UK freight volumes rise. Is this a lasting rebound?

The latest Department for Transport road-freight figures point to a marked improvement in the productivity of domestic HGV operations during the opening three months of 2026. Between January and March, GB-registered HGVs operating domestically lifted an estimated 387 million tonnes of goods. That was approximately 8% more than the 360 million tonnes recorded in the same quarter of 2025.

The amount of freight moved, which takes both weight and distance into account, also increased by around 8%, from 39 billion to 42 billion tonne-kilometres.

However, the distance travelled by HGVs barely changed. Vehicles covered 4.548 billion kilometres in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 4.547 billion kilometres a year earlier.

The figures therefore suggest that operators moved considerably more freight without adding to overall HGV traffic.

Empty mileage falls by around 200 million kilometres

A substantial fall in empty running appears to have contributed to the improvement. Empty vehicles accounted for 28% of HGV mileage between January and March 2026, down from 33% in the corresponding quarter of 2025.

In absolute terms, empty running fell from approximately 1.5 billion kilometres to just under 1.3 billion kilometres. This represents a year-on-year reduction of roughly 200 million kilometres.

Despite the improvement, the scale of empty running remains significant. More than one kilometre in every four travelled by a GB-registered HGV during the quarter was completed without a load.

Longer-term picture remains broadly stable

The stronger first-quarter performance has not yet translated into substantial growth across the full rolling year. During the 12 months from April 2025 to March 2026, HGVs lifted 1.559 billion tonnes of goods, broadly unchanged from the preceding 12-month period.

Goods moved slipped by 1%, from 165 billion to 164 billion tonne-kilometres, while total vehicle distance also fell by 1%, from 19.114 billion to 18.975 billion kilometres.

Empty running accounted for 30% of total mileage over the full period, one percentage point lower than a year earlier. Even at that reduced share, HGVs covered approximately 5.7 billion kilometres without carrying goods.

The DfT describes domestic road-freight activity as broadly stable, with a slight downward trend since the beginning of its current comparable data series in 2021.

Articulated vehicles dominate freight work

Separate annual figures for 2025, published in May, illustrate the different roles played by articulated and rigid HGVs. Articulated vehicles performed almost 80% of domestic freight work measured in tonne-kilometres, recording 128.5 billion out of a total of 161.5 billion tonne-kilometres. They also carried approximately 63% of all tonnage.

The average articulated-vehicle haul was 134 kilometres, compared with 58 kilometres for rigid HGVs. Across all vehicle types, the average length of haul edged down from 106 kilometres in 2024 to 105 kilometres in 2025.

Those annual figures also show that empty running increased from 30.1% of HGV mileage in 2024 to 31.1% in 2025. The particularly low rate recorded in the first quarter of 2026 may therefore signal an improvement, although further quarterly results will be needed to determine whether it represents a lasting change.

The statistics cover domestic freight carried by GB-registered HGVs They exclude foreign-registered trucks, vans and journeys made by British HGVs outside the United Kingdom.