1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2012  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/05/2012   
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Transport

TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT

REGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES

There were 16.4 million motor vehicles (excluding tractors, plant and equipment, caravans and trailers) registered in Australia at 31 January 2011 (table 24.26). A little over three-quarters of all vehicles (77%) are passenger vehicles. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are the states with the largest number of vehicles, with 29%, 26% and 21% of the total vehicle fleet respectively.


24.26 REGISTERED MOTOR VEHICLES—31 January 2011
Trucks
Passenger vehicles(a)
Light commercial vehicles
Rigid
Articulated
Non-freight carrying
Buses
Motor cycles
Total(b)
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
’000
New South Wales
3 753
675
124
19
3
23
181
4 778
Victoria
3 322
563
103
25
6
19
161
4 198
Queensland
2 448
653
100
19
5
20
157
3 402
South Australia
997
173
30
8
2
5
48
1 262
Western Australia
1 402
318
62
13
5
14
99
1 913
Tasmania
300
87
11
2
1
3
15
419
Northern Territory
85
36
5
1
0
4
6
137
Australian Capital Territory
217
25
3
0
0
1
12
259
Australia
12 525
2 531
438
86
23
88
679
16 368
(a) Includes campervans.
(b) Excludes tractors, plant and equipment, caravans and trailers.
Source: Motor Vehicle Census, Australia (9309.0).


The average age of the Australian motor vehicle fleet at 31 January 2011 was 10 years (table 24.27). Tasmania recorded the highest average age (12 years), while the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest average age (9 years). Of the different vehicle types, campervans had the oldest average age (18 years), while motorcycles recorded the lowest (9 years).


24.27 ESTIMATED AVERAGE AGE OF THE VEHICLE FLEET—31 January 2011
State/territory of registration
Type of vehicle
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Aust.
Passenger vehicles
9.3
10.1
9.3
11.0
9.7
11.6
8.8
9.4
9.8
Campervans
16.2
17.8
14.1
21.8
21.6
20.3
19.5
19.5
17.8
Light commercial vehicles
10.1
11.0
9.8
11.0
10.4
12.5
8.9
9.4
10.4
Light rigid trucks
10.8
11.2
10.3
11.6
11.1
14.8
10.8
10.2
10.9
Heavy rigid trucks
14.2
17.1
13.9
16.8
16.9
16.7
12.7
11.0
15.5
Articulated trucks
11.2
11.7
10.6
11.5
11.9
9.7
12.0
9.1
11.3
Non-freight carrying trucks
13.3
15.6
10.8
14.9
15.6
15.6
13.2
9.7
14.1
Buses
11.2
11.5
10.0
12.0
10.7
14.4
8.8
11.7
11.0
Motor cycles
8.5
9.3
8.6
9.0(b)
9.9
10.4
6.9
8.5
9.0
Total
9.5
10.4
9.5
11.1
10.1
12.0
8.9
9.4
10.0
(a) Excludes tractors, plant and equipment, caravans and trailers.
(b) Year of manufacture is not well reported for South Australian motor cycles.
Source: Motor Vehicle Census (9309.0).


The number of motor vehicles registered at 31 January 2011 represents 730 registrations per 1,000 people (graph 24.28). In 2011, the rate was highest for Western Australia at 829 registrations per 1,000 people and lowest for the Northern Territory at 596.

24.28 MOTOR VEHICLES ON REGISTER(a), Per 1,000 persons



NEW MOTOR VEHICLE SALES

Statistics on the registration of new motor vehicles are often considered to be an important indicator of the health of the economy and an early indicator of developing economy-wide trends. New motor vehicle sales are also considered to be an indicator of consumer demand and confidence.

A wide range of other factors can influence sales of new motor vehicles, including:
  • business investment in plant and equipment
  • motor vehicle production
  • economic conditions
  • tax incentives
  • interest rates
  • the value of the Australian dollar relative to other currencies
  • price of fuel
  • demand for smaller vehicles
  • carbon emissions and
  • competition amongst manufacturers and retailers.

The ABS collects and publishes new motor vehicle sales (NMVS) statistics on a monthly basis. This makes NMVS one of the more timely economic indicators.

There were 1,081,633 new motor vehicle sales in 2010–11 (table 24.29). This was an increase of 68,360 or 6.7% over the 1,013,273 sales recorded in 2009–10. The earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan on 11 March 2011 may have affected new motor vehicle sales in Australia due to associated delays in delivery of Japanese manufactured vehicles. These events and the wide spread flooding in the eastern states during 2010–11 may have affected the number of new vehicle sales since early 2011. As new motor vehicle sales are influenced by a range of factors, it is not possible to quantify the specific impact of these events.

Graph 24.30 shows new motor vehicle sales between 2001 and 2011, on a trend and seasonally-adjusted basis.


24.29 NEW MOTOR VEHICLE SALES—2010–11
State/territory
NSW
Vic.
Qld
SA
WA
Tas.
NT
ACT
Aust.
Passenger vehicles
197 427
174 993
112 749
39 741
61 185
10 003
4 556
11 303
611 957
Sports utilities
77 180
65 569
52 020
14 755
29 697
4 464
2 841
3 504
250 030
Other vehicles(a)
60 853
50 487
55 306
13 595
29 138
4 640
3 364
2 263
219 646
Total vehicles
335 460
291 049
220 075
68 091
120 020
19 107
10 761
17 070
1081 633
a) Includes utilities, panel vans, cab chassis, goods carrying vans, rigid trucks, prime movers, non-freight carrying trucks, and buses. Also includes four wheel drive light commercial vehicles not classified as sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
Source: New Motor Vehicle Sales (9314.0).

24.30 NEW MOTOR VEHICLE SALES, Total vehicles


SHIPPING TRADING FLEET

The Australian trading fleet consists of cargo vessels owned and/or operated by Australian companies. The fleet includes vessels that carry cargo and passengers, but does not include vessels that carry passengers only. It decreased from 104 ships in 2007 to 97 ships in 2010 (table 24.31). Deadweight tonnes has fallen slightly from 3.14 million tonnes in 2007 to 3.06 million tonnes in 2010. Gross tonnage fell from 2.4 million tonnes in 2007 to 2.3 million tonnes in 2010.


24.31 AUSTRALIAN TRADING FLEET—30 June
2007
2008
2009
2010
Ships no.
104
103
94
97
Deadweight(a)'000 tonnes
3 142
3 233
2 889
3 063
Gross tonnage(b)'000 tonnes
2 446
2 491
2 290
2 305
(a) Weight that a vessel can carry, including cargo, bunkers, water and stores.
(b) Measure of the internal capacity of a ship (in tonnes) that is available within the hull and enclosed spaces for cargo, stores, passenger and crew.
Source: Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport.


AIRCRAFT FLEET

There were 13,510 aircraft in the Australian Civil Aircraft Register at 31 December 2010, including 10,381 single and multi-engine aeroplanes, 1,653 helicopters and 1,476 gliders and balloons (graph 24.32).

24.32 REGISTERED AIRCRAFT(a)—at 31 December

 

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Statistics contained in the Year Book are the most recent available at the time of preparation. In many cases, the ABS website and the websites of other organisations provide access to more recent data. Each Year Book table or graph and the bibliography at the end of each chapter provides hyperlinks to the most up to date data release where available.