Road goods vehicles travelling to Europe: October 2021 to September 2022
Published 16 November 2022
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/road-goods-vehicles-travelling-to-europe-october-2021-to-september-2022/road-goods-vehicles-travelling-to-europe-october-2021-to-september-2022
About this release
This statistical release summarises the number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe. The release also provides information on powered vehicles and unaccompanied trailers which are the two types of road goods vehicles. 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 Great Britain to Europe, including the Channel tunnel. 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. Long term comparisons in this release therefore use data from 2004 onwards and care should be taken when comparing data before and after this. Data for vehicles registered to the Republic of Ireland have been excluded from table roro0201 and roro1001 of this release due to data undergoing a quality review.
In the 12-month period ending September 2022, road goods vehicles made 3.22 million trips from Great Britain to Europe, which was 2% above the previous 12-month period (3.14 million) but 6% below the 2015 to 2019 average.
Infographic 1: Total number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe, split into powered vehicles and unaccompanied trailers, October 2021 to September 2022
Road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe in the 12-month period ending September 2022 made 3.22 million trips, this is a 2% increase compared to the same period ending September 2021 (3.14 million trips) but a 6% decrease compared to the 2015 to 2019 average.
Of which powered vehicles made 2.05 million trips, up 1% compared to 12-month period ending September 2021 (2.04 million trips) but down 16% compared to the 2015 to 2019 average. Unaccompanied trailers made 1.17 million trips, up 6% compared to the 12-month period ending September 2021 (1.11 million trips) and up 17% compared to the 2015 to 2019 average.
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.
The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and European Union (EU) exit on road goods vehicles traveling to Europe
These statistics cover a period where there were still some measures in place to limit the impact and transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 has had a wide impact on UK society and economic activity since March 2020. These figures should be considered within this context, and so a timeline has been provided to assist.
Infographic 2 illustrates the COVID-19 measures in place each month between January 2021 and March 2022 in England. Restrictions from the third lockdown began to ease between March and July 2021. The delta variant was identified in England between May and June 2021. Finally, on the 8 December 2021 some restrictions were implemented following the spread of the Omicron variant, with COVID-19 restrictions later removed in England on 24 February 2022.
Chart 1: Number of trips made by roads goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe, shown with expected variation from the average, quarterly between 2015 and 2022 (Table RORO0101)
Chart 1 illustrates the number of trips made by road goods vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe between 2015 Quarter 1 (January to March) and 2022 Quarter 3 (July to August), as well as the variance from the 2015 to 2019 average.
The average number of trips made 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.
In 2021 quarter 4 (October to December) the number of trips continued to recover, returning to within expected variation. However, during 2022, the number of trips has begun to fluctuate, with the number of trips falling below expected variation in 2022 quarter 1 (January to March) and again in 2022 quarter 3 (July to September). This fluctuation may reflect the ongoing challenges in the industry, including disruptions to P&O ferries as well as reduced goods traffic on some routes over the summer holiday 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.
Infographic 3: Total number of trips made by powered vehicles travelling from Great Britain to Europe, split into UK-registered and foreign-registered vehicles, October 2021 to September 2022
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 0.023 million vehicles where the country of registration was unknown.
UK-registered vehicles made 0.27 million trips in the 12-month period ending September 2022, this is a 7% increase compared to the same period in 2021 (0.25 million trips) but a 24% decrease compared to the 2015 to 2019 average.
Foreign-registered vehicles made 1.76 million trips in the 12-month period ending September 2022, this is a 1% increase when compared to the same period in 2021 (1.75 million) but a 14% decrease compared to the 2015 to 2019 average.
Data source and more information
Following the end of Quarter 4 (October to December), we publish a more detailed report on the number of road goods vehicles travelling to Europe in the previous year. The most recent report covers data from 2021 and is available.
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.
International road freight: 2021
ONS UK trade statistical bulletins
Port freight annual statistics: 2020
Please contact road freight statistics if you have any questions about DfT road freight statistics.
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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Contact details
Road freight statistics
Email roadfreight.stats@dft.gov.uk
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