National statistics

Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: April 2022 to March 2023

Published 23 May 2023

About this release

This statistical release summarises the number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain (GB) to Europe. The release also provides information on whether the roads good vehicles were powered vehicles or unaccompanied trailers, and which country they were registered in. The information is collected from ferry operators and Eurotunnel each quarter, using the Roll-on-Roll-off survey (also called ’RoRo’). This covers all ferry routes from GB to Europe, including the Channel tunnel. More detailed information about this topic is available in our annual release.

Please note that domestic routes within the UK and routes to Northern Ireland have been excluded from the main findings of this release.

Notes about the data

Figures prior to 2004 do not include data for sea routes to the Republic of Ireland (RoI). Long term comparisons in this release therefore use data from 2004 onwards and care should be taken when comparing data before and after this period.

Data for vehicles registered to the RoI between Quarter 2 (April to June) 2013 and Quarter 2 2021 have been excluded from table RORO0201 and RORO1001 of this release. This is because some license plate recognition applications were unable to identify license plates from the RoI during this period. We are working to retrospectively resolve this issue. Data prior to Quarter 2 2013 and following Quarter 2 2021 is unaffected and can be found in table RORO0201 and RORO1001.

In the 12-month period ending March 2023, road goods vehicles made 3.19 million trips from GB to Europe, a 2% decrease compared to the previous year and 7% below the 2015 to 2019 average.

Infographic 1: Total number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from GB to Europe, split into powered vehicles and unaccompanied trailers, April 2022 to March 2023 Table RORO0101

Road goods vehicles travelling from GB to Europe in 12-month period ending March 2023 made 3.19 million trips, a 2% decrease compared to the 12-month period ending March 2022 (3.13 million trips) and 7% below the average number of trips per year between 2015 to 2019.

Of which powered vehicles made 1.98 million trips, a 3% decrease compared to the previous 12-month period ending March 2022 (2.03 million trips) and 17% below the 2015 to 2019 average. Unaccompanied trailers made 1.21 million trips, an 11% increase compared to the previous 12-month period ending March 2022 (1.10 million trips) and 19% above the 2015 to 2019 average.

Note

Percentage change figures are calculated using non-rounded figures.

Definitions

This release summarises trips by road goods vehicles, which are made up of powered heavy goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailers.

Powered vehicles are Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) that weigh more than 3.5 tonnes and can be driven by a driver. This includes rigid lorries, tractors and trailers (counted as 1 unit) and tractive units only.

Unaccompanied trailers include tow-bar trailers and articulated semi-trailers, not accompanied on the ferry by a powered unit.

Chart 1: Number of trips made by roads goods vehicles travelling from GB to Europe, shading represents typical variation from the 2015 to 2019 average, data shown quarterly between 2015 and 2023 Table RORO0101

Chart 1 illustrates the number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from GB to Europe between 2015 and 2023, as well as the amount of variation from the 2015 to 2019 average.

The average number of trips per quarter between 2015 and 2019 was 0.86 million. The typical variation from this figure is shown by the standard deviation, which at 0.03 million trips indicates the number of trips has typically been between 0.83 and 0.88 million trips (0.03 million higher or lower than the 0.86 million average) over this 5-year period.

The number of trips was below the 2015 to 2019 average in each quarter of 2022, with the number of trips falling below expected variation in January to March 2022 (Quarter 1) and again in July to September 2022 (Quarter 3). In the first quarter of 2023, the number of trips has again fallen below the 2015 to 2019 average and below expected variation. This decrease may reflect ongoing challenges within the industry, as well as reduced goods traffic and closure of some routes over the winter period.

Powered vehicles: UK-registered and foreign-registered vehicles travelling to Europe

Since the earliest comparable data in 2004, trips by foreign-registered powered vehicles have outnumbered trips by UK-registered powered vehicles.

Note

This section only covers powered vehicles. The country of registration is not collected for unaccompanied trailers. In this release, powered vehicles refer to heavy goods vehicles that can be driven by a driver. The country of registration for a powered vehicle is unrelated to where the vehicle has travelled from or the driver’s nationality.

Infographic 2: Total number of trips made by powered vehicles travelling from GB to Europe, split into UK-registered and foreign-registered vehicles, April 2022 to March 2023 Table RORO0101

Note

The sum of UK-registered and foreign-registered vehicles may not equal the total number of powered vehicles due to rounding. Among powered vehicles, there were a further 0.003 million vehicles (less than 0.5%) where the country of registration was completely unknown.

UK-registered vehicles made 0.28 million trips in the 12-month period ending March 2023, this is a 14% increase compared to the previous 12-months (0.24 million trips) but a 21% decrease compared to the 2015 to 2019 average.

Foreign-registered vehicles made 1.70 million trips in the 12-month period ending March 2023, this is a 3% decrease when compared to the previous 12-months (1.75 million) and a 17% decrease compared to the 2015 to 2019 average.

Data source and more information

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

Further information about the statistics and methodology in this report can be found in the roll-on roll-off international freight statistics notes and definitions.

Other statistics related to freight and trade are available.

Domestic road freight: July 2021 to June 2022

International road freight: 2021

ONS UK trade statistical bulletins

Port freight annual statistics: 2021

Rail statistics factsheet: 2021

Aviation statistics

Please contact road freight statistics if you have any questions about the Department for Transport’s road freight statistics.

Strengths and weaknesses of data

There is some uncertainty about the exact numbers of trips made by vehicles registered in any particular country. This is because information on the country of registration is derived by some operators from the vehicle registration mark, while others estimate the nationality from the manifest or waybill, or in some cases, use the country of booking as a proxy for the country of registration.

Data for vehicles registered to the RoI between Quarter 2 2013 and Quarter 2 2021 have been excluded from table RORO0201 and RORO1001 of this release. This is because some license plate recognition applications were unable to identify license plates from the RoI during this period. We are working to retrospectively resolve this issue. Data prior to Quarter 2 2013 and following Quarter 2 2021 is unaffected and can be found in table RORO0201 and RORO1001.

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.

Instructions for printing and saving

Depending on which browser you use and the type of device you use (such as a mobile or laptop) these instructions may vary.

You will find your print and save options in your browser’s menu. You may also have other options available on your device. Tablets and mobile device instructions will be specific to the make and model of the device.

How to search

Select Ctrl and F on a Windows laptop or Command and F on a Mac

This will open a search box in the top right-hand corner of the page. Type the word you are looking for in the search bar and press enter.

Your browser will highlight the word, usually in yellow, wherever it appears on the page. Press enter to move to the next place it appears.

Contact details

Road freight statistics

Email roadfreight.stats@dft.gov.uk

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

To hear more about DfT statistical publications as they are released, follow us on Twitter at DfTstats.