CBS (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (Statistics Netherlands))

Department of Traffic and Transport

Visitors:

Henri Faasdreef 312
2492 JP The Hague

Postal address:

P.O. Box 24500
2490 HA The Hague

Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity:
1. Vehicle related variables dataset for a sample of road good motor vehicles contain, 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 contain, among other indications about weight of goods, regions of loading and unloading, distance driven, and tonne-kilometres performed during a journey
3. Goods related variables dataset which contain among others the type of goods transported and their weight and distance travelled, regions of loading and unloading.

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 )", .
• The regional coding is done in conformity with European legislation: "NUTS Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics" (see also NUTS). Economic activity class of the vehicle owner is an optional variable. Data were collected according to NACE Rev. 1 until the end of 2007. From the beginning of 2008 onwards, the economic activity has been classified according to NACE Rev. 2 (see  "Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2 (NACE Rev. 2)").
• Type of dangerous goods is a mandatory variable, but it is reported only for those goods that fall into this category. The classification is based on "European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road", Chapter 2.1, as published in Annex E of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98. Directive 2008/68/EC makes reference to ADR as regards the transport of dangerous goods by road.

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).

Statistics produced on the Basis of the Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 cover the following road freight transport operations by heavy goods vehicles:

All vehicles with a maximum permissble weight > 3,5 tonnes. 

There are also statistics produced (2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021) of goods vehicles with a permissble weight < 3,5 tonnes (vans). This survey is voluntary.

Excluded are:

- Vehicles not used for goods transport on public roads and passenger vehicles, such as buses and campers
- Vehicles with a Maximum Permissible Weight <= 3500 kg
- Vehicles older than 25 years

The main concepts used in Road freight statistics are the following, more details 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
Cross-trade is international road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country.
National transport is Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country 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 and cabotage by road. It may involve transit through one or more additional country or countries.
Cross trade is International road transport between two different countries performed by a road motor vehicle registered in a third country.
Transit is any loaded or empty road motor vehicle, which enters and leaves a country at different points by whatever means of transport, provided the total journey within the country is by road and that there is no loading or unloading in the country.
Goods carried by road are any goods moved by goods vehicle
Place of loading/unloading of a goods 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 goods road motor 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 goods road motor 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 goods road transport vehicle.

The number of goods vehicles (described at 3.3). 

The data provided are goods vehicles registered in the declaring in the Netherlands uniquely.

Road freight statistics are produced every quarter (every year). There time series available sinces 1955.

Not applicable.

Data are collected in tonnes, tonne-kilometres, vehicle-kilometres and in number of journeys (journey data) or in number of basic transport operations (BTO (goods related data)).

The road data are collected on a quarterly basis and are reported to Eurostat five months after the end of the reference period.

European level: 

• REGULATION (EU) N° 70/2012   

National level :

An anonymized annual datafile is send to the Ministry department responsible for the maintenance of roads.

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.

National level:

• No indentifiable information to individual companies may be shared.

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.

Statistics Netherlands adopts the necessary measures so that the protection of confidential data is effective, from the collection of data to its publication.

On the national database for users is reported that the data will be available (on a yearly basis) about three months after the reference year. On the website there is a notification that for more detailed data can be requested.

Not applicable

On the national database for users is reported that the data will be available (on a yearly basis) about three months after the reference year. On the website there is a notification that for more detailed data can be requested.

On the national database for users is reported that the data will be available (on a yearly basis) about three months after the reference year. On the website there is a notification that more detailed data can be requested.

At the moment new year figures are available an ariticle is published with the main devolopments in road freight transport on the homepage of statistics Netherlands (www.cbs.nl).

At the moment new year figures are available an article is published with the main developments in road freight transport on the homepage of statistics Netherlands (www.cbs.nl).

At the moment new year figures are availble users are attended by an RSS-feed.

Access to road freight micro-data may be granted following certain admissibility rules and safety conditions.

It is possible to apply customized requests. At the time of attending and processing these requests, the corresponding limitations on confidentiality or accuracy are take into account.

National characteristics of surveys, conducted in the reporting countries in 2017, were published in Methodologies used in surveys of road freight transport in Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries. This latter publication also contains data on response rates, vehicle registers' quality, sampling rates and statistical errors in surveys carried out in 2016. Every table published on Statline (national database with tables for uses) has an (methodological) explanation.

In addition of the Eurostat reports (for example the report with standard-errors) there are also several national methodological reports.

The methodology follows the Eurostat guidelines. A procedure had been designed to control and validate the quality of the data throughout the entire process. E.g. there are validation checks in the survey for the companies. There are validation checks at the time data is being edited by a member of the staff and the output (the development of road freight transport statistics) is checked by time series models using also other reference data (international trade, National Account, turnover and price statistics).

The survey meets all the criteria of consistency, comparability, accuracy and punctuality.

The main users are:

- Ministry and other (regional) public offices

- Universities

- research Institues

- Eurostat

Data is used by the Ministry of Infrastructure and environment, e.g. to make forecasts and infrastructure decisions are based on these data/forecasts

Data is used for environment studies, modal split/shift studies and are used to answer many Police questions in many other area's.

Users are more and more satisfied, because more and more data become (at a sufficient detailed level) available.

For 2016 and 2018-2021 also vehicles with a Maximum Permissble Weight < 3,5 tonnes are incorporated. Agriculture vehicles are not incorporated (because of lacking a licence number yet).

The sampling design tries to minimize sampling errors and the survey is designed in collobariation with several transport companies and business organisations (as simple as possible)  to minize errors and misunderstanding. The response rate is very high (88 percent on average). 

The sampling error (measued by Eurostat), on a 95% confidence level, is very low (1,79 on transported weight at an annual basis).

The non-response is since the introduction of a new survey (designed in collobariation with several transport companies and business organisations) has increased by almost 20 percent to 88 percent). The (non)response is well distributed across the several sample strata.

 Calculating the weighting factors. Example for one stratum. 

N: Number of vehicles in the register: 33.816
S: Number of questionnaires used in analysis: 265
S’: Number of vehicles for which no activity was recorded, but vehicles could be considered as active (no work, holiday,
Etc.) : 119
T:Number of week in the month: 5
Weighting factors:
{N/(S+S’)}*T
{33.816/(265+119)}*5=440,31

Data are normally updated once per quarter.

If new annual data (all four quarters of a calendar year) have become available, the annual datasets are also updated together with the quarterly datasets.

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 comparability between EU countries is ensured by Regulation (EU) No 70/2012. Also on a national level there is good comparability. On Statline (the Dutch database withe table for uses) also a table with road freight transport statistics on a province level (NUTS2) is published. 

There are timeseries of road freight transport statistics available sinces 1955. If there is a redesign in the process, survey of other area and there is a level shift in time series, this is repaired by using timeseries analysis and models.

Comparisons are made with other data sources or statistical domains (specific studies).

Coherence among variables is compared in all stages of the statistical process. The aggegates are always consistent with their main sub-aggregates.

The burden for companies (with vehciles > 3,5 tonnes Maximum Permisseble weight) is estimated on 250 000 euros a year. The cost for the entire statistcal process is estimated on 200 000 euros

After sending the data of the 4 quarters to Eurostat the first time, there will 2-3 months after the reference year a small revision of the figures (because for national users data on a (very) detailed level are analyzed and corrected.

After sending the data of the 4 quarters to Eurostat the first time, there will 2-3 months after the reference year a small revision of the figures (because for national users data on a (very) detailed level are analyzed and corrected.

Sampling register used for the survey, no change in the methodology for year 2022

Name of register:

a)      National vehicle Register of RDW (Centrum voor voertuigtechniek en informatie)

For the stratification of the sample also the following registers are also used:

b)      National Business Register (CBS/ Chamber of Commerce)

c)      Lease Registers from the Tax Authorities

Name of organisation who maintains the register:

Statistics Netherlands

Frequency of update:

Once a quarter

Frequency of access to draw the samples:

Once a quarter

Arrangements for accessing the register:

The data are forwarded by RDW to Statistics Netherlands up to one month in advance of the statistical period (quarter).

Information obtained from the register:

Information obtained among others from the register: licence number, brand name, loading capacity of the vehicle, type of motor vehicle, age of the vehicle, empty weight of the vehicle, fuel type, engine type (EURO norm), KW class of engine, enterprise number.

Information used in the stratification of the sample: To determine the type of transport (own account or hire and reward) the enterprise number belonging to the licence number in the National Vehicle Register of RDW is linked to the enterprise number of the National Business register. Furthermore, the NACE is used to categorize the vehicles to the enterprises that own the vehicle to minimize the sample-variance per stratum.

Further the following register variables are used for the stratification: loading capacity, type of vehicles and age of the vehicle.

Procedure for reminders:

There is a standard routine for reminders:

• immediately after the reported time period, the non-respondents receive a first written reminder.
• 3 weeks after the reported time period, the non-respondents receive a second written reminder.
• 5 weeks after the reported time period, the most important non-respondents, based on the number of vehicles, receive a reminder performed by telephone.

The response rate is adequate.

Data are collected continuously during the year (every day there will be response of companies).

Sampling methodology, no change in the methodology for year 2022

Statistical unit:

Tractive vehicle

Types of units excluded:

Vehicles not used for goods transport on public roads and passenger vehicles, such as Buses and campers.

Vehicles with a Maximum Permissible Weight <= 3 500 kg.

Vehicles older than 25 years.

Statistics Netherlands has introduced a new survey to cover vehicles with a Maximum Permissible weight <= 3500 kg. The results of this group of vehicles in 2016: transported weight 64 million tonnes of goods (equipment excluded) and 16.5 billion kilometres.

Time unit:

1 week

Time unit of quarter 1 of 2022 included in the survey (no change in the methodology for year 2022) :

All (13 weeks)

Stratification:

The sample is drawn at random within 74 strata. The stratification variables used are:

• Type of transport (Own account or hire and reward) based on the National Business register
• Type of vehicle
• Loading capacity
• Age of vehicle

Recording of weight of goods:

Gross-gross weight of goods is collected, i.e. containers swap bodies and pallets are included.

Recording journey data sent to Eurostat:

Single stop: The respondent is able to record only one type of goods.

Collection/delivery: Tonne-kilometres = Tonnes * Distance / 2.

Other variables: Unladen journeys are assumed to be associated with laden journeys.

Calculation of weighting factors:

N = number of vehicles in the register (per stratum) (average of the current quarter)

N = number of vehicles in the register (per stratum) (average of the next quarter)

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.).

To correct for changes in the population during the quarter, two consecutive versions of the vehicle register are used (N and N').

Additional (optionnal) variables collected compared to the legal requirements:

Environmental impact-related variables:

Type of fuel used and average 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) (YES)
• vehicle empty kilometres (YES)

A2. Journey-related variables:

• axle configuration according to the nomenclature defined in the Regulation on road transport statistics (YES)
• place of loading, if any, of the road transport vehicle on another means of transport (YES)
• place of unloading, if any, of the road transport vehicle from another means of transport (YES)
• 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 (YES)

2022 not completely available yet

National level :

the output (the development of road freight transport statistics) is checked by time series models using also other reference data (international trade, National Account, turnover and price statistics).  The response rates of every sample stratum needs to be on a adequate 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.

Each record is independent and complete. The data is added daily.

Road freight data are not seasonally adjusted.

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