What is the difference between accompanied and unaccompanied ro-ro?

Accompanied units travel with their driver on the crossing. Unaccompanied trailers go without the cab: port operations roll them on and off, and a new driver collects them at the destination port.

How many lorries go through Dover?

In 2024, 2,103 thousand accompanied road goods vehicles, 1,616 thousand of them loaded, carrying 18,411 thousand tonnes, on DfT figures. Unaccompanied units numbered 50 thousand.

Is ro-ro the same as lo-lo?

No. Ro-ro units roll on and off the ship on their own wheels; lo-lo (load-on/load-off) traffic is containers, lifted on and off.

Term

Ro-ro (roll-on/roll-off) freight

Ro-ro (roll-on/roll-off) freight is cargo carried in wheeled units — lorries, trailers, semi-trailers — that are driven or towed onto a ship and off at the other end. A unit travels accompanied, with its driver aboard, or unaccompanied, towed on and off by port staff and collected by a new driver at the destination.

Also called roll-on roll-off, RoRo, ro-ro ferry, unaccompanied trailer, accompanied freight, ro-ro unitUpdated 14 October 2026

Accompanied or unaccompanied

	Accompanied	Unaccompanied
All UK major ports: units	3,554	3,385
All UK major ports: loaded units	2,752	2,889
All UK major ports: tonnes of goods	36,813	47,679
Dover: units	2,103	50

UK major ports, 2024, thousands — Department for Transport, port freight statistics (PORT0203)

Dover is almost all accompanied: its routes are the shortest crossings between the UK and mainland Europe, which DfT says makes them suitable for accompanied ro-ro traffic. Unaccompanied trailers are rolled on and off by port operations and collected by a new driver at the destination port, so a haulier is needed at each end. By weight, unaccompanied trailers moved more goods in 2024 — 47.7 million tonnes against 36.8 million — though accompanied units were slightly more numerous. Across the EU, ro-ro units carried 275 million tonnes of short sea cargo in 2024, 16.7% of the total, Eurostat says.

Worked example: tonnes per loaded unit

Accompanied, all UK ports: 36,813 kt ÷ 2,752 k loaded units = 13.4 t · unaccompanied: 47,679 ÷ 2,889 = 16.5 t · Dover alone: 18,411 ÷ 1,616 = 11.4 t per loaded lorry

Department for Transport port freight statistics, 2024; the divisions are ours.

The mistake people make

Reading ro-ro tonnage as vehicle weight. DfT's figures count the goods only — an empty unit has a weight of 0 — so units, loaded units and tonnes tell three different stories, and an average load has to be divided by loaded units, not all units. In the US, ro-ro cargo is one of the cargo types the marine highway law covers.

FAQ