Irish hauliers have increased the volume of goods they carry by 235 per cent over the past ten years, new figures reveal today.
The Central Statistic Office figures show that in 2004, Irish registered goods vehicles transported a total of over 283 million tonnes of goods by road - an increase of 9 per cent on the previous year.
In figures indicating improving efficiencies in the sector, a total of 2,342 million kilometres were travelled in 2004, an increase of over 10 per cent on the 2003 figure and an increase of 184 per cent on the 1994 figure.
While the amount of goods transport more than doubled over ten years, the fleet size increased by 159 per cent and completed 249 per cent more journeys than in 1994.
There was a 5 per cent increase in the number of smaller goods vehicles (2 - 5 tonnes unladen), constituting 46 per cent of the vehicle fleet and accounting for 4 per cent of the total goods carried.
Medium-sized vehicles (10 - 12.5 tonnes) accounted for 17 per cent of the vehicle fleet and had the largest share of activity, accounting for 43 per cent of total tonnes carried.
The largest vehicles constitute 11 per cent of the fleet and transported over a third of the total weight of goods carried.
The survey also showed that just under 70 per cent of the freight fleet is over four years old.
Almost 59 per cent of the total weight of goods carried were in the group Crude and Manufactured Minerals, Building Materials.