Road freight: 2019

Main points

The Wales road freight statistics include information about imports and exports of goods to and from Wales that are carried by road using UK registered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). Data is provided by the Department for Transport.

In 2019, total goods carried by road within Wales decreased by 4.2% compared with 2018. Goods entering Wales increased by 12.0% and goods leaving Wales increased by 15.9% in 2019.

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UK destination

• In 2019, 40% of road freight in Wales travelled within Wales only. This is a fall of 4.2 percentage points compared to 2018.
• HGVs carried 37 million tonnes of road freight within Wales, 28 million tonnes to Wales from the rest of the UK and 28 million tonnes from Wales to the rest of the UK.
• Of goods transported from Wales to other parts of the UK, 23% went to the West Midlands, 17% to the South West of England and 25% to the North West of England. These regions accounted for a total of 66% of goods transported from Wales to the rest of the UK.
• The same three regions accounted for 62% of goods transported into Wales from the rest of the UK. 22% came from the West Midlands, 23% from the North West of England and 17% from the South West of England.

European Union (EU) destination

• 40% of Welsh tonnage carried by road from and to the EU was loaded/unloaded in Belgium, Luxembourg or Germany in 2019. The combined total of imports and exports of goods carried by road to and from these countries increased in 2019.
• For the EU, as a whole, the combined total of imports and exports of goods carried by road increased by 31% in 2019 compared to 2018.

Commodity groups

The largest groups of commodities (by weight) carried by HGVs in Wales in 2019 were:

• 15 million tonnes of food products (including beverages and tobacco)
• 10 million tonnes of metal ore and other mining and quarrying (not including coal and lignite)
• 8 million tonnes of waste related products
• 7 million tonnes of agricultural products