2.3.3 Figure 2.7 shows for the island of Ireland how the delivery of locally produced plus external goods tonnage was divided in units of volume between the transport modes during 1998-2005.
Road accounted for over four-fifths of all freight tonnes in 2005, an increase of about 8 percentage points since 1998. Water-based services for imports and exports of unitised goods have expanded rapidly in absolute terms, whereas
bulk maritime volumes have remained stable.
Because of the short distances and relatively low volumes of bulk movements on the island of Ireland, rail freight has struggled to compete in Ireland and it has stopped completely in Northern Ireland since December 2003.
The usage of units of volume (tonnes) in Figure 2.7 masks the importance of the air
mode to the island of Ireland’s economy, because air specialises in moving high value
but low volume goods