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Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 3 Travel, Agriculture, Environment and COVID-19

Transport

16,594

Electric/hybrid new private cars licensed
for the first time in 2020

This chapter presents information on the transport sector of the Irish economy. The tables cover the licensing of new vehicles by taxation class, by make and by local authority, key indicators for goods carried by road, goods handled by Irish ports, and the volume of passengers and freight passing through Irish airports.

New vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class

Table 23.1 New vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class
Number
Taxation Class		2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Private cars		71,348	92,361	121,110	141,931	127,045	121,157	113,305	84,309
Goods vehicles		11,024	16,254	22,939	28,051	24,101	25,459	24,645	21,495
Tractors		4,403	2,186	1,986	1,934	1,810	2,043	2,137	2,190
Motor cycles		878	960	1,244	1,546	1,431	1,556	1,848	1,709
Exempt vehicles		3,955	4,762	5,234	6,207	5,854	5,910	5,976	5,692
Public service vehicles		378	517	761	957	942	976	944	379
	Small	160	237	343	500	505	418	435	212
	Large	218	280	418	457	437	558	509	167
Machines or Contrivances		606	399	409	444	424	472	547	415
Other classes		295	213	167	223	233	292	346	325
Total		92,887	117,652	153,850	181,293	161,840	157,865	149,748	116,514
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.1 (XLS 11KB)

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Link to release: Vehicles Licensed for the First Time

There were 84,309 new private cars licensed in 2020, a decrease of 25.6% compared with 2019. In total, there were 116,514 new vehicles licensed during 2020, a fall of 22.2% compared with 2019.

New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority

Table 23.2 New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority
Number
Licensing Authority	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Carlow	1,152	1,461	1,828	2,212	1,925	2,011	1,745	1,525
Cavan	1,112	1,405	1,927	2,296	2,407	1,881	1,671	1,662
Clare	1,795	2,431	3,305	3,730	3,298	3,302	2,787	2,589
Cork	10,706	13,794	18,964	22,571	19,509	19,006	17,314	14,522
Donegal	2,051	2,723	3,643	4,282	3,499	3,249	2,889	2,777
Dublin	33,668	42,048	54,021	62,870	58,265	57,418	59,003	40,608
Galway	3,670	4,493	6,481	7,298	6,273	6,117	5,292	4,746
Kerry	1,953	2,554	3,420	4,218	3,651	3,536	3,172	2,938
Kildare	3,767	4,927	6,503	7,807	6,860	6,974	5,937	5,380
Kilkenny	1,825	2,213	2,923	3,495	2,869	2,931	2,513	2,350
Laois	1,192	1,399	1,826	2,193	2,009	1,950	1,784	1,628
Leitrim	445	521	740	893	729	701	569	598
Limerick	3,371	4,496	5,663	6,944	5,927	5,555	5,106	4,640
Longford	552	655	858	1,031	908	837	746	695
Louth	1,824	2,568	3,393	3,932	3,368	3,441	3,237	2,831
Mayo	1,929	2,311	3,085	3,659	3,106	2,943	2,683	2,414
Meath	2,854	3,682	5,006	6,290	5,239	5,157	4,617	4,156
Monaghan	947	1,116	1,525	1,838	1,549	1,479	1,319	1,198
Offaly	1,227	1,485	1,939	2,400	2,007	2,055	1,784	1,612
Roscommon	3,717	4,253	4,877	5,039	5,100	4,420	4,967	1,514
Sligo	984	1,220	1,572	1,825	1,581	1,556	1,479	1,387
Tipperary	2,782	3,481	4,407	5,217	4,495	4,432	3,869	3,518
Waterford	2,530	3,636	4,457	5,231	5,283	4,650	4,303	2,940
Westmeath	1,729	2,084	2,595	3,771	2,654	2,551	2,370	1,985
Wexford	3,172	4,133	5,379	6,130	5,706	6,100	5,453	3,550
Wicklow	1,933	2,563	3,513	4,121	3,623	3,613	3,139	2,751
Total	92,887	117,652	153,850	181,293	161,840	157,865	149,748	116,514
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.2 (XLS 12KB)

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Link to release: Vehicles Licensed for the First Time

In 2020, Dublin (40,608) and Cork (14,522) licensing authorities accounted for almost half (47.3%) of all new vehicles licensed for the first time.

Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by make

Table 23.3 Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by make
Make	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Alfa Romeo	37	40	43	43	96	86	37	23
Audi	3,554	4,157	5,062	5,841	5,351	4,806	4,448	3,532
BMW	3,414	3,859	4,651	5,280	4,487	4,128	3,865	3,022
Citroen	1,187	1,330	1,880	1,437	1,429	1,186	1,009	981
Dacia	1,239	2,536	3,660	4,326	3,464	3,411	3,066	1,931
Fiat	531	625	670	737	779	698	400	238
Ford	7,032	9,040	11,823	14,092	11,660	10,746	9,047	6,493
Honda	948	1,287	1,416	1,496	1,244	1,260	1,237	778
Hyundai	5,548	7,410	10,743	14,630	11,127	10,950	10,281	7,227
Jaguar	150	189	262	541	639	594	446	270
Jeep	31	13	77	84	52	92	109	18
Kia	3,151	4,062	5,288	6,425	6,812	7,005	6,090	5,112
Land Rover	786	770	924	1,276	1,154	1,001	1,103	1,057
Lexus	185	343	494	584	429	471	484	401
Mazda	1,359	1,764	2,173	2,911	2,585	2,162	1,780	1,223
Mercedes Benz	1,383	1,963	2,525	3,622	4,619	3,953	3,112	2,825
Mini	466	477	654	758	596	577	516	420
Mitsubishi	470	577	877	929	647	741	886	396
Nissan	5,034	6,691	10,843	11,503	9,954	9,277	7,895	5,096
Opel	4,721	6,156	7,326	7,883	6,474	4,893	4,942	1,912
Peugeot	2,111	2,804	3,449	4,053	3,797	5,374	5,404	4,438
Porsche	24	51	84	69	81	73	67	109
Renault	3,356	4,821	6,110	8,371	8,382	7,075	6,728	4,155
Seat	2,158	2,334	2,514	2,622	3,345	3,600	3,947	3,100
Skoda	4,593	6,005	7,427	9,067	8,613	8,668	8,791	6,887
Ssangyong	35	89	88	194	96	74	37	55
Subaru	91	135	185	155	158	187	80	56
Suzuki	561	617	865	1,218	1,303	1,229	1,143	892
Tesla	0	4	3	7	48	120	267	765
Toyota	7,180	9,658	12,409	14,728	12,207	11,484	11,408	9,475
Volkswagen	9,098	11,329	15,016	15,094	13,609	13,496	13,180	10,253
Volvo	856	1,175	1,515	1,921	1,785	1,690	1,440	1,126
Other	59	50	54	34	23	50	60	43
Total	71,348	92,361	121,110	141,931	127,045	121,157	113,305	84,309
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.3 (XLS 12KB)

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Link to release: Vehicles Licensed for the First Time

Volkswagen (10,253) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in 2020, followed by Toyota (9,475), Hyundai (7,227), Skoda (6,887) and Ford (6,493). Together these five makes represented almost half (47.8%) of all new private cars licensed.

In 2013, the top make was Volkswagen (9,098), followed by Toyota (7,180), Ford (7,032), Hyundai (5,548) and Nissan (5,034). These five makes represented almost half (47.5%) of all new private cars licensed in 2013.

See Irelands Top Motors for make and model distribution.

	Most popular makes of new cars 2020
Volkswagen	12.2
Toyota	11.2
Hyundai	8.6
Skoda	8.2
Ford	7.7
Other	52.2

	Most popular makes of new cars 2013
Volkswagen	12.8
Toyota	10.1
Ford	9.9
Hyundai	7.8
Nissan	7.1
Other	52.5

Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type

Table 23.4 Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type
Fuel	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Petrol	18,964	23,417	32,963	39,472	39,391	46,776	45,761	31,507
Diesel	51,772	67,740	86,103	99,306	82,492	65,814	53,201	36,208
Electric	51	222	476	392	623	1,222	3,443	3,940
Hybrid	555	954	1,562	2,761	4,539	7,345	10,900	12,654
Other	6	28	6	0	0	0	0	0
Total	71,348	92,361	121,110	141,931	127,045	121,157	113,305	84,309
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.4 (XLS 10KB)

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Link to release: Vehicles Licensed for the First Time

In 2020, 42.9% of new private cars licensed were diesel compared with 47.0% in 2019. In 2020, 19.7% of new private cars licensed were electric/electric hybrid (16,594). This compares with 12.7% (14,343) of the total in 2019.

	Petrol	Diesel	Electric/Hybrid
2016	27.8	70.0	2.2
2017	31.0	64.9	4.1
2018	38.6	54.3	7.1
2019	40.4	47.0	12.7
2020	37.4	42.9	19.7

Key indicators for transport of goods by road

Table 23.5 Key indicators for transport of goods by road
	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Tonnes carried (thousand)	108,831	112,499	118,059	141,669	147,229	150,036	159,414	140,998
Tonne-kilometres (million)	9,138	9,772	9,844	11,564	11,759	11,537	12,403	11,383
Vehicle kilometres (million)	1,261	1,307	1,302	1,558	1,592	1,599	1,734	1,488
Average number of vehicles	76,967	83,650	87,094	98,656	108,479	118,032	128,434	137,617
Laden journeys (thousand)	9,925	10,094	10,279	12,090	12,827	13,360	14,480	11,775
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.5 (XLS 10KB)

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Link to release: Road Freight Transport Survey

Irish registered goods vehicles carried 141 million tonnes of goods on 11.8 million laden journeys in 2020 and the amount of freight activity, as measured by tonne-kilometres, was 11.4 billion.

The average number of registered goods vehicles in the State was estimated at 137,617 in 2020 and the fleet travelled a total of 1.5 billion kilometres.

	Tonnes carried (million)
2013	108.8
2014	112.5
2015	118.1
2016	141.7
2017	147.2
2018	150.0
2019	159.4
2020	141.0

Statistics of port traffic

Table 23.6 Statistics of port traffic - number of vessel arrivals, tonnage of goods handled by type of cargo and area of trade
Category of traffic	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Number of vessels by type
Liquid bulk	1,031	998	1,043	1,129	1,054	1,178	1,125	961
Dry bulk	766	585	586	866	789	749	615	656
Container	1,262	1,205	1,204	1,240	1,240	1,424	1,393	1,292
Specialised	99	121	200	189	210	208	134	116
General	8,597	9,161	9,054	9,278	9,302	9,405	9,469	8,827
Passenger	209	169	188	207	234	300	216	3
Total number of vessels	11,964	12,239	12,275	12,909	12,829	13,264	12,952	11,855

Tonnage of goods by type of cargo ('000)
Roll-on/roll-off traffic	12,145	13,104	13,907	14,884	15,497	16,037	16,183	15,570
Lift-on/lift-off traffic	6,204	6,646	6,983	7,230	7,346	7,629	8,009	7,806
Liquid bulk	11,541	11,345	12,438	11,274	12,211	12,171	11,736	11,294
Dry bulk	15,948	15,128	15,866	15,937	16,805	17,754	15,633	15,119
Break bulk and all other goods	883	1,261	1,472	1,387	1,486	1,496	1,680	1,576
Total tonnage of goods handled	46,722	47,483	50,666	50,712	53,346	55,086	53,240	51,364

Tonnage of goods by area of trade ('000)
Great Britain & Northern Ireland	17,028	17,418	19,721	20,475	22,266	22,028	21,297	20,040
Other EU	15,944	15,495	16,370	16,714	17,371	18,795	19,499	18,643
Non-EU	2,769	2,363	3,622	4,014	3,419	3,751	2,193	2,144
Other ports	8,167	9,283	8,617	7,832	8,796	8,281	7,910	8,335
Coastal trade	2,814	2,924	2,336	1,677	1,494	2,230	2,341	2,202
Total tonnage of goods handled	46,722	47,483	50,666	50,712	53,346	55,086	53,240	51,364
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.6 (XLS 12KB)

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Link to release: Statistics of Port Traffic

In 2020, a total of 11,855 vessels arrived at Irish ports, a decrease of 8.5% on 2019. General cargo vessels accounted for more than seven out of every ten (74.5%) vessel arrivals.

Irish ports handled 51.4 million tonnes of goods in 2020, a fall of 3.5% compared with 2019. Great Britain and Northern Ireland remained the main area of trade for Irish seaports, accounting for two fifths (39.0%) of all goods handled in 2020, while the rest of the EU accounted for over one third (36.3%) of all maritime trade.

X-axis label	Great Britain & Northern Ireland	Other EU	Rest of the World
2013	17.028	15.944	13.750
2014	17.418	15.495	14.570
2015	19.721	16.370	14.575
2016	20.475	16.714	13.523
2017	22.266	17.371	13.709
2018	22.028	18.795	14.262
2019	21.297	19.499	12.444
2020	20.040	18.643	12.681

Key indicators for the five main airports

Table 23.7 Key indicators for the five main airports
'000
Category of traffic	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Dublin
Passengers	20,148.6	21,694.9	24,962.5	27,778.9	29,454.5	31,319.4	32,676.3	7,267.2
Freight (tonnes)	113.5	127.4	137.3	134.2	144.9	143.7	133.2	123.2
Commercial flights	162.0	172.6	188.8	204.6	212.2	222.7	229.1	80.5

Cork
Passengers	2,252.6	2,138.1	2,065.7	2,226.2	2,301.5	2,387.8	2,585.5	527.0
Freight (tonnes)	0.7	0.7	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0
Commercial flights	20.2	19.6	17.9	19.9	19.7	20.4	21.4	6.5

Shannon
Passengers	1,308.2	1,555.2	1,642.9	1,674.6	1599.4	1,677.7	1,616.4	273.9
Freight (tonnes)	13.9	10.9	12.2	12.6	19	13.6	12.7	15.5
Commercial flights	12.6	15.6	13.3	13.6	13.2	13.7	13.2	4.5

Knock
Passengers	665.6	703.7	684.7	735.9	748.5	770.9	805.4	142.5
Freight (tonnes)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Commercial flights	6.2	6.2	5.2	6.1	6.0	6.2	6.3	1.7

Kerry
Passengers	306.0	295.0	303.0	325.7	335.5	365.3	369.8	83.0
Freight (tonnes)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Commercial flights	3.5	3.2	3.1	3.2	3.2	3.3	3.5	2.2

Total
Passengers	24,681.0	26,386.8	29,658.8	32,741.2	34,439.3	36,521.1	38,053.4	8,293.7
Freight (tonnes)	128.1	139.0	149.7	146.8	164	157.4	145.9	138.8
Commercial flights	204.5	217.1	228.2	247.3	254.4	266.4	273.6	95.3
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.7 (XLS 12KB)

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Link to release: Aviation Statistics

In 2020, 8.3 million passengers passed through Ireland's five main airports, a decrease of 78.2% over the previous year.

There were 95,300 commercial flights handled by Ireland's main airports in 2020. Dublin accounted for 84.5% of all flights (80,500), while Cork handled 6.8% of all flights (6,500).

Ireland's main airports handled a total of 138,800 tonnes of freight in 2020, and this represented a decrease of 4.9% compared with 2019.

Dublin airport accounted for 81.6% of all passengers passing through Ireland's main airports in 2013. This had increased to 87.6% by 2020.

	Percentage share of total passengers by main airport, 2020
Dublin	87.6
Cork	6.4
Shannon	3.3
Knock	1.7
Kerry	1

	Percentage share of total passengers by main airport, 2013
Dublin	81.6
Cork	9.1
Shannon	5.3
Knock	2.7
Kerry	1.2

Top 10 arrivals and departures for main Irish airports by number of passengers, 2020

Table 23.8 Top 10 arrivals and departures for main Irish airports by number of passengers, 2020
'000
Airport	Arrivals	Departures	Total
London - Heathrow	283.0	298.9	581.9
London - Stansted	221.8	226.7	448.5
London - Gatwick	213.1	207.0	420.0
Amsterdam - Schiphol	205.7	206.1	411.9
Manchester	150.2	153.5	303.7
Birmingham	125.1	130.8	255.9
Paris - Charles De Gaulle	108.4	107.9	216.3
Frankfurt am Main	87.2	91.4	178.6
London - Luton	84.7	85.5	170.2
Edinburgh	80.3	81.0	161.3
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Statistical Yearbook of Ireland, 2021 Table 23.8 (XLS 10KB)

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Link to release: Aviation Statistics

The most popular destination to and from Ireland's main airports was London-Heathrow with 581,900 passengers travelling on this route. The majority of the top 10 routes were to the UK; London-Heathrow, London-Stansted, London-Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, London-Luton and Edinburgh.

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
UK	9.674	10.4196	11.5632	12.7854	12.8454	13.0236	13.2352	3.0678
Other EU	11.4589	12.0117	13.561	15.0141	15.8777	16.9011	18.1523	4.0534
Other Europe	0.6928	0.7074	0.7954	0.8387	0.9396	1.1128	1.1845	0.2898
North America	2.2084	2.5065	2.7993	3.1673	3.75	4.2882	4.3426	0.6032
Rest of the World	0.5391	0.6338	0.8129	0.7971	0.8843	1.0301	0.9767	0.2309

In 2020, passengers travelling to and from the UK represented 37.2% of all passengers on international flights travelling through main Irish airports.

Passengers travelling to and from other destinations were represented as follows: EU (49.2%), North America (7.3%), Other Europe (3.5%) and the Rest of the World (2.8%).

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Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2021: Part 3 Travel, Agriculture, Environment and COVID-19

Transport

New vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class

New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority

Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by make

Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type

Key indicators for transport of goods by road

Statistics of port traffic

Key indicators for the five main airports

Top 10 arrivals and departures for main Irish airports by number of passengers, 2020

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