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.
The dataset on road transport covers tonne-kilometres (TKM) for freight transport that are 'territorialised' to the countries and the EU.
The ‘territorialised’ transport performance is a concept used 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)).
These data are not comparable with statistics on energy consumption in transport or with GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions as these are based on different methodologies; these data should not be used in the determination and fulfilment of environmental goals.
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 'territorialised' TKM are presented at country and 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.
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'.
‘Transport performance’ is measured on tonne-kilometre (TKM) for freight transport. A tonne-kilometre is defined as one tonne of freight transported for one kilometre.
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).
3.6. Statistical population
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.
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.
3.8. Coverage - Time
From 2005 onwards.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable
Transport performance is measured in tonne-kilometres (TKM).
Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Data on road freight transport performance are collected through the following legal act:
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.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
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.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
For further details, please refer to the relevant metadata on Road freight transport (link).
8.1. Release calendar
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 (Eurostat online dataset tran_hv_ms).
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.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Normally not planned.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
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’.
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.
Documentation on methodology for collecting road transport data can be found online ("Road freight transport methodology").
10.7. Quality management - documentation
For further information, refer to the relevant metadata for road transport (domain road_go).
11.1. Quality assurance
For quality assurance of the EU road freight transport statistics data, please refer to relevant metadata.
Further information on the quality assurance and data sources for the distance matrix can be found in the methodological notes of TERCET.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The three main tools for the assessment of the quality of the aggregated road freight data are:
Methodological comparisons with the national surveys and the recommended methodology, including coverage of surveys, simplifying assumptions, register quality, sampling rate and response rate.
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.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
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.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Eurostat does not carry out a specific satisfaction survey, apart from regularly organised ‘user satisfaction surveys’. 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.
12.3. Completeness
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.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Road freight ‘territorialised’ data are calculated based on 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). Information on accuracy can be found here: TERCET.
13.2. Sampling error
More information can be found in the metadata of the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ (road_go).
13.3. Non-sampling error
More information can be found in the metadata of the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ (road_go).
14.1. Timeliness
The data collection on road freight, followed by calculation and 'territorialisation' of road transport tonne-kilometres takes between a year and year and a half after the reference period.
14.2. Punctuality
Most reporting countries respect the 5 months deadline 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.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
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.
More information can be found in the metadata of the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ (road_go).
15.2. Comparability - over time
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 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%).
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Detailed transport data, collected according to the legal acts or on a voluntary basis, are available online. Data are accompanied by methodological description.
15.4. Coherence - internal
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.
17.1. Data revision - policy
To further specify the general Eurostat revision policy, the revision policy has been established for road freight transport statistics. Revisions of data are taken into account and processed when provided by the national competent authorities.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision practice of the road freight transport domain listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy).
Revisions may be made by data providers as more complete information becomes available or as a result of quality checks.
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data of the 'territorialised' transport performance (in tonne-km). Data are usually revised for the last reporting period. More specifically, when road freight domain data are revised, this usually involves some revision to the calculated 'territorialised' tonne-km.
Data are only published once they are deemed to be sufficiently complete for all data providers contributing to the aggregates.
Revisions are normally disseminated annually.
18.1. Source data
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.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data are collected quarterly. Annual data are summed up from the quarterly data and are the basis for computing the ‘territorialised’ series of road freight transport.
18.3. Data collection
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.
Data on road freight are transmitted to Eurostat via eDAMIS (electronic Dataflow Administration and Management Information System) in the CSV or SDMX file.
18.4. Data validation
For road freight data validation, please refer to relevant metadata.
18.5. Data compilation
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 based on 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.
In 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, Türkiye, 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.
The dataset on road transport covers tonne-kilometres (TKM) for freight transport that are 'territorialised' to the countries and the EU.
The ‘territorialised’ transport performance is a concept used 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)).
These data are not comparable with statistics on energy consumption in transport or with GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions as these are based on different methodologies; these data should not be used in the determination and fulfilment of environmental goals.
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 'territorialised' TKM are presented at country and 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.
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'.
‘Transport performance’ is measured on tonne-kilometre (TKM) for freight transport. A tonne-kilometre is defined as one tonne of freight transported for one kilometre.
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.
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.
Calendar year.
Road freight ‘territorialised’ data are calculated based on 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). Information on accuracy can be found here: TERCET.
Transport performance is measured in tonne-kilometres (TKM).
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 based on 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.
In 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, Türkiye, 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.
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.
Annual.
The data collection on road freight, followed by calculation and 'territorialisation' of road transport tonne-kilometres takes between a year and year and a half after the reference period.
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.
More information can be found in the metadata of the domain ‘Road freight transport measurement’ (road_go).
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 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%).
