Irish road freight is a large business-to-business activity, with 40.8 million tonnes carried in the first quarter of 2026, according to the Central Statistics Office. Vehicles owned by businesses outside the transport sector covered 238 million of the 491 million vehicle-kilometres, almost half the total. Those vehicles accounted for about 28 per cent of tonne-kilometres, which points to short, multi-stop delivery rounds. For Irish logistics and transport operators, this is a clear commercial opening for shared-user distribution.

Operators who offer shared-user, consolidated distribution can help manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers move goods more efficiently than separate in-house fleets allow. The service is simple to explain: shippers' loads are combined on professional networks, and each customer pays for the capacity it uses. Shippers gain predictable delivery performance, stronger supply chain management, and more time for their core business. Carriers gain a growing base of regular contract work and better use of their transportation assets.

The mix of activity shows where consolidation can help. Vehicles owned by non-transport businesses made 2.3 million laden journeys in the quarter, over 60 per cent of the total, carrying an average of about 7.7 tonnes per journey. Transport companies averaged 15.4 tonnes per laden journey. These averages are derived from the CSO's published tables, and they suggest that combining loads across shippers could raise utilisation without changing the goods carried.

The flows involved are overwhelmingly business-to-business. Deliveries of materials and fuels to factories accounted for 7.1 million tonnes, deliveries to retail outlets for 5.4 million tonnes, and deliveries to wholesalers for 3.9 million tonnes, together about 40 per cent of all tonnes carried. Foodstuffs generated the largest share of tonne-kilometres at 1,041 million, a commodity group where reliable, scheduled distribution matters. This is regular, repeatable traffic that suits shared networks supported by warehousing.

Eurostat data adds a further indicator. Around one third of Irish road freight vehicle-kilometres are driven empty, which indicates headroom for backloading and shared return loads. The CSO's Transport Omnibus 2018 recorded 3,038 million tonne-kilometres on national journeys by own-account vehicles against 6,309 million by hire or reward vehicles, a long-standing mix that professional carriers can build on. Together, the data points to utilisation gains that benefit both shippers and carriers across the supply chain.

Three actions merit prioritisation. Operators should design shared-user distribution rounds around the largest business-to-business flows, using transport management and fleet management data to plan consolidated routes and dependable delivery windows. Organisations should offer pilots to two or three anchor customers in food, building materials, and wholesale, supported by cross-dock capacity close to demand. Boards should measure results through load factor, cost per delivery, and operational efficiency gains, and use them to win procurement-led contracts.

Ireland's road freight activity is large, regular, and increasingly shaped by business-to-business supply relationships. Logistics and transport operators who build shared-user distribution capability will be well placed to help shippers improve utilisation and to grow a durable contract base in freight. The CSO's quarterly survey gives operators and shippers a transparent baseline for tracking progress.