Road freight statistics: 2023
Road freight transported by Great Britain and UK registered heavy goods vehicles (HGV). It also includes statistics on HGV driver vacancies in the UK.
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Details
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
This publication includes both accredited official statistics and official statistics.
Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.
You are welcome to contact us directly by e-mailing road freight statistics with any comments about how we meet these standards.
Important note for users
Domestic road freight data
Data collection for road freight statistics moved from a paper to online survey midway through 2021. An investigation of the data has concluded that the paper data up to June 2021 (quarter 2), and online data from July 2021 (quarter 3) onwards, for domestic road freight statistics should not be compared.
A detailed explanation of the methodology change and the impact on the domestic road freight data can be found within the methodology note.
International road freight data
Statistics for international road freight have been revised for the period October 2021 (quarter 4) to June 2023 (quarter 2).
The grossing factors for the international road freight survey have been recalculated for this period due to revisions in RoRo census data. RoRo data is used to produce the grossing factors which scale the International Road Haulage Survey data to be representative of the total volume of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) traffic.
An explanation of the impact on the data can be found within the International Road Freight Statistics: 2023 publication and more detail in the RoRo revision note.
Headline figures
Statistics on the domestic activity of GB-registered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) operating in the UK in 2023
In 2023:
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1.55 billion tonnes of goods were lifted by GB-registered HGVs operating in the UK
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167 billion tonne kilometres of goods were moved by GB-registered HGVs operating in the UK
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19.0 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled GB-registered HGVs operating in the UK
Statistics on HGV driver vacancies in the UK, between October 2021 and March 2024
In quarter 1 (January to March) 2024:
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HGV businesses reporting HGV driver vacancies was at 19% in quarter 1 2024 and has been around 20% since quarter 4 (October to December) 2022
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the most common reason for vacancies in quarter 1 2024 was ‘driver retirement’ reported by 35% of businesses, closely followed by ‘better pay or benefit elsewhere’ reported by 34% of businesses
Statistics on the international activity of UK-registered HGVs in 2023
In 2023:
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5.7 million tonnes of goods were lifted by UK-registered HGVs operating internationally
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3.5 billion tonne kilometres of goods were moved by UK-registered HGVs operating internationally
The previous announcements of the UK leaving the European Union (EU) and subsequent transition period, along with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting supply chain disruption, have caused higher levels of volatility in international road freight statistics over the past 5 years. Therefore, caution should be taken when comparing this data to previous time periods.
Contact us
Road freight statistics
Email roadfreight.stats@dft.gov.uk
Media enquiries 0300 7777 878
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