Road goods vehicles travelling to mainland Europe - 2007

This is a National Statistics publication on the number of road goods vehicles travelling to mainland Europe from Great Britain by Ro-Ro ferry and through the Channel Tunnel during 2007.

This series was last published in August 2007, containing data up to quarter 2 of 2007. In 2007, several key operators were able to supply more reliable information about both the number of Road Goods Vehicles and their country of registration. This new data raised questions about the robustness of the previously published estimates. Therefore, the series was suspended while a more thorough review of the figures was carried out; as a result of which revisions have been made to the figures back to 2004. The revised estimates are considered to be more robust since they are based on more complete information, comparison with other sources and further discussion with operators. However, this new methodology has resulted in a break in the series between 2003 and 2004 and comparisons by country of registration should therefore be treated with caution.

The revised figures show small changes in the overall total (about 2 per cent lower than previously estimated) and more substantial changes in the country of registration split for powered goods vehicles (the UK share in 2006 is revised to 20 per cent compared with 25 per cent previously). More details are given in an appendix in the report.

The key points are as follows:

• During 2007, 2.94 million goods vehicles travelled from Great Britain to mainland Europe, five per cent higher than the 2006 total and 110 per cent higher than 1992.
• This figure was made up of 2.1 million powered vehicles (up five per cent from 2006 and 177 per cent from 1992) and 811 thousand unaccompanied trailers (up three per cent from 2006 and 29 per cent from 1992).
• In 2007, 19 per cent of powered goods vehicles were UK registered.
• Since the early 1990s, there has been a significant rise in the number of foreign registered goods vehicles; from 394 thousand in 1992 to 1.7 million in 2007.
• Of these foreign registered goods vehicles, in 2007 the majority were from the Netherlands (252 thousand) followed by Germany (218 thousand), Poland (205 thousand) and France (197 thousand).
• In 2007, 483 thousand of these foreign registered vehicles were from the 12 new Member States who have joined since 2004 (including Poland).
• 87 per cent of powered goods vehicles travelling to mainland Europe used the Dover Straits, including the Channel Tunnel. The North Sea ports were the main departure point for unaccompanied trailers; 93 per cent of all unaccompanied trailers travelled through this port group.

Notes

These statistics are compiled from returns provided by roll-on/roll-off ferry operators and by Eurotunnel on the total number of vehicles travelling from Great Britain to mainland Europe.

Powered vehicles comprise rigid vehicles, lorries with semi-trailers (articulated units) and lorries with drawbar trailers (some vehicles under 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight are also included). Unaccompanied trailers comprise trailers and semi-trailers not accompanied on the ferry by a powered unit. Unaccompanied trailers are not carried by the Eurotunnel freight service.

Publication details

Published on 22 May 2008 by Transport Statistics.

Email maritime.stats@dft.gsi.gov.uk for queries concerning this bulletin.

The next quarterly bulletin will be published on 28 August 2008. This will include Q1 and Q2 of 2008.

Following this revision to the number of UK vehicles travelling to mainland Europe, the figures published in Road Freight Statistics (RFS) on trends in international road haulage by UK registered vehicles for 2004 to 2006 (Tables 2.5 to 2.11) will need to be revised. The intention is to publish these revisions in the next annual publication of RFS in August 2008.

For information about release of this product see National Statistics Online.