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For any question on data and metadata, please contact: Eurostat user support |
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1.1. Contact organisation | CSO (Central Statistics Office) |
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1.2. Contact organisation unit | Transport Section |
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1.5. Contact mail address | Central Statistics Office Skehard Road Cork T12 X00E Ireland |
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2.1. Metadata last certified | 28/03/2023 | ||
2.2. Metadata last posted | 28/03/2023 | ||
2.3. Metadata last update | 28/03/2023 |
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3.1. Data description | |||
Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity: |
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3.2. Classification system | |||
Statistics on carriage of goods by road apply the following statistical classifications:
The optional variable type of cargo follows the Classification of Cargo Types of UNECE (United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe - codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials, Recommendation 21 adopted by the Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures, Geneva, March 1986). |
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3.3. Coverage - sector | |||
Irish registered goods vehicles with an unladen weight of 2,000kgs and over. |
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3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions | |||
The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more details can be found in the Road freight transport methodology manual : A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods
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3.5. Statistical unit | |||
The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is the goods road transport vehicle or the local unit (a site of a company, as identified in the national business register). |
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3.6. Statistical population | |||
As the total number of statistical units (most commonly vehicles) is very large, sample surveys are carried out to collect information. |
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3.7. Reference area | |||
The data provided are goods vehicles registered in the declaring country uniquely. |
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3.8. Coverage - Time | |||
2006 to 2022 |
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3.9. Base period | |||
Not applicable. |
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Data are collected in tonnes, tonne-kilometres, vehicle-kilometres and in number of journeys (journey data) or in number of basic transport operations (BTO (goods related data)). |
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The road data are collected weekly and reported on a quarterly basis to Eurostat five months after the end of the reference period. |
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6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements | |||
National level: European level: |
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6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing | |||
National level : None From Eurostat : Eurostat submits annually semi-aggregated data (data exchange tables, see Commission Regulation (EU) No 202/2010 amending the Commission Regulation (EC) 6/2003) back to the reporting countries so that they can compile the total road freight transport on their national territories, including the operations by national hauliers and also those of all other reporting countries. These data exchange tables include more detailed breakdowns than the publicly available tables. They also include, for each value, the information on the number of observations that the estimates are based on. In this way, the reporting countries can estimate the reliability of results that they aggregate from the data exchange tables. |
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7.1. Confidentiality - policy | |||
National level:
European level:
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7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment | |||
All data are treated as strictly confidential in accordance with Part V of the Statistics Act, 1993 and cannot be accessed under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997. |
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8.1. Release calendar | |||
The quarterly Road Freight Transport Survey results are published between five and six months after the end of the reference periods. |
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8.2. Release calendar access | |||
CSO Release Calendar - https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/releasecalendar/ |
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8.3. Release policy - user access | |||
Quarterly Road Freight Transport Survey results are published on the CSO between five and six months after the end of the reference period. |
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Quarterly dissemination |
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10.1. Dissemination format - News release | |||
None |
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10.2. Dissemination format - Publications | |||
https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/transport/roadfreighttransportsurvey/ |
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10.3. Dissemination format - online database | |||
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access | |||
Access may be requested through an Research Microdata File (RMF) process |
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10.5. Dissemination format - other | |||
Annual Transport Omnibus - https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/transport/transportomnibus/ |
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10.6. Documentation on methodology | |||
National characteristics of surveys, conducted in the reporting countries in 2017, were published in Methodologies used in surveys of road freight transport in Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries. This latter publication also contains data on response rates, vehicle registers' quality, sampling rates and statistical errors in surveys carried out in 2016. |
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10.7. Quality management - documentation | |||
Quality Report can be viewed on the CSO website https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/transport/roadfreighttransportsurvey/ |
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11.1. Quality assurance | |||
Quality Report can be viewed on the CSO website https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/transport/roadfreighttransportsurvey/ |
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11.2. Quality management - assessment | |||
Quality Report can be viewed on the CSO website https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/transport/roadfreighttransportsurvey/ |
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12.1. Relevance - User Needs | |||
• Eurostat •Transport Industry in general • Government Departments and Agencies • CSO • Researchers |
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12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction | |||
None |
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12.3. Completeness | |||
Complete |
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13.1. Accuracy - overall | |||
There is no treatment of non-response for a unit in the statistical processing. In 2021, out of a total of 23,134 vehicles surveyed, a satisfactory return was received in respect of 9,087 vehicles representing an overall response rate of 39%. |
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13.2. Sampling error | |||
The variability is expressed by means of the coefficient of variation. This coefficient gives the relative size of the “sampling error” (variability) present in an estimate compared with the estimate itself. In general, estimates can be said to have a relative precision of twice their coefficient of variation. For 2021, the coefficient of variation for tonne-km was estimated at 1.4%. Measurement Error is not measured in this survey. However, the following points relating to the questionnaire should be noted: • The purpose of the survey and details of how the respondent is selected is clearly stated on the front of the form. • An instruction booklet is included with the survey form to assist the respondent in completing the survey from. • It is ensured as much as possible that the questionnaire is clear with definitions provided as appropriate. • The survey form is organised into distinct sections to assist the respondent in completing the survey form. • A telephone number and e-mail address are provided on the front of the form in the event that the respondent needs assistance in completing the form. • An online questionnaire eQ is available on request. |
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13.3. Non-sampling error | |||
While every effort is made to ensure that the returns received are correct in all respects it is inevitable that some minor non-sampling errors will remain undetected. However, systems are put in place in the data entry system to keep these errors to a minimum. This involves running a series of system edit checks to test for consistency, the use of classification coding to ensure that all keyed values are valid and the use of range checking and cross checks to ensure that the data is comparable. A wide range of validation checks are also carried out in the DMS to ensure the keyed values are correct and within the range of parameters set out for data entry. |
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14.1. Timeliness | |||
Data are normally updated once per quarter. If new annual data (all four quarters of a calendar year) have become available, the annual datasets are also updated together with the quarterly datasets. |
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14.2. Punctuality | |||
Road freight data are transmitted to Eurostat within 5 months after the end of the reference period, as specified in the Regulation (EU) 70//2012. |
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15.1. Comparability - geographical | |||
The trends in the annual data are compared with those of other European countries who use the same methodology to compile their results. |
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15.2. Comparability - over time | |||
Quarterly data are compared with previous periods to ensure consistency. |
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15.3. Coherence - cross domain | |||
The published Road Freight Transport Survey data is compared with data from other member states in the EU countries to identify if similar trends exist. The results are also checked regularly with quarterly published data from Eurostat on road freight activity to determine if trends are similar. Any differences in trends are closely examined so that the reasons for any differences can be identified. |
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15.4. Coherence - internal | |||
Quarterly data trends are compared over time |
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See response burden table - https://data.cso.ie/table/RBA01 |
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17.1. Data revision - policy | |||
There are no provisional results published for the survey and in general revisions are not expected in the data. |
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17.2. Data revision - practice | |||
In 2008, there were changes made in the methodologies for estimating the active number of goods vehicles and the grossing of the survey results which resulted in revisions to data over the period 1998 to 2007. Since then no major revisions have taken place. |
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18.1. Source data | |||
Sampling register used for the survey
Name of register: Goods Vehicle File Name of organisation who maintains the register: Department of Transport Frequency of update: The goods vehicle file is updated on a daily basis within the Department Frequency of access to draw the samples: Every 8 weeks Arrangements for accessing the register: Every 8 weeks, the CSO receives an updated goods vehicle file from the Vehicle Registration Unit of the Department of Transport. This file contains details of all vehicles currently taxed as goods vehicles in the State. The file is used to update the CSO’s Register of goods vehicles which contains only vehicles with an un-laden weight of 2 000 kg and over. The CSO register is updated each time to reflect any newly licensed vehicles or vehicles that are no longer in use (these are deleted). Vehicles on the CSO register which have not been taxed in over 3 years are also deleted from the register. Information obtained from the register: The data obtained from the Department of Transport file are as follows:
Two new variables are created when updating the CSO Register:
There are 9 sample selection strata based on the 9 different combinations of the age and size categories. Procedure for reminders: A final reminder is sent if the questionnaire has not been returned by post or online within 12 days of the due date. |
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18.2. Frequency of data collection | |||
Weekly survey |
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18.3. Data collection | |||
Sampling methodology Statistical unit: Tractive vehicle Types of units excluded: The following vehicles are excluded:
Time unit: 1 week All (13 weeks) Stratification: There are 20 strata which are used for grossing based on year of manufacture, unladen weight, taxation class and year of first registration. These are aggregated to 9 strata for sample selection. Different sampling rates are applied to different selection strata. 15 % of vehicles in selection strata 1, 4 and 7, 50 % of vehicles in selection strata 2, 5 and 8, and 90 % in strata 3, 6 and 9 are sampled. Any vehicle selected is only sampled once in any survey year. Recording of weight of goods: Gross weight of goods is collected; containers swap bodies and pallets are excluded, but pallets might be included. Recording of journey data sent to Eurostat: Single stop: Our practice is to record only one goods type per journey. This would be recorded as a mixed load if there are more than one goods commodity carried. Multi stop: Our practice is to record only one origin and one destination for each journey. For each journey, the origin, destination, number of collection stops and weight of goods collected and the number of delivery stops and weight of goods delivered are recorded. Tonne-km for the journey as a whole is derived by the processing system. Collection/delivery: Our practice is to record only one origin and destination for a journey. The origin and destination, number of collection stops and weight of goods collected and the number of delivery stops and weight of goods delivered are recorded. There is no facility to enter tonne-kilometres on the data entry system so tkm are calculated using formulas for a combination of collection and delivery stops. Calculation of weighting factors: When calculating the grossing factor per stratum, the average active vehicle population per stratum is first estimated. This is done by adding the number of vehicles in each stratum at the beginning and end of the calendar quarter and dividing by 2 which gives the average population of vehicles per strata. This figure serves as the benchmark figure for each stratum to which the survey estimates are grossed up to. The number of vehicles with activity during the quarter (vehicles included in A1) is then added to the number of non-working vehicles during the quarter for each stratum to give the total number of active vehicles in each stratum. The grossing factor is then calculated by dividing the average number of vehicles in the stratum by the number of active vehicles in the stratum multiplied by 13 (13 weeks in the quarter). N = average number of vehicles on register in stratum for quarter (sum of number of vehicles on register in a stratum at the beginning and the end of a quarter divided by 2 S = number of questionnaires used in analysis (in A1 dataset) S’ = number of vehicles for which no activity was recorded, but vehicles could be considered as active (holiday, no work, etc.
No calibration is used. Optional variables covered: 1. Vehicle-related variables:
A2. Journey-related variables:
A3. Goods-related variables:
Additional variables collected compared to the legal requirements: Environmental impact-related variables: Type of fuel used. |
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18.4. Data validation | |||
National level : Edit checks are carried out quarterly at unit level in the data management system. A second round of edit checking takes place using a validation program in SAS at the end of each quarter to ensure that there is consistency between vehicle and journey data. For all potential errors detected individual survey returns are re-examined and corrections made where necessary. Once the quarterly data is finalised and results are produced, these figures are then checked for consistency with previous quarters, and year-to-date analysis is also undertaken. In some cases other data sources are used to investigate the plausibility of the level of activity in certain sectors or geographic regions in a particular quarter. From Eurostat : Since 1999, micro-data from the reporting countries have to be submitted according to Commission Regulation 2163/2001. The data are then checked and validated by EUROSTAT (verification of many different codes used (NUTS 3, numeric or alphabetic variables) correctness of linked questionnaires in the different dataset, etc…). Detected errors are then reported back to the data sender with the request for correction, this is an iterative process until at least 99.5% of all data records are validated and loaded in the database. |
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18.5. Data compilation | |||
18.6. Adjustment | |||
Road freight data are not seasonally adjusted. |
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Copies of the current release and historical annual publications (with a back series to 1995) and methodology are available from the following links: Current release: https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/transport/roadfreighttransportsurvey/ Historical releases and publications: https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/transport/archive/ - (select year) |
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