other companies | |||||
| Year | '000 tonnes carried | % share (tonne-km) | '000 tonnes carried | % share (tonne-km) | '000 tonnes carried | |
| 2011 | 54,839 | 67% | 55,421 | 33% | 110,260 | |
| 2012 | 58,337 | 69% | 49,741 | 31% | 108,078 | |
| 2013 | 60,898 | 69% | 47,933 | 31% | 108,831 | |
| 2014 | 65,240 | 71% | 47,260 | 29% | 112,499 | |
| 2015 | 66,974 | 70% | 51,085 | 30% | 118,059 | |
| 2016 | 86,970 | 73% | 54,700 | 27% | 141,669 | |
| 2017 | 84,557 | 71% | 62,672 | 29% | 147,229 | |
| 2018 | 82,663 | 69% | 67,373 | 31% | 150,036 | |
| 2019 | 89,343 | 69% | 70,071 | 31% | 159,414 | |
| 2020 | 76,362 | 68% | 64,636 | 32% | 140,998 | |
| 2021 | 87,734 | 69% | 67,166 | 31% | 154,900 | |
| Source: CSO | ||||||
| Table 6.2 Transport activity classified by national/international journeys and main use of vehicle, 2021 | ||||||||
| Type of journey | Tonne-km (million) | Tonnes carried (thousand) | ||||||
| Own account | Hire or reward | Total | Own account | Hire or reward | Total | |||
| National journeys | 3,310 | 6,897 | 10,207 | 60,380 | 87,132 | 147,513 | ||
| International journeys | ||||||||
| Goods loaded in Ireland | 85 | 771 | 856 | 641 | 2,549 | 3,191 | ||
| Goods unloaded in Ireland | 34 | 596 | 630 | 232 | 1,778 | 2,009 | ||
| Cross trade | 5 | 722 | 727 | 12 | 1,406 | 1,419 | ||
| Cabotage | 6 | 59 | 66 | 256 | 513 | 769 | ||
| Total international | 130 | 2,148 | 2,278 | 1,142 | 6,246 | 7,388 | ||
| Total journeys | 3,440 | 9,045 | 12,485 | 61,522 | 93,379 | 154,900 | ||
| Source: CSO | ||||||||
More detailed statistics on Road Freight Survey can be found under “Data” and Road Freight Transport Survey publications.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.