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Published: 18 May 2016

Slightly less goods were transported by lorries in 2015 than in the previous year

Measured by tonnes, three per cent less goods were transported by lorries in domestic and international transport in 2015 than in the previous year. Tonne-kilometres increased by five per cent. These data derive from the statistics on goods transport by road compiled by Statistics Finland.

Domestic transport

In 2015, lorries transported 267 million tonnes of goods in domestic transport, which was two per cent less than one year before. The total length of transport journeys driven was 1.6 billion kilometres, which was 10 per cent down on 2014. The total number of tonne-kilometres was 21 billion, which was six per cent more than in the year before. Tonne-kilometre describes the volume of transport and is obtained as a product of the transported volume of goods given in tonnes and the length of the transport journey in kilometres.

Annual volume of goods transported by lorries in domestic transport

Professional or licensed transport accounted for 86 per cent of the tonnes of all transported goods, which was two per cent more than in the year before. The share of licensed transport was 93 per cent of all tonne-kilometres, which was in line with the year before.

Examined by type of lorry, 19 million tonnes less measured in tonnes were transported by lorries without trailer than in 2014. The volume of goods transported by semi-trailer combinations grew by two tonnes and by full trailer combinations by 10 tonnes from the year before. When examined by type of vehicle, the transport performance decreased for lorries without trailer by 0.4 billion tonne-kilometres in 2015 compared to the previous year. In turn, the transport performance of semi-trailer combinations and full trailer combinations grew year-on-year by 0.5 and 1.0 billion tonne-kilometres, respectively. Thus, the transport performance of all lorries was 1.1 billion tonne-kilometres bigger in 2015 than one year earlier.

In 2015, lorries with a total weight of over 53 tonnes transported 143 million tonnes of goods, which was 53 per cent of the total volume of goods transported. The share grew by four percentage points from the year before. The transport performance of lorries with a total weight of over 53 tonnes was 15.7 million tonne-kilometres in 2015, which was 73 per cent of total transport performance. The share went up by one percentage point from the year before. Measured by total weight, the transport performance of 2015 consists of lorries grouped into four weight categories of more or less equal parts. The relative shares of tonne-kilometres of lorries weighing under 53, 53 to 60, 60 to 68 and over 68 tonnes accounted for 27, 25, 24 and 23 per cent of total transport performance in 2015.

Measured by tonnes, 73 per cent of all goods were transported on journeys of at most 100 kilometres in 2015. The share went down by one per cent from the year before. Of type of goods, 91 million kilometres of gravel and other soil materials were transported, which was six per cent of all kilometres. Due to the heaviness of soil materials, this type of goods was transported most when measured by weight, 37 per cent of all transported tonnes. Despite the large volume of tonnes, transport of soil materials made up only 10 per cent of the tonne-kilometres, because the average transport journey for soil materials is short. Most tonne-kilometres were accumulated from transport of saw timber and pulpwood, 13 per cent of all tonne-kilometres. Measured in kilometres, empty lorries were transported most, 25 per cent of all kilometres.

The average transport journey was 62 kilometres in 2015, which was two kilometres more than one year earlier. The average transport journey was 19 kilometres for soil materials and 99 kilometres for saw timber and pulpwood. The average length of empty journeys was 43 kilometres, which was on the same level as one year earlier.

International transport

In 2015, lorries transported 4.4 million tonnes of goods in international transport, which was 29 per cent lower than one year before. The transport performance totalled 3.1 billion tonne-kilometres, which was two per cent less than in 2014.

It should be noted that the statistics on goods transport by road always monitor the transport performance of a truck tractor selected to the survey during the survey period. The truck tractor selected to the sample may have several different trailers during the survey period. Therefore, if trailers are hauled to a harbour from which they continue in sea transport without the truck tractor, the monitoring of the transport ends there.

Source: Goods Transport by Road 2015, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Klaus Bossart 029 551 2602, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Mari Ylä-Jarkko

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Updated 18.5.2016