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CHAPTER 3 ROAD FREIGHT
1.
Introduction
1.1 This chapter provides information about road freight
lifted by
UK-registered heavy goods vehicles (
HGVs: over 3.5 tonnes gross weight),
such as the amount of goods lifted in Scotland by origin
and destination, the lengths of haul, the destinations
within the
UK and Europe, and the types of
commodity lifted.
1.2 The main change in this edition is that the
Department for Transport (
DfT) has made some changes to the
methodology and processing system for its Continuous Survey
of Road Goods Transport, which have resulted in a
discontinuity in the series. As a result, the statistics of
road freight transported
within the
UK in 2004 are not comparable with the
figures for earlier years. (
NB: there are
no breaks in the
international road freight series, because
DfT has not changed its International
Road Haulage Survey).
2.
Main Points
2.1 In 2004, an estimated 158 million tonnes of goods
were lifted within Scotland by
UKHGVs and transported to destinations
within Scotland. About 14.3 million tonnes of goods from
Scotland were delivered to destinations elsewhere in the
UK, and around 17.6 million tonnes were
brought into Scotland from elsewhere in the
UK. In comparison, the volume of
international traffic is very small: under 1 million tonnes
in 2004.
(
Table 3.1)
2.2 The estimated total amount of goods lifted in
Scotland by
UKHGVs in 2004 was 173.1 million tonnes.
This figure should
not be compared with the statistics for earlier
years, for the reason given in paragraph 1.2. Previous
years' figures did
not show any marked trend: there was little change
from year to year in the period up to 2003. The estimated
total amount of goods lifted in Scotland by
UKHGVs was 155.8 million tonnes in 1994
and 153.4 million tonnes in 2003, having fluctuated between
about 151 million tonnes and about 162 million tonnes in
the intervening period.
(
Table 3.1)
2.3 Most road freight journeys are under 50 kilometres
in length: 41% of goods lifted by road in Scotland in 2004
were carried a distance of no more than 25 kilometres, and
19% travelled over 25 km but no more than 50 km. The
average journey distance, which is calculated by dividing
the total tonne-kilometres by the total tonnes lifted, was
84 km.
(
Table 3.2)
2.4 Goods moved on journeys originating in Scotland with
a destination in Scotland amounted to around 9,000 million
tonne-kilometres in 2004. The overall total, including
journeys with destinations elsewhere in the
UK and abroad, was about 15,200 million
tonne-kilometres. Again, one should not compare these with
earlier years' figures because of the break in series
referred to in paragraph 1.2. Again, previous years'
figures did
not show any marked trend: for example, throughout
the period from 1995 to 2003 inclusive the overall total
remained around 14-15,000 million tonne-kilometres. The
average journey distance for freight remaining in Scotland
rose from 51 km in 1994 to 58 km in 2003. For all freight
originating in Scotland, including goods going outwith the
UK, the average journey distance
increased from 83 km in 1994 to 94 km in 2003. The index of
the road freight intensity of the Scottish economy (
see section 3.8) fell in each year from
1998 to 2003.
(
Table 3.3)
2.5 Of the 14.3 million tonnes of goods lifted by road
leaving Scotland for the rest of
UK, in 2004, over 70% were destined for
the three northernmost regions of England - North East,
Yorkshire and the Humber, and North West. In 2004, of the
17.6 million tonnes of goods brought by road from the rest
of the
UK into Scotland, over 70% of goods came
from these regions.
(
Table 3.4)
2.6 In 2004, "Minerals and building materials" was the
largest single category of goods lifted in Scotland, which
remained in Scotland, accounting for 53 million tonnes out
of the total of 158 million tonnes.
(
Table 3.5)
2.7 In 2004,
UK registered road hauliers carried an
estimated 522 thousand tonnes of goods from Scotland to
countries outwith the
UK, and 288 thousand tonnes from foreign
countries into Scotland. Of goods leaving Scotland for
abroad, carried by
UK road hauliers, 43% went to France,
13% to the Netherlands, 12% to Germany, 7% to Spain and 5%
to Italy. For goods entering Scotland from abroad, carried
by
UK road hauliers, 29% came from the
Netherlands, 22% from France, 19% from Germany and 10% from
Spain.
(
Table 3.6)
2.8 In 2004, around 8% of the total amount of goods
leaving the
UK lifted by
UKHGVs originated in Scotland. However,
Scotland provided 22% of foodstuffs and animal fodder, and
8% of machinery and transport equipment leaving the
UK(
Table 3.7)
2.9 In the period from 2000 to 2004, around 41% of the
annual average amount of freight lifted in Scotland by
UKHGVs originated in the former
Strathclyde region, 12% originated in Grampian and 11% in
Lothian. Similarly around 42% of the annual average freight
delivered in Scotland was destined for Strathclyde, 13% for
Lothian and 13% for Grampian. Generally, the majority of
the freight lifted in a region was delivered to a
destination within that region.
(
Table 3.8)
3.
Notes and Definitions
3.1
Origin and
destination: these refer to the origins and
destinations of the trips that were recorded in the
surveys. These are
not necessarily the ultimate origins and
destinations of the goods (a trip on a vehicle which was in
the sample may represent only one stage in the journey of a
consignment: goods may have been trans-shipped on a number
of occasions).
3.2
Entering Scotland and
leaving Scotland: goods are classified on the
basis of the origin and the destination of the trip
: for example, a trip is counted as "entering
Scotland" if the origin is outwith Scotland and the
destination is within Scotland. It follows that trips which
are made
via Scotland, such as trips between Northern
Ireland and England, are counted neither as "entering
Scotland" nor as "leaving Scotland", because neither the
origin nor the destination is within Scotland.
3.3
Remaining in Scotland: goods for which both the
origin and the destination of the trip are within Scotland
(they may, of course, leave Scotland on a later trip).
3.4
Length of haul: this information relates to
individual vehicle trips, and not to the total distance
that the goods may have travelled.
3.5
Goods lifted: these represent the total weight of
goods loaded (in tonnes), and take no account of the
distance for which the goods are carried. In cases where
goods which had been carried on one
HGV are later loaded onto another
HGV, they will be counted as being
lifted twice.
3.6
Tonne-kilometres: these provide a measure of the
total amount of work done, and are calculated for each
loaded journey by multiplying the weight of the load by the
distance for which it is carried.
3.7
Groupage: This term is used in the analysis by
commodity of the road freight entering or leaving the
UK. When an
HGV has delivered its goods to a
destination in another country and does not have a
pre-arranged load to transport on the return journey,
rather than make the return journey empty, the space is
often advertised. As a mixture of goods is usually
transported on these occasions, which could not easily be
split between the different categories of commodity, it is
described as 'groupage'.
3.8
Road Freight Intensity Index: this indicates how
the "volume" of road freight (measured in tonne-kilometres)
has been changing relative to the "volume" of the Scottish
economy as a whole. For example, the value of the road
freight intensity index will rise if the volume of road
freight increases more rapidly than the rate at which the
Scottish economy grows, or if the volume of road freight
rises while the Scottish economy contracts, or if the
volume of road freight falls less rapidly than the Scottish
economy contracts. The road freight intensity index is an
index of the ratio of (i) the index of road freight
tonne-kilometres moved by
UKHGVs on journeys originating in Scotland
to (ii) the index of Scottish Gross Domestic Product
(measured in terms of the Gross Value Added for all
industries).
4.
Sources
4.1 Statistics of freight lifted and moved by road were
provided by the Department for Transport, (
DfT), which obtained them from two
sample surveys.
4.2
UKHGV Road freight traffic within the
UK
4.2.1 Information about domestic road freight traffic is
obtained from
DfT's Continuing Survey of Roads Goods
Transport. This collects details of the journeys that were
made by a sample of heavy goods vehicles (
HGVs: vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross
weight).
HGVs account for an estimated 95% of
road freight activity, the rest being carried by small
commercial vehicles of up to 3.5 tonnes gross weight.
4.2.2 Each week, a number of
HGVs are randomly selected from the
computer records of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Authority (and the corresponding Northern Ireland body).
The sample is stratified by vehicle type, and (within
vehicle type) spread evenly over a number of geographical
areas, in order that the survey will produce reasonably
accurate estimates for each category of vehicle, and for
each of the geographical areas. A questionnaire is sent to
each selected vehicle's registered keeper, asking for
information about the vehicle, and about every trip that it
made in a sample week. The sample weeks are spread evenly
across the year.
4.2.3 The origins and destinations are reported in the
survey as (
e.g.) the names of towns.
DfT uses a computerised "gazetteer" to
check the lengths of the routes between these places, and
to determine the appropriate Region or Island Area for each
Scottish origin and destination
.DfT did not record origins and
destinations in terms of the new Council areas in 2003.
Following the completion of local government reorganisation
across Britain,
DfT is coding to the
NUTS-4 areas with effect from 2004 ("
NUTS" is the "Nomenclature for Units for
Territorial Statistics": a classification of areas that is
used to produce statistics for the European Union. There
are 41 "
NUTS-4" areas in Scotland.)
4.2.4 The results of the survey are "grossed-up" to
produce estimates which represent the total road freight
carried during the year as a whole, by all
HGVs. This is done quarterly, in two
stages. First, the sample vehicles' results are "grossed
up" to the whole
HGV "population" using the ratio of the
average number of
HGVs in the stratum (from the
DVLA and
NI records) to the number for which
survey results are available (the "average number of
HGVs in the stratum" is the average of
the number in the stratum at the start of the quarter and
the number at the end of the quarter). Then the results are
multiplied by 13, to raise the activity in the sampled week
to an estimate for the whole of the quarter.
4.2.5 On average, the survey collects information for
about 2,500 Scottish-based vehicles per year, or about 50
Scottish vehicles per week. A very general rule-of-thumb
for this survey is that estimates which are based upon
around 1,000
HGV-weeks have a 95% confidence interval
of about +/- 10%. Therefore, the annual sample is too small
for detailed analysis of the estimates for Scotland for a
single year, and so the table which shows the estimated
flows of freight to and from the former Regions of Scotland
was produced by combining the results from several years'
surveys.
4.2.6
DfT made some changes to the methodology
and processing system for the survey, which resulted in a
discontinuity in the series between 2003 and 2004.
4.3
UKHGV International road freight
traffic
4.3.1 The international road freight traffic statistics
are derived from
DfT's Continuing International Road
Haulage Survey which covers a sample of
UK-registered heavy goods vehicles (
HGVs: over 3.5 tonnes gross weight).
Work by foreign-registered vehicles, and the transport of
goods in unaccompanied trailers, is not within the scope of
the survey. Other
EU countries are responsible for
monitoring the international movements of their own
vehicles.
4.3.2 The survey covers trips using roll-on/roll-off
ferries and the Channel Tunnel to serve origins and
destinations located in continental Europe and in the
Republic of Ireland, where the driver accompanies the
vehicle throughout the journey. Trailers, when
unaccompanied on the ferry crossing (or Channel Tunnel
trip), are treated as domestic traffic when hauled to or
from a
UK port (or Channel Tunnel terminal). If
the trailer is subsequently picked up by a foreign vehicle,
that leg of the journey will be recorded in the statistics
of the country in which the vehicle is registered. These
statistics therefore exclude traffic which is carried in
unaccompanied trailers, or in foreign-registered
vehicles.
4.3.3 Each
UK haulier with an International
Operators Licence is asked to provide details of a sample
of international trips by its
HGVs: all those which leave the
UK on a specified day or days (chosen in
advance). Details of each trip are required, in those cases
where a vehicle starts two (or more) international trips
within the specified period. The sample covers about 4% of
all trips.
4.3.4 The survey results are "grossed-up" in two stages,
using information provided each quarter by the ferry and
Channel Tunnel operators about the total number of
UK-registered
HGVs recorded on each route. First, the
survey results for each ferry route and the Channel Tunnel
are grossed-up separately, using each route's ratio of the
number of
UKHGVs using that route (as reported by
the operator) to the number in the survey. Then, the
resulting totals are grossed-up further, using the
quarter's grand total of all
UK-registered
HGVs for all ferry routes and the
Channel Tunnel, to allow for traffic on any routes which
did not happen to have any vehicles in the sample in that
quarter. It should be noted that the results do
not include any estimates of activity across the
Irish
land boundary, because there are no overall totals
for the total number of
HGVs which cross that boundary. From
2004
DfT has introduced a new survey covering
all domestic and international activity of Northern Ireland
registered vehicles.
4.4
Light goods vehicle traffic Two
DfT surveys collect information about
van activity:
- survey of
private household vans - initially for a
twelve month period (October 2002 to September 2003),
with the possibility of repeat surveys in future years.
The sample size was about 2,500 for
GB as a whole. It included only 148
Scottish vans, which made only 746 trips in the period
in which they were in the sample, and so is too small
to provide sufficiently robust results for
Scotland.
- continuing survey of
company-owned vans - this had a sample size of
about 4,800 for
GB as a whole in 2004. Only 360 of
the vehicles were registered in Scotland, so very few
figures for Scotland are available.
4.5
Gross Domestic Product The index used is an
updated version of the index of Gross Value Added for all
industries, published in
Table 1.1 of
"Scottish Economic Statistics 2004", which was
subsequently rebased to "2001 = 100" and extended to
2004.
5.
Further Information
5.1 Further information on
GB road freight statistics can be found
in the annual
DfT publications "
Transport of Goods by Road in Great Britain", "
Transport Statistics Great Britain" and
"Survey of Van Activity", the quarterly bulletin "
Road Goods Vehicles Travelling to Mainland
Europe", and the single bulletins
"Survey of Privately Owned Vans" and
"Survey of Van Activity" (the results of the
survey of company-owned vans).
5.2 For further information on road freight statistics
contact Chris Overson, Department for Transport (
Tel: 020 7944 3093).
5.3 For further information on the index of Gross
Domestic Product for Scotland, contact Julie Ramsay,
OCEA Economic Statistics, Scottish
Executive (
tel: 0131 244 3771).
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