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For more information on this release:
E-mail: transport@cso.ie Olive Loughnane +353 21 4535281 Noreen Dorgan +353 21 4535260 Marie O'Rourke +353 21 4535287
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-7174
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Road Freight Transport Survey

Quarter 4 and Year 2019

Road freight activity, 2018-2019
 Quarter Annual
 Q4 20181Q4 2019% change 201812019% change
Tonne-km (million)2,7103,100+14.4% 11,53712,403+7.5%
Tonnes carried (thousand)33,13837,992+14.6% 150,036159,414+6.3%
Vehicle kilometres (million)371412+11.1% 1,5991,734+8.4%
Laden journeys (thousand)3,0983,315+7.0% 13,36014,480+8.4%
1 Revised

Road freight tonnage increased by 6.3% in 2019

Figure 1: Tonnage of goods transported by road, 2017-2019
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In 2019, a total of 159.4 million tonnes of goods was transported by road. This represents an increase of 6.3% on the 2018 total. Activity measured as weight by distance was 12,403 tonne-kilometres in 2019, a rise of 7.5% compared with 2018. See table1B.

The results also show that:

  • The total distance covered by road freight transport in 2019 was 1.7 billion kilometres. See table 1B.
  • The commodity group “Quarry products, metal ores and peat” represented 26.4% of all tonnes carried in 2019. See table 2.
  • In the fourth quarter of 2019, a total of 38.0 million tonnes of goods was transported by road. This represents an increase of 14.6% when compared with the same period in 2018. See table 1A.
  • Activity rose by 14.4% to 3,100 million tonne-kilometres in the fourth quarter of 2019 when compared with the same quarter in 2018.
  • There were an estimated 128,434 Irish registered goods vehicles (greater than 2 tonnes unladen weight) operating in Ireland and abroad in 2019, which was 8.8% higher than in the same period in 2018. See table 7.
Type of workTonnes carried (million)
Import/export work12.090
Carriage of livestock2.316
Carriage of other farm produce from farms7.203
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs, etc. to farms6.586
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites 59.813
Delivery of goods to retail outlets18.521
Delivery of goods to wholesalers14.571
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories15.792
Delivery of goods to households4.715
Other work17.807
Table 1A: Road freight activity by business of owner, Quarter 4 2017-2019
Q4 2017 Q4 20181 Q4 2019
 TransportOtherTotal TransportOtherTotal TransportOtherTotal
Tonne-km (million)2,1198732,992 1,9367742,710 2,0581,0423,100
Tonnes carried (thousand)19,68015,94335,622 18,82214,31633,138 20,28417,70737,992
Vehicle kilometres (million)204208412 192179371 192221412
Laden journeys (thousand)1,1802,0153,195 1,1341,9643,098 1,1712,1443,315
1 Revised
Table 1B: Road freight activity by business of owner, 2017-2019
2017 20181 2019
 TransportOtherTotal TransportOtherTotal TransportOtherTotal
Tonne-km (million)8,3183,44111,759 7,9703,56711,537 8,5783,82512,403
Tonnes carried (thousand)84,55762,672147,229 82,66367,373150,036 89,34370,071159,414
Vehicle kilometres (million)8067861,592 7958041,599 8618731,734
Laden journeys (thousand)5,0477,77912,827 5,0268,33413,360 5,5688,91214,480
1 Revised
Table 2: Road freight activity by commodity group carried, 2019
CommodityTonne-kmTonnes carriedVehicle kilometres
 millionthousandmillion
Products of agriculture, forestry and fishing1,31314,18391
Coal and natural gas889238
Quarry products, metal ores and peat1,44642,05373
Foodstuffs3,02425,899272
Textiles and leather8067415
Wood, pulp and paper5355,03751
Coke and refined petroleum products71710,32446
Chemicals and plastics5044,51250
Other non-metallic mineral products1,11625,82285
Metal products (except machinery and equipment)2612,12122
Machinery and equipment2742,47034
Furniture and other manufactured goods2171,69855
Secondary raw materials and waste4696,14352
Other goods2,35817,554881
Total12,403159,4141,734
Table 3: Road freight activity by main type of work, 2019
 Tonne-kmTonnes carriedVehicle kilometres
 millionthousandmillion
Import/export work2,52312,090196
Carriage of livestock1862,31632
Carriage of other farm produce from farms4817,20341
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs, etc. to farms4826,58648
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites 2,03259,813263
Delivery of goods to retail outlets1,90118,521450
Delivery of goods to wholesalers1,77414,571252
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories1,45615,792149
Delivery of goods to households2614,715106
Other work1,30917,807198
Total12,403159,4141,734
Table 4: Domestic transport activity1 classified by region of origin, 2019
RegionTonne-kmTonnes carried
 million%thousand%
Northern and Western1,64616.5%22,31114.7%
Border8898.9%12,3998.2%
West7577.6%9,9126.6%
    
Southern3,53935.5%53,32535.2%
Mid-West1,00010.0%15,71610.4%
South-East1,05410.6%14,6719.7%
South-West1,48614.9%22,93815.2%
    
Eastern and Midland4,77848.0%75,68150.0%
Dublin2,65126.6%40,21926.6%
Mid-East1,46214.7%26,08317.2%
Midland6656.7%9,3786.2%
    
Total9,963100.0151,316100.0
1Domestic transport activity excludes Northern Ireland and other countries
Table 5: Road freight activity by country of origin, Quarter 4 2019
Country of destination 
Country of originIrelandUnited KingdomOther EU countriesNon-EU countriesTotal
Tonne-km (millions)
Ireland2,4851439722,727
United Kingdom9172290193
Other EU countries5760603180
Non-EU countries00000
Total2,63427618553,100
Tonnes carried (thousands)
Ireland36,01876495236,879
United Kingdom451354380843
Other EU countries61811233269
Non-EU countries00000
Total36,5301,200257537,992
Table 6: Transport activity classified by country of origin and country of destination, 2019
Country of originCountry of destinationTotal
BelgiumFranceGermanyIrelandItalyNetherlandsSpainUnited KingdomOther EUOther countries1
 Tonne-km (million)
Belgium13830310161064
France04645333196813218
Germany24362011048132144
Ireland1173499,963386729621481210,910
Italy0160152201320085
Netherlands111354030179098
Spain01602200940051
United Kingdom123713406570227234734
Other EU061110502128072
Other countries100013000110226
Total2720210110,62010094481,0561332212,403
 Tonnes carried (thousand)
Belgium8821342503130113
France0939493931812113336
Germany371555024048224179
Ireland1210240151,3162673233,474289155,103
Italy0190124202190094
Netherlands432568026032100168
Spain016017002850065
United Kingdom2362161,93831401,1521433,225
Other EU0421107015680116
Other countries1000700014416
Total50314148153,498112152714,89714922159,414
1Includes any country which is not a member state of the EU
Table 7: Road freight activity by unladen weight of vehicle, 2019
Unladen weight (tonnes)Tonne-kmTonnes carriedNo. of vehiclesLaden journeys
 million%thousand%number%thousand%
2 - 55134.18,4585.392,96472.45,05534.9
>5 - 7.52141.73,3182.15,2374.17084.9
>7.5 - 108887.210,9986.96,4065.01,2718.8
>10 - 12.52,77822.437,98923.88,5016.62,36216.3
Over 12.58,01064.698,65061.915,32511.95,08635.1
Total12,403100.0159,414100.0128,434100.014,480100.0
Table 8: Response rates by age and unladen weight of vehicle, 2019
Year of manufactureUnladen weight Total
2 - 5 tonnes 5 - 10 tonnes 10 tonnes and over 
Forms issued% response Forms issued% response Forms issued% response Forms issued% response
Before 201184163 1,62153 6,93645 9,39848
2011 - 201463861 58950 4,70944 5,93646
After 20141,55958 67156 5,87144 8,10147
Total3,03860 2,88153 17,51644 23,43547

Background Notes

Survey Methodology

Introduction

This report contains the results of the "National Survey of Transport of Goods by Road" which is conducted on a weekly basis throughout the year.

Legal framework

This is a statutory survey conducted under the Statistics (Road Freight) Order, 2016 (SI No 146 of 2016) to meet Ireland’s EU requirements under Council Regulation (EC) 70/2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road.

Scope of the survey

Quarterly results cover a survey period of 13 weeks for each quarter. Irish registered vehicles that come within the scope of the survey must meet the following criteria:

a.    belong to the motor taxation class ‘Goods Vehicles’
b.    have a valid motor tax disc during the relevant survey week. However, in practice, as the survey sample was selected several weeks before the survey week, vehicles where the motor tax had expired no more than three months previously were also included in the scope.
c.    have an unladen weight of two tonnes and over
d.    have a vehicular body type appropriate for carrying freight.

No other vehicles are covered. In particular, this means that vehicles in other motor taxation classes such as agricultural tractors, general haulage tractors, dumpers and exempt vehicles (i.e. vehicles exempt from liability to pay road tax which includes state owned, diplomatic, fire services or disabled drivers) are not included in the survey.

All activity of goods vehicles within the scope of the survey engaged in the carriage of goods on the public road, either on own account or for hire or reward, are covered.  Excluded, therefore, is activity such as site work off the public road or work of a mainly service nature (e.g. carriage of personnel to or from places of work). 

Sampling frame

The sampling frame for the Survey comes from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport’s database on vehicles taxed as goods vehicles.

The sampling frame/register is updated every eight weeks during the year with information from the Department regarding vehicles:

1.    being registered for the first time
2.    having their motor taxation class changed
3.    being formally scrapped
4.    having their registered owner changed. 

The information required of each vehicle on the register for survey purposes is as follows:

a)    year of manufacture of the vehicle
b)    date of first registration of the vehicle
c)    an indication as to whether the vehicle has been taxed for the carriage of goods on own account or for hire or reward
d)    the unladen weight of the vehicle
e)    name and address of the person on whose name the vehicle was most recently taxed (referred to as the owner of the vehicle in the following paragraphs).

Periodicity

The results are published on a quarterly and annual basis.

Sample design

Information is collected in respect of one week’s transport activity for a random sample of goods vehicles.   Every week a sample of vehicles is selected from the register. A survey questionnaire is then issued to the registered owners of these vehicles by post, seeking information on the vehicle and an account of the vehicle’s activity during that week. For the purposes of sample selection, vehicles are divided into 20 strata.  These strata were created on the basis of four criteria:

  • the unladen weight of the vehicle
  • year of first registration of the vehicle
  • whether the vehicle had been taxed for the carriage of goods on own account or for hire or reward
  • year of manufacture.

Definitions used

Type of journey

Two basic categories of journey are distinguished – split delivery/collection journeys and end-to-end journeys.

  • End-to-end journeys are those which have no intermediate collection or delivery points between their origin and destination.
  • Split delivery/collection journeys involve the depositing and/or collection of part of the load carried at one or more stopping points along the way. A common example of such a journey would be the delivery of beer to public houses and the collection of empties.

Tonnes carried

  • This is the weight of goods (including empties) carried inclusive of packaging etc. but excluding the weight of demountable containers (if any) in which the goods are carried.
  • For split delivery/collection journeys tonnes carried are taken as the weight of goods at the start of the journey plus the weight of any other goods collected during the journey.

Tonne-kilometres (tonne-km)

  • For end-to-end journeys this is the result of multiplying the weight of goods carried by the distance they were carried.
  • For split delivery/collection journeys more complex formulae were used.  These involved multiplying the distance travelled with a load by an estimate of the average weight of load carried.

National transport

National transport is the carriage of goods by road by Irish registered goods vehicles between two places (a place of loading/embarkment and a place of unloading/disembarkment) both of which are located in the Republic of Ireland.

NUTS2 and NUTS3 Regions

The regional classification in this release is based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat. Until Q4 2017, the NUTS3 regions corresponded to the eight Regional Authorities established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993, which came into operation on 1 January 1994 while the NUTS2 regions, which were proposed by Government and agreed by Eurostat in 1999, were groupings of those historic NUTS3 regions.

However, the NUTS3 boundaries were amended on 21st of November 2016 under Regulation (EC) No. 2066/2016 and have come into force from Q1 2018. These new groupings are reflected in the Road Freight Transport Survey results from Q1 2018 onwards. The changes resulting from the amendment are that County Louth has moved from the Border to the Mid-East and what was formerly South Tipperary has moved from the South-East to the Mid-West, resulting in the new NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions:

Northern & Western NUTS2 Region Southern NUTS2 Region Eastern & Midland NUTS2 Region
Border Cavan Mid-West Clare Dublin Dublin City
  Donegal   Limerick City & County   Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown
  Leitrim   Tipperary   Fingal
  Monaghan       South Dublin
  Sligo        
    South-East Carlow Mid-East Kildare
West Galway City   Kilkenny   Meath
  Galway County   Waterford City & County   Wicklow
  Mayo   Wexford   Louth
  Roscommon        
        Midland Laois
    South-West Cork City   Longford
      Cork County   Offaly
      Kerry   Westmeath
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