National statistics

Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: July 2020 to June 2021

Published 9 September 2021

© Crown copyright 2021

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-goods-vehicles-travelling-to-europe-july-2020-to-june-2021/road-goods-vehicles-travelling-to-europe-july-2020-to-june-2021

Data for road goods vehicles travelling to Europe 2021 quarter 2 (April to June) has been revised due to an error in the provision of data from one supplier covering multiple routes. The revision impacts the total journeys and activity by powered and unaccompanied vehicles.

We are providing this compact HTML format for our roll-on roll-off international freight statistics releases, and we would like to hear your comments. If you have any feedback on our use of this format, or any questions about this release, see contact details.

Main points

When comparing the 12-month period ending June 2021 to the previous 12-month period ending June 2020:

  • the total number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe increased by 1% to 3.20 million
  • the number of trips made by powered vehicles decreased by 2% from 2.13 million to 2.09 million
  • the number of trips made by unaccompanied trailers increased by 11% from 1.00 million to 1.11 million

When comparing the 12-month period ending June 2021 to the 12-month period ending June 2019:

  • the total number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe decreased by 8% to 3.20 million
  • the number of trips made by powered vehicles decreased by 12% from 2.37 million to 2.09 million
  • the number of trips made by unaccompanied trailers increased by 2% from 1.08 million to 1.11 million

Of the 2.09 million powered vehicles that travelled from Great Britain to Europe, in the 12-month period ending June 2021 compared to the previous 12-months:

  • the number of trips made by UK-registered vehicles decreased by 11% from 0.30 to 0.26 million
  • the number of trips made by foreign-registered vehicles decreased by 0.5% from 1.78 to 1.77 million

Caution should be taken when comparing these data to previous time periods because previously announced timings of the UK leaving the EU and subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, have caused higher levels of volatility in freight statistics over the past 2 years.

The graph below shows the total number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe since 2015.

The graph shows the average number of trips from 2015 to the end of 2019 as well as the expected variance from this average. The number of trips fall within the expected variance (± 1 standard deviation) for most quarters however, there has been some wider variance (± 2 standard deviations of the average) in recent quarters. This is potentially due to the coronavirus pandemic and the end of the European Union exit transition period.

Between July to September 2020 and April to June 2021 the activity of road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe has fluctuated, showing the extent to which the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and subsequent lockdown beginning January 2021 may have had, as well as the potential impact of leaving the EU. Intelligence from industry reports suggests that a few Roll on Roll Off ferry routes that ceased operating due to COVID-19 have now re-opened and a small rise in activity was seen across many of the routes surveyed.

This chart shows the number of road goods vehicles travelling to Europe quarterly between 2015 and 2021.

Further information about these statistics is available, including:

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Contact details

Roll-on roll-off international freight statistics

Email roadfreight.stats@dft.gov.uk

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

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