Accredited official statistics

International road freight statistics: April 2022 to March 2023

Published 26 September 2023

About this release

This statistical release summarises the latest statistics on the activity of UK-registered Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) operating internationally between April 2022 and March 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.

A more detailed annual release on international road freight for 2022 is also available.

Notes about the data: Due to rounding, totals may not appear to equal the sum of their parts.

Definition

HGV: a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of more than 3.5 tonnes.

Gross vehicle weight: the weight of the vehicle plus the maximum possible weight of goods that can be carried.

Headline figures

In the 12-month period ending March 2023,

6.5 million tonnes

of goods were lifted by UK-registered HGVs operating internationally.

Infographic 1: Total amount of goods lifted internationally by UK-registered HGVs in the 12-month period ending March 2023, broken down into imports and exports. Table RFS0201

In the 12-month period ending March 2023, UK-registered HGVs transporting freight internationally lifted a total of 6.5 million tonnes, this is an increase of 18% compared to the previous 12-month period ending March 2022 (5.5 million tonnes) but 20% below the annual average from 2015 to 2019 (8.2 million tonnes).

Infographic 2: Total amount of goods moved internationally by UK-registered HGVs in the 12-month period ending March 2023, broken down into imports and exports. Table RFS0201

UK-registered HGVs transporting freight internationally moved a total of 4.1 billion tonne kilometres in the 12-month period ending March 2023, this is an increase of 23% compared to the previous 12-month period ending March 2022 (3.4 billion tonne kilometres) but 23% below the annual average from 2015 to 2019 (5.3 billion tonne kilometres).

Definitions

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.

Note: The previous announcement of the UK leaving the European Union and subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting supply chain disruption, have caused higher levels of volatility in freight statistics over the past 3 years.

Recent variation

Chart 1: Goods lifted internationally by UK-registered HGVs, shown with typical variation from the average, quarterly between 2015 and 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March)

Chart 1 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.

In 2021, international road freight activity by UK-registered HGVs was 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 from 2021 but activity remained below average. The amount of goods fluctuated in and out of the range of typical variation in the 12-month period ending March 2023, with a high of 1.9 million tonnes in 2022 Quarter 2 (April to June) and a low of 1.5 million tonnes in 2023 Quarter 1 (January to March).

These fluctuations may reflect ongoing challenges in the freight industry, the reduction in goods traffic over the summer holiday period and the economic effects of high inflation in 2022 and 2023.

More information

Other statistics related to freight and trade are available.

• International road freight statistics: 2022

• Domestic road freight statistics: 2022

• Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: 2022
• ONS UK trade statistical bulletins
• Port freight annual statistics: 2022
• Rail freight statistics factsheet: 2022
• Aviation statistics

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

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.

This short statistical release provides the latest headline statistics on the amount of goods carried by UK-registered HGVs and the distance they travelled. This release is published each quarter.

A more detailed annual release on international road freight is also available for 2022, which covers the type of goods carried by UK-registered HGVs, as well as their country of origin and destination. This annual report also summarises the latest information from Eurostat and the Traffic Commissioners from Great Britain on foreign-registered HGVs travelling to and from the UK, cabotage, and goods vehicle operator licenses.

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) which collects information on HGVs registered in Great Britain making international trips. Excluded from the survey are HGVs registered in Northern 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 2,300 firms holding a standard international HGV licence in 2022. 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 2022, the overall survey response rate was 97%, with 31% of respondents completing the survey with information on international trips; 32% indicating they were still conducting international work but made no international trips during their survey period and 33% 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.

National Statistics

These statistics are designated as National Statistics. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. The Code of Practice for Statistics plays an essential role in ensuring that statistics published by government inspire the public confidence through demonstrating trustworthiness and providing high-quality statistics.

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

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Road freight statistics

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