Almost 45 million tonnes of goods were transported by road between January and March this year, a 2.9 million tonne increase on the first quarter of last year, according to data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Volumes have been steadily increasing since the first quarter of 2021 when 34.3 million tonnes moved across the State.
Damien Lenihan, a statistician with the CSO’s transport division, said the latest figures represent a 7 per cent increase on the same period last year.
The total amount carried in Q1 this year also represents a 10 per cent rise on the first quarter of 2022 and a 22 per cent rise on the first quarter of 2020.
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Quarry products such as metal ores and peat accounted for the most road tonnage, both nationally and internationally, at 12.4 million tonnes. It represented some 28 per cent of all road freight activity in the first quarter. Food products followed close behind it at nearly 8 million tonnes.
Meanwhile, coal and natural gas made up the least amount of transport activity in the first quarter this year, at 35,000 tonnes.
Delivery of products for roadworks and building sites was the main reason for road freight activity in the first quarter of the year, at 14.4 million tonnes.
Livestock, meanwhile, was the lowest amount at 275,000 tonnes.
Overall, the amount of distance covered by road transport was up 20 per cent compared with the same period last year, registering 528 million kilometres. The amount carried by vehicles, known as laden journeys, rose by 16 per cent when compared with the same quarter in 2023.
Mr Lenihan said road activity measured as weight by distance was also up at 3,452 million tonnes-per-kilometre in quarter 1 2024, an increase of 12 per cent on the same quarter in 2023.
From an international perspective, the amount of tonnes carried to the UK from the State was 590,000 in the quarter, down from 665,000 tonnes last year. The amount transported in the EU was 78,000 tonnes this quarter, up from 44,000 tonnes last year.
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