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Transport Omnibus 2017

Road Freight Transport

Road freight transport

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In 2017, Irish registered goods vehicles made 12.8 million laden journeys and transported a total of 147.2 million tonnes of freight. The overall amount of road freight activity was 11.8 billion tonne-kilometres in 2017, an increase of 1.7% compared with 2016.

The largest commodity group transported by Irish registered goods vehicles in terms of tonnes carried in 2017 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 (25.0%).

In 2017, there were 3,850 licensed hauliers in the State, a small increase of 1.4% compared with 2016.

X-axis label	Other companies	Transport companies
2008	146.4	99.4
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

Road freight transport

Table 6.1 Road freight transport statistics summary, 2007 - 2017
Year	Tonne-kilometres	Tonnes carried	Vehicle kilometres	Average number of vehicles	Laden journeys
	Million	Thousand	Million	Number	Thousand
2007	18,707	299,307	2,332	97,752	23,646
2008	17,289	245,788	2,207	97,640	20,085
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
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 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, 2017
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	36	2,462	2,498	198	12,233	12,431
Carriage of livestock	48	70	118	764	675	1,439
Carriage of other farm produce from farms	102	303	405	1,276	4,958	6,235
Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs etc. to farms	131	342	473	2,306	4,615	6,921
Delivery of goods to road works or building sites	772	881	1,653	26,224	22,924	49,148
Delivery of goods to retail outlets	652	1,215	1,868	6,847	10,213	17,059
Delivery of goods to wholesalers	308	1,243	1,551	3,034	10,080	13,114
Delivery of materials and fuels to factories	208	1,045	1,254	2,839	11,733	14,572
Delivery of goods to households	217	67	284	3,916	694	4,610
Other work	577	1,079	1,656	10,297	11,403	21,699
Total	3,051	8,707	11,759	57,702	89,527	147,229
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 2017 Table 6.2 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 6.3 Road freight transport activity classified by business of owner and main use of vehicle, 2017
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	8,318	8,318	0	84,557	84,557	0	538	538	0	806	806
Manufacturing industry		1,079	0	1,079	28,299	0	28,299	112	0	112	194	0	194
	Mining & quarrying (incl. sand & gravel merchants)	309	0	309	11,854	0	11,854	15	0	15	30	0	30
	Creameries & agricultural cooperative societies	26	0	26	482	0	482	3	0	3	5	0	5
	Manufacture of food & feeding stuffs	238	0	238	2,816	0	2,816	39	0	39	60	0	60
	Manufacture of drink & tobacco	2	0	2	38	0	38	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Manufacture of glass, cement & clay products	342	0	342	11,380	0	11,380	23	0	23	45	0	45
	Other manufacturing	162	0	162	1,729	0	1,729	32	0	32	54	0	54
Building & construction		149	0	149	4,193	0	4,193	28	0	28	51	0	51
Distribution		1,263	196	1,458	15,018	3,003	18,021	224	24	247	335	35	370
Agriculture & livestock dealing		157	29	186	2,281	289	2,569	25	2	27	43	4	47
Local authorities		59	0	59	1,754	0	1,754	7	0	7	14	0	14
Other		344	164	509	6,156	1,678	7,834	50	25	74	74	35	109
Total		3,051	8,707	11,759	57,702	89,527	147,229	447	589	1,036	712	880	1,592
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 Table 6.3 (XLS 13KB)

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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, 2007-2017
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
2007	108,855	57	190,452	43	299,307
2008	99,385	58.5	146,403	41.5	245,788
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	56.7	51,085	43.3	118,059
2016	86,970	61.4	54,700	38.6	141,669
2017	84,557	57.4	62,672	42.6	147,229
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 Table 6.4 (XLS 12KB)

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Table 6.5 Transport activity classified by national/international journeys and main use of vehicle, 2017
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		2,874	6,383	9,257	56,532	82,979	139,511
International journeys
	Goods loaded in Ireland	104	886	990	720	2,634	3,354
	Goods unloaded in Ireland	51	656	706	353	1,973	2,327
	Cross trade	20	724	744	62	1,372	1,435
	Cabotage	3	59	62	34	569	603
Total international		177	2,324	2,502	1,170	6,548	7,718
Total journeys		3,051	8,707	11,759	57,702	89,527	147,229
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 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, 2017
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	355	65	74	230	123	37	84	75	82	127	1,252
Midland	72	127	63	103	50	35	55	81	54	19	660
West	66	37	310	144	41	59	60	37	10	26	788
Dublin	270	158	231	627	362	230	227	476	148	133	2,862
Mid-East	151	50	45	184	263	55	78	82	20	34	961
Mid-West	20	37	69	140	50	366	96	197	17	66	1,058
South-East	45	56	43	119	98	80	362	126	66	92	1,086
South-West	27	37	30	212	61	190	190	736	16	80	1,580
Northern Ireland	54	13	5	56	15	3	28	18	29	13	233
Other countries	57	24	20	254	30	19	74	37	28	736	1,279
Total	1,116	604	890	2,069	1,093	1,074	1,254	1,864	468	1,327	11,759
	Tonnes carried (thousand)
Border	10,153	658	543	2,187	1,408	160	414	226	969	174	16,892
Midland	837	3,897	584	1,074	668	408	537	371	268	50	8,695
West	589	430	6,819	646	266	420	256	164	41	34	9,666
Dublin	2,228	1,368	1,112	19,911	8,402	1,154	1,606	1,887	855	257	38,779
Mid-East	1,983	694	241	4,363	7,577	312	849	350	111	57	16,538
Mid-West	106	379	511	789	315	10,495	913	2,236	55	66	15,863
South-East	208	545	198	929	1,213	778	9,192	1,065	227	84	14,438
South-West	88	202	153	872	270	1,876	1,452	16,976	40	66	21,994
Northern Ireland	714	80	33	359	107	12	112	45	425	21	1,908
Other countries	77	36	31	498	58	30	90	45	44	1,548	2,456
Total	16,983	8,288	10,224	31,627	20,283	15,646	15,420	23,366	3,036	2,356	147,229
	Vehicle kilometres (million)
Border	71	9	10	33	20	4	6	6	9	8	175
Midland	9	26	8	18	9	5	6	9	5	1	94
West	12	7	62	27	7	9	4	5	1	2	136
Dublin	33	19	25	107	44	26	23	40	13	10	342
Mid-East	21	12	7	40	45	8	13	12	3	3	164
Mid-West	4	5	10	27	8	64	14	27	2	5	165
South-East	6	6	5	21	14	11	66	17	3	6	156
South-West	6	9	5	37	10	26	19	111	1	6	229
Northern Ireland	9	4	0	11	3	1	2	2	3	1	38
Other Countries	4	2	1	16	3	2	5	2	2	54	92
Total	175	99	133	337	164	157	159	230	42	96	1,592
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 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, 2017
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	0	15	15	1	3	0	19	0	0	54
France	0	43	3	65	21	5	15	61	0	0	214
Germany	4	8	13	73	1	8	0	56	13	0	176
Ireland	15	90	60	9,257	76	43	50	587	42	25	10,246
Italy	0	20	2	25	5	0	0	14	0	0	67
Netherlands	1	1	3	62	0	2	0	20	8	0	97
Spain	0	19	5	21	0	3	4	29	1	2	84
United Kingdom	12	41	15	404	5	10	7	234	17	2	748
Other EU	0	2	15	34	0	0	1	4	1	0	56
Other countries¹	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	8	0	0	16
Total	32	227	132	9,963	110	73	78	1,032	82	30	11,759
		Tonnes carried (thousand)
Belgium	11	0	30	18	1	10	0	32	0	0	102
France	0	75	6	72	32	10	19	97	0	0	310
Germany	12	13	40	65	2	12	0	53	20	3	221
Ireland	16	109	42	139,511	48	42	28	3,027	22	18	142,865
Italy	0	21	2	21	30	0	0	8	0	0	82
Netherlands	3	4	8	74	0	7	0	32	7	0	135
Spain	0	13	4	13	0	2	6	17	1	1	56
United Kingdom	25	54	22	2,041	2	19	3	1,217	9	3	3,395
Other EU	0	2	19	16	0	0	1	5	4	0	46
Other countries¹	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	9	0	1	15
Total	67	290	172	141,838	116	102	57	4,497	63	27	147,229
Source: CSO
¹Includes any country which is not a member state of the EU

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 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, 2017
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	266	993	1,259	3,120	10,618	13,738
Coal & natural gas	32	71	103	369	635	1,003
Quarry products, metal ores & peat	537	822	1,359	18,813	20,004	38,817
Foodstuffs	627	2,318	2,945	7,101	18,165	25,266
Textiles & leather	9	87	96	128	557	685
Wood, pulp & paper	92	442	534	1,013	3,902	4,916
Coke & refined petroleum products	419	405	824	5,539	4,840	10,379
Chemicals & plastics	44	488	532	544	4,604	5,148
Other non-metallic mineral products	388	540	927	12,352	9,477	21,830
Metal products (exc. machinery & equipment)	36	196	232	477	1,362	1,839
Machinery & equipment	76	132	209	1,007	1,163	2,170
Furniture & other manufactured goods	38	130	167	442	950	1,392
Secondary raw materials & waste	212	153	365	3,434	1,702	5,135
Other goods	276	1,930	2,206	3,363	11,549	14,912
Total	3,051	8,707	11,759	57,702	89,527	147,229
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 Table 6.8 (XLS 13KB)

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Table 6.9 Number of licensed road hauliers by county, 2010 - 2017
County	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Carlow	110	93	86	82	80	72	75	77
Cavan	108	107	93	89	87	85	86	89
Clare	132	118	100	96	91	85	88	85
Cork	549	516	471	461	460	445	436	439
Donegal	178	168	158	160	154	148	156	158
Dublin	626	581	549	522	534	537	539	561
Galway	199	195	169	168	166	170	171	168
Kerry	157	147	136	131	132	120	117	118
Kildare	302	275	256	248	237	234	234	231
Kilkenny	145	135	123	120	123	114	118	113
Laois	130	118	108	108	109	109	111	115
Leitrim	38	35	28	23	24	25	25	26
Limerick	207	183	167	155	152	144	143	143
Longford	51	47	42	40	39	37	38	38
Louth	198	174	157	153	151	144	150	148
Mayo	146	137	118	112	112	106	106	111
Meath	286	252	218	217	218	217	226	234
Monaghan	172	160	153	145	142	144	145	145
Offaly	83	77	73	64	63	68	65	63
Roscommon	91	87	80	78	79	79	73	76
Sligo	78	73	64	61	54	55	59	63
Tipperary	232	210	190	175	181	182	186	185
Waterford	82	61	65	60	63	63	63	60
Westmeath	80	71	66	64	65	64	66	67
Wexford	243	225	213	215	214	209	204	215
Wicklow	160	135	116	105	110	107	116	122
Total	4,783	4,380	3,999	3,852	3,840	3,763	3,796	3,850
Source: Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

Open in Excel: Transport Omnibus 2017 Table 6.9 (XLS 12KB)

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