Accredited official statistics

International road freight statistics, United Kingdom: 2023

Published 11 July 2024

About this release

These are accredited official statistics and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in December 2016. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. For more information, see the ‘about these statistics’ section.

This statistical release summarises the latest statistics on the activity of UK-registered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) operating internationally during 2023.

The information is derived from surveys of businesses that operate road goods vehicles. It covers the amount and type of goods carried by UK-registered HGVs, as well as their origin and destination and the distance they travelled.

The report also summarises the latest information from the Traffic Commissioners of Great Britain on goods vehicle operator licences, and from Eurostat on cabotage and foreign-registered HGVs travelling to and from the UK.

The previous annual release on international road freight for 2022 is also available, as well as previous quarterly releases.

Important note for users

Statistics for international road freight have been revised downwards by approximately 1% for the period October 2021 to June 2023.

This change is based on revisions to statistics in the separate publication on road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: 2023, also known as ‘RoRo’ (Roll-on Roll-off). This revision was due to incorrect data provided by a ferry operator which has since been corrected. RoRo figures are used to calculate international road freight statistics by scaling the results of the international road freight survey to be representative of the total activity by all GB-registered HGVs.

In the RoRo publication, the total number of trips made by UK-registered HGVs from Great Britain to Europe from October 2021 to June 2023 has been revised downwards by 1.2%. For international road freight, this resulted in a 0.9% reduction in the amount of goods lifted internationally by UK-registered HGVs, and a 1.1% reduction in the amount of goods moved over the same period.

This revision did not affect any of the trends covered in this publication.

Definitions

HGV: a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes. The gross vehicle weight is the weight of the vehicle plus the maximum possible weight of goods that can be carried.

Goods lifted: the weight of goods carried, measured in tonnes. This is a measure of the total amount of goods transported internationally by UK-registered HGVs.

Goods moved: the weight of goods carried, multiplied by the distance hauled, measured in tonne kilometres. This is a measure of the overall activity of UK-registered HGVs, accounting for both the distance travelled by each vehicle and the weight of its load.

In 2023,

5.7 million tonnes

of goods were lifted by UK-registered HGVs operating internationally, a decrease of 12% compared to 2022.

Infographic 1: Total amount of goods lifted internationally by UK-registered HGVs in 2023, broken down into imports and exports Table RFS0201

In 2023, UK-registered HGVs transporting freight internationally lifted a total of 5.7 million tonnes (3.2 million tonnes imported, and 2.5 million tonnes exported). This is a decrease of 12% compared to 2022 (6.5 million tonnes) and 30% below the annual average from 2015 to 2019 (8.2 million tonnes).

Over the last 20 years, the amount of goods lifted by UK-registered HGVs has been broadly decreasing for both imports and exports, with UK-registered HGVs usually importing more goods than exporting. The gap between imports and exports has widened in 2023 to 0.7 million tonnes compared to 0.4 million tonnes in 2022.

Infographic 2: Total amount of goods moved internationally by UK-registered HGVs in 2023, broken down into imports and exports Table RFS0201

For goods moved, UK-registered HGVs transporting freight internationally moved a total of 3.5 billion tonne kilometres in 2023 (1.9 billion tonne kilometres imported, and 1.6 billion tonne kilometres exported). This is a decrease of 12% compared to 2022 (4.0 billion tonne kilometres) and 34% below the annual average from 2015 to 2019 (5.3 billion tonne kilometres).

Note: The previous announcement of the UK leaving the European Union (EU) and subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and resulting supply chain disruption, have caused higher levels of volatility in freight statistics over the past 5 years.

Long term trends

Chart 1: Long term trends in international goods lifted by UK-registered HGVs, quarterly from 2004 to 2023 Table RFS0201

Chart 1 is a line chart showing the decreasing trends in total goods lifted internationally together with imports and exports over the last 20 years.

Historically the amount of goods lifted by UK-registered HGVs has been decreasing for both imports and exports, with UK-registered HGVs usually importing more goods than exporting.

During the 2008 recession, the amount of goods lifted by UK-registered HGVs fell by 12%. As the economy recovered, road freight levels returned to expected levels and again followed the decreasing trend.

In 2018, the amount of goods lifted rose by 11%, possibly reflecting businesses looking to transport goods internationally before the UK’s original planned departure from the EU on 29 March 2019.

There was larger than usual volatility from 2019 onwards coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic beginning in 2020 and the end of the transition period for the UK leaving the EU on 31 December 2020.

In 2021, the amount of goods lifted by UK-registered HGVs was low by historic standards. Despite a recovery in 2022, with a 25% annual increase, the long-term decreasing trend of total goods lifted continued in 2023.

Recent variation

Chart 2: Total goods lifted internationally by UK-registered HGVs, shown with typical variation from the 2015 to 2019 average, quarterly between 2015 and 2023 Table RFS0201

Chart 2 illustrates recent volatility of international road freight by showing the variation from the 2015 to 2019 average.

The average amount of goods lifted between 2015 and 2019 was 2.0 million tonnes per quarter. The typical variation from this figure is shown by the standard deviation, which at 0.2 million tonnes indicates the amount of goods lifted was typically between 1.8 and 2.2 million (0.2 million tonnes higher or lower than the 2.0 million tonnes average) over this 5-year period.

Since 2020, international road freight activity by UK-registered HGVs has been low by historic standards, with the amount of goods consistently below the typical variation seen from 2015 to 2019. In 2022, there was some recovery but activity fluctuated in and out of the range of typical variation. The amount of goods lifted showed minimal variation throughout 2023, remaining below average at a similar level of 1.4 million tonnes lifted in each quarter.

Country of trade

Infographic 3: Top 5 countries from which UK-registered vehicles imported or exported goods, 2023 Tables RFS0202 and RFS0203  

The top 5 countries for exports and imports have remained relatively constant over the last 10 years, with Italy entering the top 5 countries for imports in 2023 overtaking Ireland which was at fifth position in 2022 and now sixth in 2023.

In 2023, 2.5 million tonnes of goods were exported from the UK by UK-registered vehicles. Of which 91.5% (2.3 million tonnes) were unloaded in one of the 5 following countries:

• France, 0.74 million tonnes (30%)

• Belgium, 0.64 million tonnes (25%)

• Ireland, 0.38 million tonnes (15%)

• Netherlands, 0.33 million tonnes (13%)

• Germany, 0.21 million tonnes (8%)

In 2023, 3.2 million tonnes of goods were imported to the UK by UK-registered vehicles. Of which 90.1% (2.88 million tonnes) were loaded in one of the 5 following countries:

• Belgium, 1.03 million tonnes (32%)

• France, 0.93 million tonnes (29%)

• Netherlands, 0.40 million tonnes (12%)

• Germany, 0.30 million tonnes (9%)

• Italy, 0.22 million tonnes (7%)

Note: The data in this publication is based only on HGVs. Some HGV trips may be part of a multi-modal or multi-stage journey, which means that the final origin or destination of the HGV may not be the ultimate origin or destination of the goods.

Commodities lifted by UK-registered HGVs

Definitions

Commodity: goods are classified into commodity types and sub-categories by the ‘standard goods classification for transport statistics 2007’ NST-2007.

Groupage: refers to consignments containing a mixture of different commodities.

Dangerous goods: consist of consignments falling under the following categories: flammable liquids, gases, corrosive substances, flammable solids, oxidisers and organic peroxides, toxic and infectious substances, radioactive materials, explosives, and miscellaneous substances.

Infographic 4: Top 5 commodity types lifted by UK-registered HGVs, 2023 Table RFS0206

In 2023, the most common commodity exported from the UK by UK-registered vehicles was groupage, accounting for 0.80 million tonnes (32% of goods exported).

Groupage was also the most common commodity imported into the UK by UK-registered vehicles, accounting for 0.98 million tonnes (30% of goods imported).

The second most common was food products, which made up a larger share of imports (0.88 million tonnes, 27% of goods imported) than exports (0.39 million tonnes, 15% of goods exported).

Dangerous goods

In 2023, 0.30 million tonnes of dangerous goods were lifted internationally by UK-registered vehicles, of which 0.18 million tonnes were imported and 0.12 million tonnes exported. This was an overall decrease of 12% compared to 2022 (0.35 million tonnes).

Goods vehicle operator licences

For the 12-month period ending 31 March 2023:

There were 9,804 firms using an HGV standard international (SI) operator licence in Great Britain, a 3% increase from the 12-month period ending March 2022 (9,510 licences) and an 18% increase from the 12-month period ending March 2013 (8,316 licences). The number of licences has been increasing over the past 3 years, having previously been stable since 2013.

There were 88,630 vehicles covered by standard international licences, a 0.4% increase from the 12-month period ending March 2022 (88,266 vehicles) and a 22% increase from the 12-month period ending March 2013 (72,735 vehicles).

Chart 3: Standard international licences in issue, Great Britain, 2012 to 2023

Source: Traffic Commissioners: Annual Report 2022 to 2023

Note: UK hauliers must obtain a standard international operator’s licence to carry goods for others within the UK and on international journeys, though not all firms with a standard international licence will necessarily do international trips.

Road haulage by foreign-registered HGVs in the UK

Note

Detailed statistics on the activity of foreign-registered HGVs can be obtained from the Eurostat transport database. This includes the activity of vehicles registered in countries within the EU as well as countries outside the EU but belonging to the European single market.

The information in this section is up to the year 2022. Eurostat data for 2023 was not available at the time of producing this publication.

Foreign-registered HGVs transporting freight to and from the UK in 2022 lifted 29.8 million tonnes, this is a 2.5% decrease compared to 2021 (30.6 million tonnes) and 19.4% below the average tonnes lifted from 2015 to 2019 (37.0 million tonnes).

Of which:

• 10.2 million tonnes were exported from the UK by foreign-registered HGVs, a 1.1% decrease compared to 2021 (10.3 million tonnes) and 28.2% below the average tonnes lifted from 2015 to 2019 (14.2 million tonnes)

• 19.6 million tonnes were imported to the UK by foreign-registered HGVs, a 3.2% decrease compared to 2021 (20.3 million tonnes) and 13.9% below the average tonnes lifted from 2015 to 2019 (22.8 million tonnes)

Infographic 5: Top 5 foreign countries in which HGVs were registered for vehicles importing or exporting goods to or from the UK, 10-year comparison (2012 to 2022) Tables RFS0208 and RFS0209

The amount of goods lifted by foreign-registered HGVs to or from the UK has followed an upward trend over the longer term, though there has been greater volatility over the last 5 years and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Polish-registered vehicles exporting from the UK have increased their share from 26% of total foreign exports in 2012 to 28% in 2022, while Romanian-registered vehicles saw the largest share increase from 3% to 10%.

For imports to the UK, Polish-registered vehicles also accounted for the largest share which has increased from 22% in 2012 to 28% in 2022, while Romanian-registered vehicles increased from 2% to 6%.

For both imports and exports, the majority of goods carried by Polish and Romanian registered vehicles are cross-trade (Table RFS0215).

Definition

Cross-trade: is road freight where goods are loaded and unloaded in 2 different countries, neither of which is the one where a vehicle is registered.

Cabotage within the UK by foreign-registered HGVs in 2022

Definitions

Cabotage: measured in tonne kilometres, cabotage refers to road haulage solely within one country by a vehicle registered in another country. For example, when a vehicle registered in another country transports goods from one part of the UK to another, this is cabotage.

Cabotage penetration rate: is defined as cabotage (in tonne kilometres) as a proportion of the sum of domestic and cabotage tonne kilometres and is a measure of the significance of cabotage within a country’s road freight market.

In 2022, the overall level of cabotage goods moved in the UK was 1.2 billion tonne kilometres, less than 1% of all HGV activity within the UK (176.3 billion tonne kilometres).

The top 3 countries carrying out cabotage in the UK accounted for 46% (555 million tonne kilometres) of all cabotage. These were:

• Poland, 250 million tonne kilometres (21%)

• Ireland, 161 million tonne kilometres (13%)

• Romania, 145 million tonne kilometres (12%)

In 2022, the level of cabotage within the UK was 0.7%, this was below the EU average penetration rate of 4.0%. The highest penetration rate in 2022 was for Germany at 8.8%.

Chart 4: Cabotage penetration rates, UK and top 5 EU countries with the highest levels of cabotage, 2022 Table RFS0216

Note: Cabotage within the UK by foreign vehicles is calculated using data from Eurostat. This differs from the measure of cabotage by UK vehicles in the EU which is measured using data from the UK Department for Transport.

Cabotage within the EU by UK-registered HGVs in 2023

UK HGVs undertook a total of 249 million tonne kilometres of cabotage within the EU (including the Republic of Ireland) in 2023, this is an increase of 7% compared to 2022 (234 million tonne kilometres), with cabotage by UK HGVs having been relatively stable since 2018.

Chart 5: Cabotage by UK-registered HGVs, 2013 to 2023 Table RFS0131

Note: Cabotage by UK vehicles within the EU is measured using data from the UK Department for Transport. This differs from the measure of cabotage within the UK by foreign vehicles which is calculated using data from Eurostat.

Further sources of information

Other statistics related to freight and trade are available:

Domestic road freight statistics: 2023

Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: 2023

ONS UK trade statistical bulletins

Port freight annual statistics: 2022

Rail freight statistics factsheet: 2023

Aviation statistics

Please contact road freight statistics if you have any questions about DfT road freight statistics.

About these statistics

These statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in December 2016. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

The continued designation of the road freight statistics as accredited official statistics was confirmed following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation against the Code of Practice in July 2016.

Data source

Previously international road freight data was collected via paper surveys until August 2021, when the method to collect data transitioned to an online survey. An investigation of the data concluded that the methodology change does not affect the comparability of the international data.

Accompanying data tables are available which give further detail on the key results presented in the statistical release.

Further information about the statistics and methodology in this report can be found in the road freight domestic and international statistics guidance.

Strengths and weaknesses of data

The figures in this release are derived from the international road haulage survey (IRHS) combined with international trips collected under the domestic road haulage survey (NI) to provide a complete picture of the international freight activity carried out by UK-registered HGVs.

Excluded from the survey are HGVs registered in Northern Ireland making trips within the island of Ireland, foreign-registered vehicles and vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or less gross vehicle weight (light goods vehicles).

The IRHS is a continuous survey which collects a range of information on freight movements from a sample of approximately 2,033 firms holding a standard international HGV licence in 2023. These licences are issued by the eight regional Traffic Commissioner Offices (TCO) and data are provided to the DfT by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). In 2023, the overall survey response rate was 99%, with 31% of respondents completing the survey with information on international trips; 35% indicating they were still conducting international work but made no international trips during their survey period and 34% of firms conducting domestic work only or having ceased trading.

IRHS survey figures are scaled up to be representative of the total volume of HGV traffic travelling from GB to mainland Europe using ferry routes and the Channel Tunnel. This information is collected from returns provided by the roll-on roll-off ferry operators (RoRo), giving the number of powered vehicles and unaccompanied trailers carried on each route from GB to mainland Europe, and from monthly information supplied by Eurotunnel.

The use of RoRo data to weight the IRHS data may introduce a small bias for data on imports because RoRo information is collected on outward traffic only. This will affect the weighting of vehicles which return to the UK using a route different than that for the outward journey. RoRo data is also only able to disaggregate between UK and foreign vehicles. An assumption is therefore made on the proportion of UK vehicles which are registered in Northern Ireland to obtain an estimate of GB-registered vehicles.

This release and its contents partly rely on the use of administrative data from DVLA and DVSA. DfT have assessed the impact of this on the quality of these statistics, a report on which can be found in the Quality assurance of administrative data sources: Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency and Quality assurance of administrative data sources: Driver Vehicle Standards Agency.

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