Articulated trucks carry most (76.8%) of Australia’s road freight despite accounting for only 5% of all registered freight vehicles, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.

The national domestic road freight “task” is estimated at 204.5 billion tonne-kilometres (tkm), or the equivalent of a B-double truck making about 4250 return trips to the moon.

Each articulated truck travelled 1.75 million tkms, compared with rigid trucks at 99,370 tkms and light commercial vehicles at 5464 tkms.

The bureau’s Director Transport and Tourism Statistics Amanda Clark says the figures should be considered in the context of the Federal Government’s National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy, which “aims to improve the safety and productivity of the freight task in Australia”.

Last year saw 108 deaths from 95 crashes involving articulated trucks, down 5.9% on 2015. Another 90 deaths resulted from 79 crashes involving heavy rigid trucks, a 6.8% increase.

Rigid trucks accounted for 19.2% of all road freight, and light commercial vehicles transported 4.1% of the road haul.

Victoria had most road freight at about 54,306 million tkm, followed by Queensland (47,468 million tkm), NSW (45,225 million tkms) and WA (33,153 million tkms).

About 30% of the total tonnage moved around Australia was crude materials, 14% was food and live animals, and 12% manufactured goods.

The bureau also reports the estimated number of registered motor vehicles on Australian roads is 18.2 million.