Ireland among the worst offenders for trucks travelling with empty trailer

Some 34% of truck journeys in Ireland are carrying nothing but the driver.

Ireland is amongst the worst offenders in Europe when it comes to lorry journeys with an empty trailer - a practice that environmental campaigners say contributes to needless carbon emissions, congestion, and wasted labour.

According to analysis from Eurostat, the data wing of the European Commission, around one-fifth of the total road freight transport kilometres in the EU in 2020 was carried out by empty vehicles.