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Published: 13 May 2015

Slightly more goods were transported by lorries in 2014 than in the previous year

Measured by tonnes, two per cent more goods were transported by lorries in domestic and international transport in 2014 than in the previous year. Tonne-kilometres decreased by four per cent. These data derive from the statistics on goods transport by road compiled by Statistics Finland.

Domestic transport

In 2014, lorries transported in total 274 million tonnes of goods in domestic transport, which was two per cent more than one year before. The total length of transport journeys driven was 1.8 billion kilometres, which was seven per cent down on 2013. The total number of tonne-kilometres was 20 billion, which was three per cent lower 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 84 per cent of the tonnes of all transported goods, which was in line with the year before. The share of licensed transport was 93 per cent of all tonne-kilometres, which was one percentage point less than in the year before.

Examined by type of lorry, six million tonnes more were transported by lorries without trailer in 2014 than in 2013, while the volume of goods transported by semi-trailer combinations went down by two million tonnes. The tonne volume transported by full trailer combinations was at the same level in both years, that is, the volume of goods transported by lorries was in total four million tonnes bigger in 2014 than in the preceding year. However, when examined by type of vehicle, the transport performance decreased both by lorries without trailer and semi-trailer combinations by 0.2 and 0.5 billion tonne-kilometres, respectively. The transport performance of full trailer combinations was on level with the previous year. Thus, the transport performance of all lorries was 0.7 billion tonne-kilometres lower in 2014 than one year earlier.

In 2014, lorries with a total weight of over 53 tonnes transported 135 million tonnes of goods, which was 49 per cent of the total volume of goods transported. The share decreased by one percentage point from the year before.

Measured by tonnes, 74 per cent of all goods were transported on journeys of at most 100 kilometres in 2014. The share grew by a few percentage points compared to the previous year. Measured by type of goods, 96 million kilometres of gravel and other soil materials was transported, which was five per cent of all kilometres. Due to the heaviness of soil materials, this type of goods was transported most when measured by weight, 41 per cent of all transported tonnes. Despite the large volume of tonnes, transport of soil materials made up only 11 per cent of the tonne-kilometres, because the average transport journey for soil materials is short. Most tonne-kilometres were accumulated from mixed transport of different types of goods, 11 per cent of all tonne-kilometres. Measured in kilometres, empty lorries were transported most, 29 per cent of all kilometres.

The average transport journey was 60 kilometres in 2014, which was two kilometres more than one year earlier. The average transport journey was 17 kilometres for soil materials and 93 kilometres for saw timber and pulpwood. The average length of empty journeys was 43 kilometres, which was four kilometres more than one year earlier.

International transport

In 2014, lorries transported 6.2 million tonnes of goods in international transport, which was 20 per cent more than one year before. The transport performance totalled 3.1 million tonne-kilometres, which was ten per cent lower than in 2013.

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 2014, Statistics Finland

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

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Updated 13.5.2015