Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
ISTAT (the Italian National Statistical Institute)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
DIAE/DCAT/ATB
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Viale Liegi 13, 00198 Roma
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
2 July 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
18 July 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
18 July 2025
3.1. Data description
Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity:
1. Vehicle related variables dataset for a sample of road good motor vehicles contains, among others, indication about the type and age of the vehicle, the economic activity of the owner of the vehicle, the total kilometres loaded or empty.
2. Journey related variables dataset which contains, among other indications about weight of goods, regions of loading and unloading, distance travelled, and tonne-kilometres performed during a journey
3. Goods related variables dataset which contains among others the type of goods transported and their weight and distance travelled, regions of loading and unloading.
3.2. Classification system
Statistics on carriage of goods by road apply the following statistical classifications:
The type of goods transported by road was collected, until reference year 2007 (included), according to the 24 groups of goods following the "Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics/Revised (NST/R )", (see the EU Vocabularies classification server on Eurostat's web site). From 2008 onwards, goods are classified according to NST2007 (20 groups) classification.
The optional variable type of cargo follows the Classification of Cargo Types of UNECE (United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe - codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials, Recommendation 21 adopted by the Working Party on Facilitation of International Trade Procedures, Geneva, March 1986).
3.3. Coverage - sector
RFT is the carriage of goods by road motor vehicles (Load capacity not less than 3.5 Tons) registered in Italy and owned by enterprises with own account or hire or reward license.
Vehicles held by Public administration, and military and agricultural vehicles are excluded.
The displacement of all types of goods is observed.
Removals, waste collection, semi-finished goods, empty packages are included.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more detailed informations can be found in the Road freight transport methodology manual :
A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods
Cabotage is international road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country, performed by a vehicle registered in another country.
National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country, performed by a vehicle registered in that country.
International transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) in two different countries plus cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional countries.
Cross-trade is International road transport between two different countries, performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country.
Transit is performed by any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided that the total journey within the country is by road and there are no loading or unloading operations in the country.
Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle.
Place of loading/unloading of a good road vehicle on another mode of transport:
Place of loading(of the goods road transport vehicle on another mode of transport): The place of loading is the first place where the road freight vehicle was loaded on to another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
Place of unloading(of the goods road transport vehicle from another mode of transport): The place of unloading is the last place where the road freight vehicle was unloaded from another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
3.5. Statistical unit
The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is the road freight vehicle.
Sample unit: Tractive vehicle.
Sample Time unit: 1 week
3.6. Statistical population
The reference population is composed of road motor vehicles for the transport of goods, with load capacity not less than 3.5 Tons, registered in Italy, whose age from 1st registration is less or equal to 11 years and owned by enterprises with own account or hire or reward license.
Trailers and semi-trailers, as well as vehicles held by Public administration and military and agricultural vehicles are excluded from the reference population.
As the population is very large, statistical samples are drawn out yearly to fulfil data collection.
3.7. Reference area
Detailed data are provided for displacements of goods in every country (as place of loading/unloading) by vehicles registered in Italy.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Annual data are available from 1995 onwards. Methodology has changed through years.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Weight of goods loaded/unloaded: collected in quintals (integers); provided in quintals in national microdata sets, in tonnes (rounded integers) in Eurostat microdata sets, in thousands of tonnes (rounded integers) in national aggregated tables.
Distance travelled: collected in kilometres; provided in kilometres in national and Eurostat microdata sets
Tonne-kilometres transported: this variable is derived by calculation on collected microdata. It is provided as output in tonnes-kilometres (rounded integers) in national and Eurostat microdata sets, in millions of tonnes-kilometres (rounded integers) in national aggregated tables.
Number of journeys and number of basic transport operations (BTO - goods related data) are collected and processed as integers.
RFT microdata are processed and output datasets are provided to Eurostat on a quarterly basis.
Tables of figures at national level are calculated and disseminated on an annual basis.
Data are collected and processed with reference to a calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Researchers are allowed to access anonymized elementary data for scientific purposes according to COMSTAT (Committee for Directing and Co-ordinating Statistical Information) Directive 11/2018 and in particular through the Laboratory for Elementary Data Analysis (ADELE).
The statistical offices of the National Statistical System are allowed to access anonymized microdata according to COMSTAT Directive 9/2004
From Eurostat:
Eurostat submits annually semi-aggregated data (data exchange tables, see Commission Regulation (EU) No 202/2010 amending the Commission Regulation (EC) 6/2003) back to the reporting countries so that they can compile the total road freight transport on their national territories, including the operations by national hauliers and also those of all other reporting countries.
These data exchange tables include more detailed breakdowns than the publicly available tables. They also include, for each value, the information on the number of observations that the estimates are based on. In this way, the reporting countries can estimate the reliability of results that they aggregate from the data exchange tables.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
National level:
Decreto legislativo n. 322 del 6 settembre 1989 Sistema statistico nazionale e riorganizzazione dell’Istituto nazionale di statistica (see annex)
Direttiva del Presidente n. 1/2021 informazioni e indicazioni sul quadro organico delle normative nazionali ed europee per il trattamento dati personali nelle attività statistiche, funzioni amministrative e gestionali dell'Istituto (see annex)
European level:
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
Figures related to less than three enterprises are considered as confidential and are not disseminated. Researchers may be authorized to make elaborations on microdata without directly accessing to them, through the Laboratory for Elementary Data Analysis (ADELE) (see 6.2); The statistical offices of the National Statistical System may be allowed to access anonymized microdata (i.e. without identification codes of vehicles or enterprises) on demand (see 6.2) and only for internal use (e.g. to feed statistical models) through ISTAT Contact Center. Anonymized data dissemination is forbidden.
8.1. Release calendar
Aggregated annual data are released at national level during the 4th quarter of the consequent year. No release calendar is scheduled.
Microdata sets are released to Eurostat according to the legislation:
1st quarter: within 31st August
2nd quarter: within 30th November
3rd quarter: within 28th February of consequent year
4th quarter: within 31st May of consequent year
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable
8.3. Release policy - user access
Aggregated tables are publicly accessible on IstatData database.
Tables with a different structure or dominions disaggregation may be accessible on demand at ISTAT Contact Center
Dissemination at national level is scheduled on an annual basis (data referred to one survey year are released in the 4th quarter of the consequent year);
Microdata sets are provided to Eurostat on a quarterly basis, five months after the end of each survey quarter.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Currently there are no news releases at national level regarding RFT survey.
A pre-defined set of public tables is uploaded annually on IstatData database.
The Navigation tree to have access to the tables is:
Services-->Road Freight Transport
For each table it’s possible to apply filters on the dominions variables (at pre-defined levels of disaggregation) to download the subsets of interest for specific research or analysis purposes.
Aggregates in national tables are compiled according to regions of loading and unloading (NUTS2 level, plus ‘rest of the world’), type of transport (Own account/Hire or reward), type of goods (NST classifications) and distance classes.
The statistical offices of the National Statistical System may be allowed to access anonymized microdata (i.e. without identification codes of vehicles or enterprises) on demand (see 6.2) and only for internal use at ISTAT Contact Center.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable
10.6. Documentation on methodology
The methodology used in the survey at national level is available in Istat information system on quality SIQUAL
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Documentation on quality management of the survey at national level is available in Istat information system on quality SIQUAL
11.1. Quality assurance
Microdata coherence and quality are pursued by:
1) a clerical review of raw data (compiled questionnaires) concerning the structure of every single journey and transport operation, and the correct classification of all the variables
2) Two levels of automated check (IT procedures) finalized to clean and prepare microdata sets at national level; Adding clerical control/review on specific dominions and variables range.
3) Eurostat check procedures feedback.
4) Monitoring of response rates. In 2011/2012 reminder procedures were made as spot actions. Since 2019 certified email and telephone reminders are made week by week to the sampled units in order to increase the response rate.
5) Monitoring of the quality of the reference population Register
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Actions and tools for quality assurance are:
Check procedures
Clerical training. This action has been enhanced in time, by scheduling a more frequent feedback activity with regard to coding and revision procedures.
The use of updated information on the company or on the vehicle (e.g. stolen, cancelled etc) gathered from the compiled questionnaires to clean up the register of the reference population.
Procedure for reminders: Spot actions for reminders were undertaken in 2011 and 2012. Since 2019 reminders to non respondents are made regularly through the whole reference year.
Starting 2012, a fine is applied to non-respondents.
Since 2019 the RFT Register is linked to Statistical register of active enterprises (ASIA - Enterprises) in order to achieve a higher quality of the information related to the sampled units. Moreover, the dispatch and collection of survey questionnaires is managed through the Istat Statistica eImprese web portal in order to have a higher level of control on response and non response.
Benchmarking with relevant figures describing the economic frame at national and international level (included RFT figures released by other MS with comparable dimensions and economy)
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The main users of RFT data are national (Istat included) and local authorities, public and private research institutes both national and international, trade associations in the transport, environment and energy sectors, sectorial press, specialized media.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Users satisfaction is currently monitored through a permanent working group (‘Circolo di qualità Trasporti e Mobilità’) that engages producers and users of official statistics concerning transport modes and the environment.
RFT survey data are appreciated as the main – if not the only – official source of information about road freight transport.
At present, no specific requests have been made to improve the output (tables dominions, etc) or the methodology of the survey.
12.3. Completeness
Vehicles of Load capacity lower than 3.5 Tons activity as well as activity performed by vehicles registered abroad is not covered by the national survey, as defined in Reg. 70/2012.
As RFT survey is based on a sample, it’s not always possible to produce estimates with an elevate level of precision for highly disaggregated dominions.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The overall sampling error of the estimates of the total and the national transport should be within 5% standard percentage error (SPE).
Non-sampling error is treated and minimized by editing and coding activity
13.2. Sampling error
The calculation of the sampling error is provided by Eurostat on Circabc (Transport statistics- Library- 03. Road Freight Transport statistics-5. Methodology- Results of precision calculations)
13.3. Non-sampling error
Editing and coding activity is the main instrument to reduce at a maximum extent the non sampling error. Item non response for key variables is solved by using other informations provided in the questionnaire, if available, or by call back on the respondents.
14.1. Timeliness
Microdata sets are provided to Eurostat five months after the reference period (quarter).
Annual data at national level are disseminated on a yearly basis, within the 4th quarter of the subsequent year. No provisional data are supplied.
14.2. Punctuality
Road freight data are transmitted to Eurostat within 5 months after the end of the reference period, as specified in the Regulation (EU) 70/2012.
The submission of microdata sets to Eurostat is usually punctual and without delays.
The dissemination timeliness of aggregated tables is pursued at national level as well.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data are comparable at geographical level with EU countries
15.2. Comparability - over time
Comparability over time is respected and generally breaks in series may happen only due to legislation changes (methodology, classifications, etc)
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Cross domain data comparison (for different modes of transport) is not always possible, or a common reference must be defined, as usually transport surveys for different modes use the same classifications but different definitions of the domains for the enterprises and even more or less slightly different definitions for the aspects of the phenomenon.
It is therefore advisable to refer to the Glossary of transports and to surveys methodology to be sure that coherence crossing domains is granted when comparing or juxtaposing figures.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Internal coherence of data is pursued
The sample size in 2024 is 50.142 vehicles, the net sample (= total sample - non respondents) size is 27.655. The time needed to compile the questionnaire is highly variable depending on the nature of the response (from a very short time to compile it for a sold/scraped/etc. vehicle or ‘no activity’ in the week, to a quite long time for a vehicle that carries out many complex journeys during the week, or if time to codify particular kind of goods is needed, and so on). Based on 2024 data, it is reasonable to estimate an average time of about 40-45 minutes per vehicle to complete the questionnaire (about 1.244.475 minutes per year in total).
As concerns average cost for a survey-year, considering that some of the activities concerning the survey management are in charge of a contractor (in particular the coding and editing activities and an inbound/outbound toll-free number to help the respondents), they might be estimated as follows:
Direct costs: 375.000 €
Indirect costs: 480.000 €
17.1. Data revision - policy
Eurostat datasets are revised on the basis of detected errors or may be occasionally revised if unexpected troubles happen during treatment (e.g. IT recovery, damages etc).
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data are revised until Eurostat check is 100% positive.
18.1. Source data
Register used in the survey as Reference Population:
Name of register: National Vehicle Register; Tax Register; Road freight survey register
Name of organization who maintains the register: Ministry of Transport, ACI - Automobile Club d'Italia, ISTAT
Frequency of update: Quarterly, except Road freight survey register yearly (30/09 of the previous year).
Frequency of access to draw the samples: Once a year
Arrangements for accessing the register: The owners of the two registers provide a release at the end of each quarter of the year. The Registers updated at 30 june (auxiliary source) and 30 september (main source) 2023 were used as input of a procedure, whose final output is the ‘Road freight survey register’ used for the 2024 road freight survey.
Information obtained from the register: The ‘Road freight survey register’ contains one record for each road freight transport vehicle (trailers and semi-trailers are not included), identified by their license-plate number. It is the sampling frame of the survey. The register is updated yearly using data in the ‘National vehicle register’ (basically technical data concerning the vehicle) and in the ‘Tax register’ (basically administrative data concerning the enterprise owning the vehicle), and pieces of information gathered from other sources (National enterprise register, data collected in the previous replies of the survey). The variables gathered from the ‘National vehicle register’ are: name of the enterprise (user of the vehicle, owned or leased), address of the enterprise, VAT number, license plate number, place in which the plate was registered, load capacity, maximum permissible laden weight, year of first registration, number of axles of the motor vehicle, type of vehicle, type of body, type of transport (hire and reward/own account). The variables gathered from the ‘Tax register’ are basically administrative information concerning legal status of the enterprise. The ‘Tax register’ is also used to complete information about technical data if missing or found not reliable in the ‘National vehicle register’.
The variables used in the stratification are:
- Place of registration (18 regions at NUTS2 level; 6 provinces at NUTS3 level);
- Type of transport (hire and reward/own account);
- Load capacity class (5 classes).
Types of units excluded:
Agricultural vehicles, military vehicles, vehicles belonging to central or local public administrations;
All road transport vehicles with a load capacity < 3.5 Tons;
All road transport vehicles more than 11 years old (from first registration);
Vehicles with technical characteristics not specifically designed for the transport of goods.
The keepers of vehicle registers (Ministry of Transports and ACI - Automobile Club d'Italia) submit extractions to Istat, then a specific register is created by merging those extractions (contact, registry/technical information and legal status), and tailored to obtain the target population for the survey (Road Freight Transport Survey Register) .
Data on vehicles (Eurostat dataset A1) are partly extracted from the vehicle registers. Other variables are collected from the owners of the vehicles (e.g. the size of the vehicle fleet).
Data on journeys and goods (Eurostat datasets A2 and A3) are commonly filled in by the drivers during the survey week, at the moment in which the transport operations are carried out. Especially in larger commercial road freight companies, some journey and related goods information can be extracted from the database of the company (consignment notes, waybills or order and delivery management systems).
Type of goods and activity of the company may be collected in free text on the questionnaire, and coded later by Istat during the data check and review procedures.
The coding of loading and unloading places is reported as place name (municipality, plus foreign country for international journeys) and re-coded to NUTS-3 regions in the EEA countries and Switzerland as output for Eurostat datasets. Loading and unloading places outside this area are coded only with country codes.
Recording of weight of goods: the gross-gross weight is reported only for the weight of goods loaded in container or swap body; i.e. containers, swap bodies and pallets are included. Gross weight is collected for other goods
Different journey types are collected: one stop (type 1), multi stop (type 2) and collection/delivery (type 3). The questionnaire is specifically designed to collect information on three type of goods carried both for type 1 and 2 journeys.
Collection/delivery: In the recording of type 3 journeys only the main type of goods is requested; it is assumed that the type 3 journeys report only national journeys.
Additional (optional) variables collected compared to the legal requirements (Reg. UE 70/2012):
Environmental impact-related variables: Data on weekly fuel consumption.
A1. Vehicle-related variables:
- possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (NO)
- vehicle operator’s NACE Rev. 2 at class level (four-digit level) (possible but difficult to achieve in the short term)
- vehicle empty kilometres (NO)
A2. Journey-related variables:
- axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (NO)
- place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (NO)
- place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (NO)
- degree of loading : situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the goods road transport vehicle during the journey in question, in terms of maximum volume of space used during the journey (procedure 0 = by convention for unladen journeys) (NO)
A3. Goods-related variables:
- type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (NO)
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Continuative. The transport activity is observed over the entire survey year (52 weeks). For each sampled vehicle, the transport activity in one assigned sample week must be registered.
The register of the reference population is updated once a year (30/9 of the previous year).
18.3. Data collection
RFT data are collected on a self compiled questionnaire (see annex), dispatched by Istat to the enterprises owning the sampled vehicles.
Since 2019 the dispatch to the selected companies of the documents concerning the involvement in the survey and the collection of compiled questionnaires is pursued through Istat Statistica e Imprese web portal.
RFT micro-data concern the vehicles themselves, their journeys and the goods that were transported.
The detailed journeys and the related basic transport operations (loading/unloading) of the sampled vehicle - identified by its plate number - during the assigned sample week, must be recorded.
The micro-data concern the vehicles, the journeys (empty and loaded) and the goods transported.
Since 2012 a fine is applied on non-compliant companies (over a dimensional threshold)
Sample unit: Tractive vehicle. The overall sample size (year 2024) is 50.142 road transport vehicles.
Sample Time unit: 1 week
Time units of 2024 included in the survey: All (52 weeks)
The survey design is based on stratified random sampling.
Stratification: The sample is stratified according to three criteria: place of first registration, type of transport and load capacity.
Place of first registration: This variable refers to the regions, however in order to allow exhaustive studies on traffic within administrative units, the survey manager can design sub-strata at NUTS 3 level; these strata have a ‘P’ in the first digit.
Type of transport: Hire or reward = T - Own account = P
Load capacity (5 categories):
1 = from 3.5 to 4.9 Tons 2 = from 5 to 9.9 Tons 3 = from 10 to 12.4 Tons 4 = from 12.5 to 14.9 Tons 5 = over 14.9 Tons
Place of first registration codes:
Piemonte
R001
Marche - Ascoli Piceno
P044
Valle d’Aosta
R002
Lazio
R012
Lombardia
R003
Abruzzo
R013
Veneto
R005
Molise
R014
Friuli Venezia Giulia
R006
Campania
R015
Liguria
R007
Puglia
R016
Emilia Romagna
R008
Basilicata
R017
Toscana
R009
Calabria
R018
Umbria
R010
Sicilia
R019
Marche -Pesaro -Urbino
P041
Sardegna
R020
Marche - Ancona
P042
Provincia di Trento
P022
Marche -Macerata
P043
Provincia di Bolzano
P023
Example: stratum coded R001T1; the vehicles included in this stratum were registered in Piemonte, the owner are enterprises which operates on hire or reward and their load capacity is between 3.5 and 4.9 Tonnes (class 1).
Calculation of weighting factors:
N = number of vehicles in the register (in a stratum)
S = number of questionnaires used in analysis (in A1 dataset)
S’ = number of vehicles for which no activity was recorded, but vehicles could be considered as active (holiday, no work, etc.)
Main figures
2023
2024
Total nuber of relevant goods vehicles in the country
220.178
233.987
Number of vehicles selected for initial sample and questionnaires dispatched to vehicle owners
47.210
50.142
Number of cases where no vehicle activity was recorded during the sampled period but the vehicle could be considered as part of the active stock
4.561
4.827
Number of cases classified as non-respondents
21.193
22.487
Number of cases where sample register information was wrong and response could not be used
Validation and imputation is made for all the mandatory variables (internal coherence and correspondence with official classifications). Data check is pursued through IT procedures, and finally through Eurostat check. Coherence of aggregated figures for the main dominions is verified at quarterly and annual level.
From Eurostat:
Since 1999, micro-data from the reporting countries have to be submitted according to Commission Regulation 2163/2001. The data are then checked and validated by EUROSTAT (verification of many different codes used (NUTS 3, numeric or alphabetic variables) correctness of linked questionnaires in the different dataset, etc…). Detected errors are then reported back to the data sender with the request for correction, this is an iterative process until at least 99.5% of all data records are validated and loaded in the database.
18.5. Data compilation
To be processed (uploaded in the database, checked and used to produce estimates), data collected by the questionnaire are submitted to clerical treatment, with the following steps:
coherence control and missing values imputation using the information contained in the questionnaire if available, otherwise a call back on the respondent is made.
editing of the journeys, following a set of models (see below).
coding of the key variables.
data entry of processed information
The output of the model-based editing and coding procedures are RFT 'raw' data.
The journey models of point 2 are defined by categorizing all the possible cases under two perspectives: the number of stops (loaded and empty journeys) and the different type of goods (different NST groups) or the number of lots of goods carried.
Laden and empty journeys according to the number of stops:
one stop, empty
one stop, laden
- laden journey with a single place of loading and a single place of unloading
multi-stops, laden
- laden journey with a single place of loading and many places of unloading
- laden journey with many places of loading and a single place of unloading
- laden journey with many places of loading and unloading
- collection journey
- delivery journey
- collection and delivery journey
- repeated journey (shuttle)
Laden journeys according to the number of goods (NST groups) and number of lots carried:
one good: laden journey in which goods of one single NST group are loaded/unloaded
many goods: laden journey in which goods of many NST groups are loaded/unloaded (up to three. the respondent must compile the questionnaire with reference to the three main groups carried in the journey, in terms of weight)
one lot journey: laden journey in which all goods of the same group are loaded and unloaded in one single place
many lots journey: laden journey in which goods of the same group are loaded or unloaded in many different places
According to this scheme, 6 journey models are derived.
The editing procedures are intended to categorize and restructure the journeys displayed in the questionnaire with reference to the 6 models.
The clerical review based on journey models is necessary for the subsequent treatment stages (upload in the database, IT check and review procedures treatment, structured microdata sets and aggregated estimates production).
18.6. Adjustment
Road freight data are not seasonally adjusted.
It is paramount for data users to consider that the survey at national level produces data on RFT made only by vehicles registered in Italy (transport activity inside and outside the national territory) and only with heavy tractive vehicles (Load capacity not less than 3.5 Tons)
Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity:
1. Vehicle related variables dataset for a sample of road good motor vehicles contains, among others, indication about the type and age of the vehicle, the economic activity of the owner of the vehicle, the total kilometres loaded or empty.
2. Journey related variables dataset which contains, among other indications about weight of goods, regions of loading and unloading, distance travelled, and tonne-kilometres performed during a journey
3. Goods related variables dataset which contains among others the type of goods transported and their weight and distance travelled, regions of loading and unloading.
18 July 2025
The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more detailed informations can be found in the Road freight transport methodology manual :
A goods road motor vehicle is any single road transport vehicle (lorry), or combination of road vehicles, namely road train (lorry with trailer) or articulated vehicle (road tractor with semi-trailer), designed to carry goods
Cabotage is international road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country, performed by a vehicle registered in another country.
National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country, performed by a vehicle registered in that country.
International transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) in two different countries plus cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional countries.
Cross-trade is International road transport between two different countries, performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country.
Transit is performed by any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided that the total journey within the country is by road and there are no loading or unloading operations in the country.
Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle.
Place of loading/unloading of a good road vehicle on another mode of transport:
Place of loading(of the goods road transport vehicle on another mode of transport): The place of loading is the first place where the road freight vehicle was loaded on to another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
Place of unloading(of the goods road transport vehicle from another mode of transport): The place of unloading is the last place where the road freight vehicle was unloaded from another mode of transport (usually a ship or a rail wagon).
The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is the road freight vehicle.
Sample unit: Tractive vehicle.
Sample Time unit: 1 week
The reference population is composed of road motor vehicles for the transport of goods, with load capacity not less than 3.5 Tons, registered in Italy, whose age from 1st registration is less or equal to 11 years and owned by enterprises with own account or hire or reward license.
Trailers and semi-trailers, as well as vehicles held by Public administration and military and agricultural vehicles are excluded from the reference population.
As the population is very large, statistical samples are drawn out yearly to fulfil data collection.
Detailed data are provided for displacements of goods in every country (as place of loading/unloading) by vehicles registered in Italy.
RFT microdata are processed and output datasets are provided to Eurostat on a quarterly basis.
Tables of figures at national level are calculated and disseminated on an annual basis.
Data are collected and processed with reference to a calendar year.
The overall sampling error of the estimates of the total and the national transport should be within 5% standard percentage error (SPE).
Non-sampling error is treated and minimized by editing and coding activity
Weight of goods loaded/unloaded: collected in quintals (integers); provided in quintals in national microdata sets, in tonnes (rounded integers) in Eurostat microdata sets, in thousands of tonnes (rounded integers) in national aggregated tables.
Distance travelled: collected in kilometres; provided in kilometres in national and Eurostat microdata sets
Tonne-kilometres transported: this variable is derived by calculation on collected microdata. It is provided as output in tonnes-kilometres (rounded integers) in national and Eurostat microdata sets, in millions of tonnes-kilometres (rounded integers) in national aggregated tables.
Number of journeys and number of basic transport operations (BTO - goods related data) are collected and processed as integers.
To be processed (uploaded in the database, checked and used to produce estimates), data collected by the questionnaire are submitted to clerical treatment, with the following steps:
coherence control and missing values imputation using the information contained in the questionnaire if available, otherwise a call back on the respondent is made.
editing of the journeys, following a set of models (see below).
coding of the key variables.
data entry of processed information
The output of the model-based editing and coding procedures are RFT 'raw' data.
The journey models of point 2 are defined by categorizing all the possible cases under two perspectives: the number of stops (loaded and empty journeys) and the different type of goods (different NST groups) or the number of lots of goods carried.
Laden and empty journeys according to the number of stops:
one stop, empty
one stop, laden
- laden journey with a single place of loading and a single place of unloading
multi-stops, laden
- laden journey with a single place of loading and many places of unloading
- laden journey with many places of loading and a single place of unloading
- laden journey with many places of loading and unloading
- collection journey
- delivery journey
- collection and delivery journey
- repeated journey (shuttle)
Laden journeys according to the number of goods (NST groups) and number of lots carried:
one good: laden journey in which goods of one single NST group are loaded/unloaded
many goods: laden journey in which goods of many NST groups are loaded/unloaded (up to three. the respondent must compile the questionnaire with reference to the three main groups carried in the journey, in terms of weight)
one lot journey: laden journey in which all goods of the same group are loaded and unloaded in one single place
many lots journey: laden journey in which goods of the same group are loaded or unloaded in many different places
According to this scheme, 6 journey models are derived.
The editing procedures are intended to categorize and restructure the journeys displayed in the questionnaire with reference to the 6 models.
The clerical review based on journey models is necessary for the subsequent treatment stages (upload in the database, IT check and review procedures treatment, structured microdata sets and aggregated estimates production).
Register used in the survey as Reference Population:
Name of register: National Vehicle Register; Tax Register; Road freight survey register
Name of organization who maintains the register: Ministry of Transport, ACI - Automobile Club d'Italia, ISTAT
Frequency of update: Quarterly, except Road freight survey register yearly (30/09 of the previous year).
Frequency of access to draw the samples: Once a year
Arrangements for accessing the register: The owners of the two registers provide a release at the end of each quarter of the year. The Registers updated at 30 june (auxiliary source) and 30 september (main source) 2023 were used as input of a procedure, whose final output is the ‘Road freight survey register’ used for the 2024 road freight survey.
Information obtained from the register: The ‘Road freight survey register’ contains one record for each road freight transport vehicle (trailers and semi-trailers are not included), identified by their license-plate number. It is the sampling frame of the survey. The register is updated yearly using data in the ‘National vehicle register’ (basically technical data concerning the vehicle) and in the ‘Tax register’ (basically administrative data concerning the enterprise owning the vehicle), and pieces of information gathered from other sources (National enterprise register, data collected in the previous replies of the survey). The variables gathered from the ‘National vehicle register’ are: name of the enterprise (user of the vehicle, owned or leased), address of the enterprise, VAT number, license plate number, place in which the plate was registered, load capacity, maximum permissible laden weight, year of first registration, number of axles of the motor vehicle, type of vehicle, type of body, type of transport (hire and reward/own account). The variables gathered from the ‘Tax register’ are basically administrative information concerning legal status of the enterprise. The ‘Tax register’ is also used to complete information about technical data if missing or found not reliable in the ‘National vehicle register’.
The variables used in the stratification are:
- Place of registration (18 regions at NUTS2 level; 6 provinces at NUTS3 level);
- Type of transport (hire and reward/own account);
- Load capacity class (5 classes).
Types of units excluded:
Agricultural vehicles, military vehicles, vehicles belonging to central or local public administrations;
All road transport vehicles with a load capacity < 3.5 Tons;
All road transport vehicles more than 11 years old (from first registration);
Vehicles with technical characteristics not specifically designed for the transport of goods.
The keepers of vehicle registers (Ministry of Transports and ACI - Automobile Club d'Italia) submit extractions to Istat, then a specific register is created by merging those extractions (contact, registry/technical information and legal status), and tailored to obtain the target population for the survey (Road Freight Transport Survey Register) .
Data on vehicles (Eurostat dataset A1) are partly extracted from the vehicle registers. Other variables are collected from the owners of the vehicles (e.g. the size of the vehicle fleet).
Data on journeys and goods (Eurostat datasets A2 and A3) are commonly filled in by the drivers during the survey week, at the moment in which the transport operations are carried out. Especially in larger commercial road freight companies, some journey and related goods information can be extracted from the database of the company (consignment notes, waybills or order and delivery management systems).
Type of goods and activity of the company may be collected in free text on the questionnaire, and coded later by Istat during the data check and review procedures.
The coding of loading and unloading places is reported as place name (municipality, plus foreign country for international journeys) and re-coded to NUTS-3 regions in the EEA countries and Switzerland as output for Eurostat datasets. Loading and unloading places outside this area are coded only with country codes.
Recording of weight of goods: the gross-gross weight is reported only for the weight of goods loaded in container or swap body; i.e. containers, swap bodies and pallets are included. Gross weight is collected for other goods
Different journey types are collected: one stop (type 1), multi stop (type 2) and collection/delivery (type 3). The questionnaire is specifically designed to collect information on three type of goods carried both for type 1 and 2 journeys.
Collection/delivery: In the recording of type 3 journeys only the main type of goods is requested; it is assumed that the type 3 journeys report only national journeys.
Additional (optional) variables collected compared to the legal requirements (Reg. UE 70/2012):
Environmental impact-related variables: Data on weekly fuel consumption.
A1. Vehicle-related variables:
- possibility of using vehicles for combined transport (NO)
- vehicle operator’s NACE Rev. 2 at class level (four-digit level) (possible but difficult to achieve in the short term)
- vehicle empty kilometres (NO)
A2. Journey-related variables:
- axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (NO)
- place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (NO)
- place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (NO)
- degree of loading : situation ‘fully loaded’ (procedure 2) or ‘not fully loaded’ (procedure 1) of the goods road transport vehicle during the journey in question, in terms of maximum volume of space used during the journey (procedure 0 = by convention for unladen journeys) (NO)
A3. Goods-related variables:
- type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (NO)
Dissemination at national level is scheduled on an annual basis (data referred to one survey year are released in the 4th quarter of the consequent year);
Microdata sets are provided to Eurostat on a quarterly basis, five months after the end of each survey quarter.
Microdata sets are provided to Eurostat five months after the reference period (quarter).
Annual data at national level are disseminated on a yearly basis, within the 4th quarter of the subsequent year. No provisional data are supplied.
Data are comparable at geographical level with EU countries
Comparability over time is respected and generally breaks in series may happen only due to legislation changes (methodology, classifications, etc)
