The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Australian Transport Economic Accounts (ATEA) 2020-21 provide estimates of the full economic contribution of transport activity, both for-hire and in-house transport services, to the Australian economy, from 2010-11 to 2020-21.

The ATEA estimates that transport’s total contribution to the economy was $164.4 billion in 2020-21, equivalent to 7.9 per cent of total GDP. Measured in this way, transport was the second largest sector of the economy, behind only the Mining sector.

This release  provides a short summary and highlights of the ABS ATEA 2020-21. More detailed ATEA statistics and explanatory notes are available from the ABS website: www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/national-accounts/australian-transport-economic-account-experimental-transport-satellite-account

• BITRE-Statistical-Release-ABS-ATEA-2020-21.pdf
  (435.77 KB)

Data on road safety enforcement activities can be found on the National Road Safety Data Hub website. 

The data provides information on road safety enforcement activities undertaken across Australian states and territories from 2008, including:

• unlicensed driving
• random roadside alcohol breath tests
• roadside drug tests
• speeding infringements
• mobile phone use while driving infringements
• seatbelt infringements

The series is collated from data collected by multiple organisations with varied definitions and data collection practices are not fully consistent across states and territories. Please see the data dictionary and the dashboard for more information.

BITRE is working with data owners to introduce more consistent definitions, address data gaps and investigate opportunities to streamline data collection and sharing processes. This will improve the value of this data series for policymakers, including for reporting on progress on the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 and National Road Safety Action Plan 2023-25.

Waterline reports on trends in (a) throughput, (b) container handling productivity on the waterfront and the land side of ports in Australia, and (c) the cost of importing and exporting containers via five container ports. It covers both the loading and unloading of container ships and the transport of containers from container terminals.

This issue covers port terminal activity up to the June quarter 2022.

• water_069_0.pdf
  (3.54 MB)
• water_069_throughput.xlsx
  (45.18 KB)
• water_069_performance.xlsx
  (60.04 KB)
• water_069_vbs.xlsx
  (38.71 KB)
• water_069_pici.xlsx
  (54.35 KB)
• water_069_timeSeries.zip
  (119.56 KB)

This release provides statistics relating to the number of vehicles registered for road use in Australia on 31st January 2023. The statistics encompass all vehicles that were registered with an Australian state or territory motor vehicle registry for unrestricted use on public roads, and reported by jurisdictions to the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System (NEVDIS).  This is the second annual release of Road Vehicles Australia, which replaces the ABS Motor Vehicle Census, discontinued in 2021. More statistics are available on the BITRE website and data.gov.au. 

Trainline is a compendium of Australia's railways that provides insights, analysis and an understanding of the railway industry. Australia's railways are evolving, with changes within and outside the industry. These changes include logistics, commodity flows, technology, urban patronage, and regional passenger services. The publication presents an overview and data on railway transport tasks performed; characteristics of the railways and train operators' rolling stock that runs; and aspects of railway performance, including safety, environment and reliability.

This is the latest in a series of Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE) reports that provide information on Australian sea freight movements, vessel activity, the use of coastal trading licences, and the size and composition of the Australian trading fleet. This report contains statistics on maritime freight and shipping activities in Australia from 2011–12 to 2020–21.

The latest import and export data has been made available through a visualisation on the National Freight Data Hub website.

The aim of the Australian Infrastructure Statistics and Transport Yearbook is to provide a single, comprehensive annual source of infrastructure statistics for use by policymakers, industry leaders, transport analysts and the wider Australian community.

The publication is primarily a source of long-term, aggregate time series infrastructure statistics. Most statistics included in the publication are currently collected by BITRE or other Australian, state or territory government agencies.

Freight transport plays a significant and wide-ranging role across Australia’s economy. It includes the movement of Australia’s major bulk export commodities to ports for export, the transport of raw materials and semi-processed commodities to businesses for further processing and finished products to household consumers.

This report presents long-term forecasts of total Australian freight volumes for road, rail, coastal shipping and aviation between 2020 and 2050. The forecasts are based on a combination of statistical models relating to historical trends in freight volumes and economic activity and on informed assumptions about likely future long-term economic and demographic trends and international assumptions about likely future world demand for key Australian export commodities. This report updates BITRE 2019 aggregate freight forecasts.

In Australia, road transport is the predominant mode for moving freight between and within states. It is a vital link in various logistics chains, providing access for freight to ports and terminals and urban freight distribution between warehouses and retail outlets. It is also the dominant mode for moving freight over relatively short distances and where other alternatives are not readily available.

This report presents estimates and forecasts of interstate, intrastate and capital cities freight volumes for each state and territory in Australia. Estimates cover the period 1970 to 2020 and forecasts from 2020 to 2040. The forecasts are based on a combination of statistical models relating historical trends in road freight volumes and economic activity, informed by assumptions about likely future long-term economic and demographic trends.

This release provides statistics relating to the number of vehicles registered for road use in Australia on 31st January 2022. The statistics encompass all vehicles that were registered with an Australian state or territory motor vehicle registry for unrestricted use on public roads, and reported by jurisdictions to the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System (NEVDIS).  This is the first annual release of Road Vehicles Australia, which replaces the ABS Motor Vehicle Census, discontinued in 2021. More statistics are available on the BITRE website and data.gov.au.