Statistics Portugal (INE) - National Statistical Institute

Statistics Portugal - Economic Statistics - Sectoral Business Statistics Unit

Av. António José de Almeida
1000-043 LISBOA

Portugal

Road freight data collection consists of three datasets with quarterly periodicity:

1. Vehicle related variables dataset for a sample of road good motor vehicles that contains indication about the type and age of the vehicle, the economic activity of the owner of the vehicle, the total kilometres loaded or empty and the weighting factors to be applied;
2. Journey related variables dataset which contains variables related to the technical features of the vehicle and variables related to the journey such as weight of goods, regions of loading and unloading, distance travelled and tonne-kilometres performed;
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 )", (see the RAMON classification server on Eurostat's web site). From 2008 onwards, the collection is according to the 20 groups following the "Standard Goods Classification for Transport Statistics (NST 2007)"
• The regional coding is done in conformity with European legislation: "NUTS Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics" (see also RAMON/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 RAMON "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).

The Road Freight Transport Survey covers the movement of goods made by vehicles - trucks and road tractors - that are registered in Portugal. The movement includes national and internacional transport as well as transport made by own account and for hire and reward.

Out of the scope of the survey are the following vehicles:

• Vehicles with load capacity equal or below of 3,5 tonnes (lorries) or maximum permissible laden weight equal or below of 6 tonnes (road tractors);
• Military vehicles
• Agricultural vehicles
• Vehicles modified in order to pursue other objectives that not to carry of goods;

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).

Goods road transport vehicle with load capacity of more than 3,5 tonnes (lorries) or maximum permissible laden weight of more than 6 tonnes (road tractors);

Goods road transport vehicle with load capacity of more than 3,5 tonnes (lorries) or maximum permissible laden weight of more than 6 tonnes (road tractors) registered in Portugal;

Movement is only to/from mainland Portugal; Autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira movements are not included; 

Road freight transport survey is collected since 1987.

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.

National level:

•  Law Nº 22/2008 (Law of the National Statistics System)

European level: 

• REGULATION (EU) N° 70/2012   

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:

•  Law Nº 22/2008 (Law of the National Statistics System)

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.

The vehicle registration number (licence plate) of the vehicle is coded.

A release calendar is available on the Statistics Portugal website (https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpgid=ine_main&xpid=INE&xlang=en). The quarterly data on road freight transports is available within 3 months after the end of the respective quarter.

https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_dispinfest

Data is made available for all users at the same time.

On the dissemination date, a press release is made and publicized on Statistics Portugal website. Several indicators are updated and available for public consultation on the website.

Quarterly and annually dissemination;

There is a press release on every moment of dissemination of information. 

A publication is made available within 11 months after the end of reference year. The publication contains data on freigth and passenger transport for every mode of transport: rail, road, maritime, inland waterways and air transport. Some tables with results are also disseminated with the publication. The publication is in Portuguese (the introduction is in both Portuguese and English).

On Statistics Portugal website are available some indicators from road freight transport survey. See here.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

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.

A metodological document of the survey is also available in the Statistics Portugal Integrated Metadata System (http://smi.ine.pt). The information is only available for download in portuguese.

Not applicable.

There are flags in the online survey to avoid missing values on key variables and to alert to some incoherences in values of one variable or in values between variables before submission.

The submitted surveys are verified and a series of checks are done to ensure data quality. If needed, respondents are contacted to provide details on their journeys and correct data if necessary.

Not applicable.

DG MOVE is one of the main users which needs data for policy decisions.

Contact with users is also regular through Statistics Portugal dissemination service: this activity concerns, in addition to the previous mentioned users, other categories of users such as national administrations, enterprises, researchers, universities, citizens, journalists and so on.

Not applicable.

Data are complete according to the requirements of the Regulation.

The overall accuracy is considered to be good given the assessment of data processing.

The precision of an estimator is given by its coeficient of variation. This coeficient can be consulted on the annual publication of transports (see chapter 9 for more details).

No estimates of measurement errors are available. However, some measuring errors may occur as a result of codification errors by respondents. A large share of so-called “unknown codes” instead of specific codes for type of goods, region of loading/unloading is also a factor which will reduce the accuracy of road transport statistics  outside the European Union.

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.

Geographical comparability is obtained via the application of common concepts and validation rules. The harmonised interpretation of the methodology is enhanced by the organisation of regular meeting of the Working Group, where all participating countries are represented.

There might be a break in time series for certain variables in 2008, due to the change in the nomenclature applied for the classification of goods (NST 2007).

Not applicable.

The quality checks include intra-dataset checks and inter-datasets checks. These quality checks detect data that could possibly be in error. Some errors are corrected before publications. Other errors, which require further investigations, are corrected later.

Road Freight Transport Survey is a very consuming in terms of filling the survey.

Some measures were done in order to reduce the time: some vehicle related variables are already filled and only need confirmation from the respondent. Also, the online questionnaire have some validation rules in order to minimize the need to correct data.

Data is revised in order to include some late responses and corrections made by the respondents.

Data from previous quarter is revised in order to include some late responses and corrections made by the respondents.

Sampling register used for the survey

Name of register:

Heavy goods road vehicle file

Name of organisation who maintains the register:

National Organisations:

• I.R.N. (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado)
• I.M.T. (Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes)

Frequency of update:

Quarterly concerning the survey feedback, annually concerning the 2 external sources

Frequency of access to draw the samples:

Once a quarter

Arrangements for accessing the register:

Each year, IMT provides the file containing the vehicles licensed to transport activities and IRN provides the file containing the identification (name and address) of the owners or users (these last one only for registers changed in the current year).

Information obtained from the register:

Vehicle registration, 1st year of the vehicle registration, maximum permissible laden weight, load capacity, number of axles, category of the vehicle, type of transport, identification and NACE of the owner, auxiliary information about some leasing contracts.

Used in stratification: NUTS II of the address of the owners (Mainland regions: Norte, Centro, Lisboa, Alentejo and Algarve), Category of the vehicle (Lorry or Road tractor), Gross weight class (5 for lorries and 2 for tractors), Type of transport (Own Account, Hire or Reward).

Procedure for reminders:

The first reminder goes out 3 weeks after the end of the month under observation, the second reminder goes out three weeks after the first one and the last reminder goes out only for selected specific cases.

The response rate seems to be adequate (about 90-95 % in provisional data).

Data collection is continuous.

Sampling methodology

Statistical unit:

Tractive vehicle

Types of units excluded:

All vehicles with maximum permissible laden weight equal or inferior to 3 500 kg, vehicles not used for the transport of goods, such as agricultural and military vehicles, fire engines and special transport vehicles.

Time unit:

1 week

Time unit of quarter:

All (13 weeks)

Stratification:

Two stratum of ‘gross weight class’ were merged: 19 001kg - 22 000kg and 22 000kg - 26 000Kg into 19 001 Kg - 26 000 Kg.

The sample is stratified according to the following variables:

• First two digits:
  • Region NUTS II (Norte, Centro, Lisboa, Alentejo and Algarve)
• Third digit:
  • Category of vehicle (Lorry or Road Tractor)
• Fourth digit:
  • Gross weight class (Lorry):
    • 3 501 - 10 000 kg
    • 10 001 - 16 000 kg
    • 16 001 - 19 000 kg
    • 19 001 - 26 000 kg
    • over 26 000
  • Gross weight class (Road Tractor):
    • 3 501 - 7 000 kg
    • over 7 000
• Fifth digit:
  • Type of transport (Own Account, Hire or Reward)

Recording of weight of goods:

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

Recording of journey data sent to Eurostat:

Single stop: If in the same journey, more than one goods commodity is carried, we consider that journey as type 2.

Multi stop: Multi-stop journeys are coded by consignments. This type of journey is considered when there is more than one goods commodity being carried or several stops during the journey. When the answer implies several stops, the journey is transformed into type 1 journeys; if the vehicle becomes empty, a new road freight transport operation is considered

Collection/delivery: This type of journey is considered whenever there is a collection/delivery of goods with an unrecorded number of stops with short distances separating them. When retrieving data there are often the following situations:

1. On the same journey, when an empty packaging retrieval occurs simultaneously (type of goods: 250), the registered number of kilometres travelled equals the total kilometres divided by the number of goods being carried. The calculation of the tonnes-kilometres is made in the same way as for type 2 journeys.
2. When there is no simultaneous retrieval of empty packaging, it is considered as origin the first point of departure and as the last the farthest one (not the last); it is registered the kilometres that were effectively travelled (usually, the sum of all the stages is huge), and the calculation of the tonnes-kilometres is made according to: weight * distance / 20.

Estimation of maximum permissible laden weight:

Maximum permissible laden weight is estimated by adding the gross weight of the vehicle and the gross weight of the trailers (or semi-trailer) used.

Calculation of weighting factors:

Weighting factor =

h =  stratum

N_h = total number of vehicles adjusted for strata changes and out-of-scope vehicles

n_h = number of usable responses (vehicles with  activity + vehicles without activity)

Non response: only effective responses are considered. Partial and non-responses are not treated.

Wrong information in sample register(s): the information is corrected in the sampling frame.

Vehicles without activity during the sampled period (due to sickness, repair, lack of work etc): are considered as effective responses.

Post-stratification and sampling frame adjustment is used.

Collection data is used to correct strata variables of sample units and adjust, in the same proportion, the distribution of total number of vehicles by strata.

The out of scope vehicles are also eliminated from the sampling frame. Total number of vehicles is adjusted as well.

Optional variables covered:

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 (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) (YES)

A3. Goods-related variables:

• type of freight (Cargo types) as defined in the Regulation (YES)

Additional variables collected compared to the legal requirements:

None 

National level :

Data is validated through the online questionnaire to avoid errors in database. Data reported is also checked and suspicious values are flagged and reported to the respondent to obtain a justification on correction.

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.

Data is compiled through informatical procedure. The transformed datasets are also checked to find inconsistencies in compiling.

Road freight data are not seasonally adjusted.

Not applicable.