Freight transport is closely linked with industrial and trade activities;it constitutes a by-product or even a fully integrated element of the production process. It is acknowledged that the characteristics of transported commodities are important but not the only parameters that determine thechoice of the transport solution. Production and logistics constraints play an equally important role in this respect. The analysis of transport demand and shippers practices is a useful approach for understanding of transport sector and its evolution. However, there are very few statistical data allowing the analysis of the relation between transports and its production- and logistics-related determinants. For this reason two large national surveys have been conducted in France over the last two decades and provide us with original empirical data. The main methodological aspects of the two surveys are presented. The use of the shipment as measurement unit instead of the usual ton or ton-kilometer approach is the major innovationof these surveys and provide a novel statistical insight. A large diversity of traffic generation profiles was identified, both in tons or shipmentunits, specific to each economic sector. The shipment unit appears as a useful complementary unit and a realistic logistics indicator. Another particularity of these surveys is the complete door-to-door tracking of each shipment alongside the transport chain, whereby each segment and operator -shipper, consignee, carrier and ancillary transport operator involved in the shipment and its intervention can be identified. Shippers do not always know how their shipments are carried, so each operator had been inquiredof details about his precise role within the chain for each sampled shipment. This methodological option enables the description of the whole transport chain, both from a physical and organizational point of view. The diversity of logistics organizations found between the plants, within and between various economic sectors, brings a better understanding of what shippers logistics and production constraints are and how they impact transportchains. Specific attention is paid to increasing fragmentation of trafficflows, dispersed both in space and in time. Such trend reduces even more the shippers possibility of choosing non road transport modes. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145999
Abstract