France road freight transport: vehicle-kilometres
France road freight transport: vehicle-kilometres stood at 17,251 million vehicle-km in 2025, according to SDES – Service des données et études statistiques (Ministère de la Transition écologique). It is one of the indicators in the Freight transport (annual) table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 1999 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Freight transport (annual) table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vehicle-kilometres | |||||||||||
| Total | 17,251 | 17,163 | 16,771 | 16,949 | 17,178 | 16,743 | 17,169 | 16,894 | 17,142 | 16,846 | |
| Loaded journeys | 14,276 | 14,154 | 13,807 | 13,990 | 14,113 | 13,822 | 14,173 | 13,863 | 14,032 | 13,510 |
Understanding france road freight transport: vehicle-kilometres
Accumulating total distance traveled by all commercial goods vehicles regardless of cargo status, this measure aggregates every kilometre registered by heavy transport fleets across the entire network. The scope encompasses loaded journeys, empty repositioning trips, and transit legs conducted by both professional hire-or-reward hauliers and own-account operators. By tracking physical vehicle movement instead of transported mass, the series captures network utilization intensity, fleet activity levels, and infrastructure wear caused by heavy commercial traffic, leaving out passenger cars, light commercial vans, and non-freight utility vehicles.
Evaluating annual distance trends demands caution regarding structural alterations in vehicle routing, logistics network reorganization, and shifts toward larger capacity trucks that alter total vehicle requirements. Annual growth rates serve as the most reliable indicator of underlying activity changes, though early figures frequently face upward or downward adjustments following late survey processing. When comparing this metric against cargo weight measures, diverging growth trajectories typically indicate shifts in average truck loading factors or changes in the proportion of empty return trips across the transport sector.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this series include trucks traveling without any cargo?
- Yes, empty repositioning trips and return journeys without freight are fully incorporated into total vehicle-kilometre calculations.
- How does vehicle-kilometre data differ from tonne-kilometre statistics?
- Vehicle-kilometres track total distance driven by trucks regardless of load, whereas tonne-kilometres factor in the actual weight of the cargo being carried.
- Are light delivery vans and passenger cars counted in this freight measure?
- No, the scope is strictly restricted to heavy commercial goods vehicles designed and licensed for freight transport.