Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

287 Chapter 11: Environment and Transport In 2022, the tonnage of goods transported by road saw 6% growth compared with 2021. This represents 3% growth relative to 2019 figures (CSO, 2023d). There was, however, a slight decrease in the distance driven by HGVs (CSO, 2023d). This indicates that, despite higher demand leading to more goods being transported, the distance covered by road vehicles was less. Compared with other EU countries, Ireland’s road freight transport activity in 2022 is at the lower end of the spectrum at 12.36 billion tonne-kilometres (tkm) (Eurostat, 2023b). The amount of goods handled by rail (76 million tkm) in Ireland is the lowest among European countries with an operational rail network (Eurostat, 2023c). In 2021, vehicles dedicated to transporting goods to roadworks or building sites handled 37% of the total road freight tonnage (41% in 2022; (CSO, 2023d)), while 40% of the vehicle-kilometres driven were associated with deliveries to retail outlets and wholesalers (Figure 11.7). Topic Box 11.3 later in this chapter proposes an optimal strategy for freight transport. Figure 11.7  Shares of work done by delivery vehicles 24% 5% 12% 37% 10% 11% 8% 9% 15% 7% 4% 4% 8% 16% 12% 12% 1% 3% 2% 1% a) Vehicle kilometres by work done by vehicle (%) b) Tonnes carried by work done by vehicle (%) ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ Carriage of fertilisers, feeding stuffs, etc. to farms Carriage of livestock Carriage of other farm produce from farms Delivery of goods to households Delivery of goods to retail outlets ˜ Delivery of goods to road works or building sites ˜ Delivery of goods to wholesalers ˜ Delivery of materials and fuels to factories ˜ Import/Export Work ˜ Other work Source: CSO, 2023d