Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Directorate E : Sectoral and regional statistics

E3: Transport Statistics - Road freight data

Office address:

Joseph Bech building

5, Rue Alphonse Weicker

L-2721 Luxembourg

Postal address:

European Commission, Eurostat

L-2920 Luxembourg

The dataset on road transport covers tonne-kilometres (TKM) for freight transport that are 'territorialised' to the countries. The EU aggregate is also calculated.

The ‘territorialised’ transport performance is a concept used only for comparing the transport modes' activity at the EU or at a country level. Data follows a methodology developed to be used mainly for comparing shares (modal split) of the transport carried out by the different modes of transport within the total transport performance at the EU level or countries level (Eurobase table ‘Modal split of freight transport’ (tran_hv_frmod)).

The resulting statistics are not comparable with statistics on energy consumption in transport or with GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions as these are based on different methodologies.

Data on road freight transport performance (in tonne-kilometres) are normally collected according to the legal acts adopted for road transport (datasets are available in Eurobase, in the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ road_go). Road transport statistics is based on all movements of vehicles registered in the reporting country. In order to calculate the series of ‘territorialised’ transport, the part of the international road transport needs to be ‘territorialised’. This means to estimate the transport performance that took place on the different national territories independently of the haulier’s country of registration. This redistribution of tonne-kilometres involves modelling the likely journey itinerary and projecting it on the European road network, and is computed by Eurostat with the help of a distance matrix tool (TERCET).

The dataset is updated annually.

The 'territorialised' TKM are presented at a country and at the EU level with the following breakdowns:

• national (domestic) transport
• international transport
• cabotage

National and cabotage transport data origin from the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ – table road_go. However, due to the time lag of calculation of modal split indicators that is once per year, these dataset on national and cabotage transport may differ from those in the road_go domain that are subject to more regular updates during the year.

The international transport presented in this dataset contains the ‘territorialised series’ that were computed by Eurostat as mentioned above.

Not applicable.

Road transport

The concepts used in road freight transport statistics can be found in the Road freight transport methodology manual and in the metadata file published in Eurobase for domain of road_go.

The methodology for calculation and ‘territorialisation’ of road freight transport performance in tonne-kilometres has been developed by Eurostat.

‘Territoriality principle’ means that the transport is performed within the territory of a country.

Road transport (Road freight transport measurement’ - road_go) is collected based on all movements of vehicles registered in the reporting country and thus further methodological developments and computations were needed to be done by Eurostat for estimating road transport according to the 'territoriality principle'.

The unit used for measuring the transport performance is tonne-kilometre (TKM) for freight transport. One tonne-kilometre represents the movement of one tonne over a distance of one kilometre.

For detailed information on transport definitions, please, refer to the Glossary for transport statistics (Fifth edition).

The reporting unit for road freight transport statistics is the goods road transport vehicle or the local unit (a site of a company, as identified in the national business register).  

As the total number of statistical units (most commonly vehicles) in most reporting countries is very large, sample surveys are carried out to collect information. A representative selection is drawn from the population (see "Road freight transport methodology - Reference manual for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 70/2012" Part A) in such a way that the desired attributes can be estimated, within the limits of a pre-defined precision, according to standard statistical theory.

"Methodologies used in surveys of road freight transport in Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries" includes summary tables with basic information on sampling, response rates, register quality and precision of results of the surveys in the reporting countries.

Data are given for the EU Member States and two EFTA countries which participate in EU road freight data collections: Norway and Switzerland. Iceland and Liechtenstein are granted derogations for road freight transport. Data for the United Kingdom are available until reference period 2019.

According to Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road, Malta is granted derogation from reporting road freight data to Eurostat.

EU aggregates are also available.

From 2005 onwards.

Not applicable

Transport performance is measured in tonne-kilometres (TKM).

Calendar year.

Data on road freight transport performance are collected through the following legal act:

Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road and replaced by Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 (recast).

There are no specific agreements related to data sharing and exchange between Eurostat and national or international institutions. All users have equal access to statistical releases at the same time.

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.

All road freight micro-data are treated as if they were confidential (see section 7.1 above). This means the following:

• data transmission from the reporting countries to Eurostat takes place in encrypted format using the eDAMIS data transmission tool;
• data are treated on a secured server, to which access is restricted and strictly controlled;
• all people working with the road freight micro-data must sign an agreement stipulating that they respect the rules of the treatment of confidential data;
• dissemination of the data  can only take place if the value is based on more than 10 vehicle records (see Commission Regulation (EC) 6/2003, Article 3 (1));

semi-aggregated "data exchange tables" that are submitted back to the reporting countries (Article 3(2) of Regulation 6/2003) are also treated as if they were confidential: encrypted transmission through eDAMIS, restricted access to data in the reporting countries, publication of results by the reporting countries only if a value is based on more than 10 vehicle records. 

Dataset for ‘territorialised’ road freight is normally released for the period of T-2 in March of year T, accompanying the dissemination of modal split (Eurobase table Modal split of freight transport (tran_hv_frmod)).

Release calendar of Eurostat

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Annual.

Normally not planned.

Modal split on freight transport calculated on the basis of the road freight ‘territorialised’ series are presented in the article of Statistics Explained on ‘Freight Transport statistics – modal split’ and they are also published in the digital publication People on the move.

Please consult free data on-line.

Researchers' access to micro-data is regulated by Commission Regulation (EU) No 557/2013 amending  Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 of 17 May 2002 concerning access to confidential data for scientific purposes.

All road freight micro-data are dealt with as if they were confidential micro-data (see section 7.1).

After this amendment, access to road freight micro-data may be granted following the rules of admissibility and the general conditions laid down in this regulation. It is important to note that each reporting country can refuse access to the micro-data transmitted by them to Eurostat for any access request.

Practical arrangements concerning access to confidential micro-data can be found on Eurostat's website.

None

For further information on definitions used for transport, please refer to the Glossary for transport statistics (Fifth edition).

Documentation on methodology for collecting road transport data can be found online ("Road freight transport methodology").

For further information, refer to the relevant metadata for road transport (domain road_go). 

The quality assurance of the EU road freight transport statistics data is based on the following principles:

1. The reporting countries shall use similar methods and definitions in order to produce quality data. However, the sample design, the assurance of a sufficient response rate and the general conducting of surveys is the reporting countries' responsibility.

2. The statistical error (percentage standard error) of the micro-data transmitted to Eurostat shall not be greater than 5% (special conditions apply to smaller countries, see Commission Regulation (EC) 642/2004).

3. In addition to the data, the reporting countries regularly inform Eurostat on the national characteristics of the data collection. This information is published as part of the quality documentation.

4. Eurostat validates the incoming micro-data, record by record, by applying detailed validation checks as described in Chapter 12 of Road freight transport methodology.

5. Eurostat regularly carries out precision calculations with the micro-data to verify the reporting countries' compliance with Commission Regulation 642/2004. The results of precision calculations are shared with the users of the data via CIRCABC Transport Forum.

6. Benchmarking studies are carried out to verify the existence of possible bias in the road freight data by comparing the results with other independent data sources (Cross-Alpine Freight Transport surveys, Channel-crossing statistics and toll-motorway data).

These 6 actions are specific to road freight transport statistics. Additionally, the overall "Total Quality Management" framework of Eurostat's quality assurance activities is applicable to road freight data. Also, detailed activities, for example publications, have their generic quality assurance circuits.

Distance matrix (TERCET) is developed by Eurostat with a principle to calculate the road distances between NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) at statistical level three (NUTS3), using respective TomTom Multinet datasets.

The three main tools for the assessment of the quality of the aggregated road freight data are:

1. Methodological comparisons with the national surveys and the recommended methodology, including coverage of surveys, simplifying assumptions, register quality, sampling rate and response rate. 
2. Precision calculations following Commission Regulation (EC) 642/2004.
3. Benchmarking.

The aim is to keep the users of the data informed on all these aspects by means of the methodological manuals, country specific notes, results of the precision calculations and benchmarking studies.

Further information on the quality assurance and data sources for the distance matrix can be found in the methodological notes of TERCET. 

The main users are evaluated to be the European Commission, international and governmental bodies.

The ‘territorialised’ road freight transport performance is a concept developed to be used mainly for comparing shares (modal split) of the transport carried out by the different modes of transport within the total transport performance at the EU level or countries level. The resulting statistics are not comparable with statistics on energy consumption in transport or with GHG emissions as these are based on different methodologies.

Eurostat does not carry out a specific satisfaction survey. Methodological issues or other aspects of further development are a subject of discussion with the relevant national authorities, other services of the Commission or, in some cases, other institutions.

Several estimates have been introduced by Eurostat to complete the time series and avoid break in series. Data on road freight transport for Bulgaria and Romania (2005), Croatia and Switzerland (2005-2007) were estimated on the basis of the first year data that have been reported by the countries according to the Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of the European parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road. 

EU aggregates exclude Malta and international transport of Cyprus that have quite marginal share.

Road freight ‘territorialised’ data are calculated on the basis of a distance matrix and road freight data that come from sample surveys. The overall sampling error of the estimates for the large reporting countries of the total and the national road freight transport should be within 5% standard percentage error (SPE).

Regarding bias, underreporting is clearly an issue that has been identified in different benchmarking exercises.

Ther distance matrix is built at NUTS3 to NUTS3 level according to the NUTS classification (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics), however with some gaps (e.g. data for Cyprus has gaps for NUTS 2021) and Eurostat is working on improving the coverage.

The compliance of the reporting countries with Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 is partly assessed on the basis of the sampling error. The requirements are set out in Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) 642/2004: In general, the standard percentage error (95% confidence) of annual estimates for tonnes transported, tonne-kilometres performed and total kilometres travelled loaded shall not be greater than 5% for total goods road transport and for national goods road transport. For countries where the total relevant vehicle stock is less than 25 000 vehicles - or the stock of vehicles engaged in international transport is less than 3000 - the standard percentage error shall not be greater than 7% (95% confidence). According to Article 4, the Member States where the total stock of relevant vehicles that can be engaged in international transport is less than 1000 vehicles are exempted from the precision requirements. Member States shall also provide Eurostat with sufficient supplementary information (for example, on stratification) so that the verification of precision calculations can be carried out by Eurostat.

The legal precision requirements only concern the main aggregates, total transport and total national transport. However, the same methodology can be applied to any subset of the data when applying the assumption that the breakdowns of sub-groups in the sample are equally present in the population.

More information can be found in the metadata of the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ (road_go).

The identification of "non-sampling error", for example bias, in the European road freight transport statistics requires the use of external data sources. Some external data sources are available, allowing cross-checking the results, which is not possible within the system of the road freight transport statistics alone. There are results of the road side interviews, carried out at the Alps and the Pyrenees every five years and enabling in-depth analyses.

Underreporting can be considered as a prevalent bias of the road freight statistics. Having in mind that respondents can ease their burden by omitting journeys, this underreporting is, in principle, an immanent systematic error. However, improvements have been made by the reporting countries to reduce this problem. The efforts of reporting countries have led to a reduction in the underestimation of road freight statistics over time.

The delay between the end of the reference period and data dissemination of road freight ‘territorialised’ series is 12-15 months. The territorialisation of international road freight data is done only when the datasets of all reporting countries have been received and validated and this require certain time lag.

Most reporting countries respect the 5 month delay for providing road freight data according to the Regulation (EU) No 70/2012. For further details, please refer to the metadata of the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ road_go.

Eurostat calculates these data on the basis of road freight data collected by all countries following the same survey methodology, as this is described in the  Road freight transport methodology. As a general rule, the definitions are the same with those presented in the manual. For this reason, the geographical coherence of the EU road freight statistics is generally very good.

However, there are some national characteristics of surveys that should be kept in mind when comparing the estimates:

1. Weight. According to Regulation (EU) No 70/2012, gross weight (excluding packaging, pallets and containers) should be reported. For different reasons (for example, in order to maintain coherence with rail and inland waterways transport statistics) several reporting countries report gross-gross weight instead of gross weight. In practice, only the weight of journeys using containers and swap-bodies is significantly affected by the different reporting practices - in EU aggregates this means less than 1%, because the share of containers is generally less than 10%.

2. Multi-stop journeys. There are two ways to report multi-stop journeys: reporting by consignment and reporting by consecutive stops ("vertical stages", see Road freight transport methodology, p, C-8). In the aggregation of micro-data by Eurostat, these two methods give different results, affecting the total weight of goods. The ways of reporting multi-stop journeys by the reporting countries are listed in Methodologies used in surveys of road freight transport in Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries.

3. Classification of containers. Type of cargo is an optional variable, reported by most of the reporting countries. Swap-bodies are generally reported as "large freight containers" according to UN Recommendation 21. Some countries reported swap-bodies as "other freight containers" until 2007 (included) before the Road freight transport methodology (p.B-77) was clarified on this issue. Data on how different countries report swap-bodies can be found in country and table specific notes (If the link doesn't work, copy/paste this URL in the address bar of the browser: https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/0c7a12bf-2645-4509-9339-a266f3e1e44d/library/09be2be6-defd-4cb4-818c-134ded0107ca?p=1&n=10&sort=modified_DESC).

Some countries implemented the European statistical legislation on road freight transport later than 2005 and data were estimated based on the first period data were available, i.e. Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Switzerland. In order to avoid break in series, several estimates have been introduced by Eurostat (see point 12.3 above). However, the comparability over time might be influenced by the availability of data reported to Eurostat: EFTA country Liechtenstein - between 2005-2013; and EU candidate countries: Montenegro - from 2016, North Macedonia - from 2017.

It is important to bear in mind that the calculation of international territorialised transport is particularly influenced by the availability of data for non-EU countries and their inclusion or not in the calculations. For example, there is at certain extend a break in series appearing in countries data and the EU aggregate in 2020 as an effect of the UK stopping to report road freight survey data to Eurostat (in 2019, the effect is calculated as 0.5% of the total international transport for the EU aggregate, however, the effect for international transport on the neighbouring country Ireland is around 50%).

Detailed transport data, collected according to the legal acts or on a voluntary basis, are available online. Data are accompanied by methodological description.

Internal coherence is achieved by applied validation procedures. See also 18.4.

There is no additional cost and burden for countries or for individual respondents associated with these series. Any costs are limited to the additional work carried out by Eurostat to develop, produce and disseminate the series.

Data revisions are taken into account and processed when provided by the national competent authorities.

Changes in data collection methodology might lead to a break in the series. Methodological changes are usually a result of new legislation entering into force. The new legal acts are published in the Official Journal of the European Union before their application.

Methodology on a method to calculate and 'territorialised' transport performance (in TKM) that allows comparison of road transport to other modes has been discussed and agreed within the European statistical system (ESS).

Data for road freight transport that are the basis for the calculation of these series, are micro-data obtained through questionnaires sent out by Member States to a sample of hauliers for vehicles registered in their country. These micro-data concern the vehicles themselves, their journeys and the goods that were transported.

Recently several reporting countries have started using electronic questionnaires, either Web based or applying Adobe Acrobat format.

This data collection through sample surveys (geographically and in time) is carried out by National Statistical Institutes or other Competent National Authorities (e.g. Ministries of Transport) in charge of data collection for road freight transport statistics.

The keepers of vehicle registers of the reporting countries frequently submit extractions to the statistical authorities. These extractions are used in sampling and in identifying the contact information of the owners of the vehicles. 

The coding of loading and unloading places is mostly reported as place name (locality) or postal code of the loading and unloading place. The statistical authorities then re-code the loading and unloading places to NUTS-3 regions in the EEA countries and Switzerland. Loading and unloading places outside this area are coded only with country codes.

Further information on the distance matrix can be found in the methodological notes of TERCET. It is based on the goal to calculate the road distances between NUTS at statistical level three (NUTS3), using respective TomTom Multinet datasets and following the quickest route.

The survey on road freight transport is carried out throughout the entire year, see Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC) 642/2004. Surveys in the reporting countries are continuous and for the larger countries all 13 weeks of each quarter are covered. In smaller countries, at least 7 weeks of each quarter shall be covered by the survey.

The time period for collecting data on each statistical unit is mostly one week (Germany, one of the biggest reporting countries, collects data during half a week, Finland collects data every 3 to 4 days) the time units covered in a year are mostly 52 weeks (see methodologies used in reporting countries); the quarterly submitted micro-data are extrapolated (grossed up) by Eurostat on the basis of the reported weighting factors to obtain quarterly data.

 Annual data are summed up from the quarterly data and are the basis for computing the ‘territorialised’ series of road freight transport.

Data for road freight transport are micro-data obtained through questionnaires sent out by Member States to a sample of hauliers for vehicles registered in their country. These micro-data concern the vehicles themselves, their journeys and the goods that were transported.

Recently several reporting countries have started using electronic questionnaires, either Web based or applying Adobe Acrobat format.

Several reporting countries apply sanctions against hauliers who refuse to provide the required data.

1. Since 1999, micro-data from the reporting countries have to be submitted according to Commission Regulation 2163/2001. The data are then verified and validated (detailed validation checks on the level of each data set and between linked data sets (e.g. A1 and A2, A2 and A3), verification of codes used). Detected errors are then reported back to the reporting countries with the request for correction (iterative process until at least 99.5% all data records are loaded completely).

2. Integration and aggregation of correct data into specific intermediary and standard tables.

3. Aggregated data are also compared to national aggregates provided in supplementary tables.

4. Time series checks by reporting country are carried out on aggregated data.

5. Precision calculations according to Commission Regulation 642/2004 are regularly carried out by Eurostat. As this process has been in place only since 1999 it might be, however, that not all data of the previous periods (until 1998) were controlled as properly as the most recent data.

Road freight transport, and particularly the part of international (including cross-trade) transport, needed to be ‘territorialised’ as according to the Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 it is reported by the countries on the basis of the nationality of the haulier, not on the basis of where the transport was carried out. For example, a haulier from the Netherlands might undertake a journey to Portugal. Though only a small part of this journey is in the Netherlands, the entire transport performance is accounted for by the Netherlands according to the data reported, as the vehicle carrying out the transport is registered there.

In order to compute the ‘territorialised’ transport, the international road freight transport data have been redistributed according to the national territories where the transport actually took place. This redistribution involved modelling the likely journey itinerary and projecting it on the European road network. The international road freight journeys’ tonne-kilometres have been taken from the ‘Tables on transport operations at regional level', computed by Eurostat on the basis of the detailed national survey data.

It order to redistribute the tonne-kilometre data proportionally to the countries concerned by the journey, a distance matrix tool (territorial typologies) has been used. This tool allows the calculation of the total distance between the NUTS level 3 region of origin and the NUTS level 3 region of destination and breaks down the total distance into sections according to the countries in which this transport took place (including transit countries). The distance matrix is based on the quickest route using time as impedance. With the help of this tool, the distances driven on the territories of the individual countries were calculated and the declared tonne-kilometres were proportionally attributed to the countries concerned.

Furthermore, transport performance of road freight journeys to non-EU countries (apart from the EFTA countries, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Montenegro and North Macedonia) has not been taken into account. Therefore, the cumulated values of the territorialised transport performance will always be lower than those declared in compliance with relevant EU legal acts. Some journeys have their origin or destination in regions that are not covered by the tool (which is notably the case for islands such as the Canary Islands, Madeira, Greek Islands, etc.). In such cases, the region of origin/destination have been given the NUTS 3 region code where the main freight ferry terminals are located in order to avoid further underestimation of the data.

Not applicable

Countries specific comments:

Switzerland: Switzerland conducts a specific survey on road territorialised tonne-km, based on data of the customs administration on the performance-related heavy vehicle charge. The published data can be found here (in French or German): Prestation de transport des véhicules lourds selon le genre de véhicule, l'immatriculation et le genre de trafic (Prestations des véhicules de transport de marchandises. Séries chronologiques) - 1993-2020 | Tableau | Office fédéral de la statistique (admin.ch). Due to the differences in the source and the methodology, these results differ from Eurostat calculations presented above.