The road is the major freight transport mode in France (accounting for 76% of tonne kilometres in 2006) as in most other European countries. Shippers can use road transport in two ways: they can either organize and carry out transport using their own resources, which is known as own account (OA) transport, or they can use a transport service provider in which case the term third-party (TP) transport is used. The make-or-buy decision is a recurring debate in the economic literature , but little research has been conducted into own account transport. The research described in this paper, attempts to show that own account transport is not a single type of transport, but differs from one shipper to another. The study deals with the situation in France and is based on shipper surveys conducted in 1988 and 2004 and qualitative interviews of shippers. Recent trends that have affected OA transport are described and its use in preference to TP transport isanalysed. For the coverign abstract see ITRD E145999
Samenvatting