Freight, business travel and trade in the EU : what can the past tell us?

The use of historic data for freight and employer's business travel in EU countries is compared with insights gained from recent regional economic and transport modelling studies carried out in European transport research programmes. The historic data establishes a robust starting point for the analysis. Past growth of demand in freight and business travel is outlined. Large increases in both the amount of freight carried and in haulage distance are noted. Employer's business travel data is considered lacking but it is apparent that both the number and length of journeys have increased. Increased gross domestic product is linked to both increasing freight and business travel but the rate of increase in the number of lorries has been reduced by increasing lorry size and mileage reduced by more return loads. Bulk goods movement has decreased but processed goods movement has increased. Just-in-time production strategies have favoured more flexible goods transport by road compared with rail. Uncertainity inherent in the freight transport data and the lack of a standard approach and data classification are discussed. As trade barriers decrease in the EU, some traditional datasets have become more difficult to continue. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124693.