24: Issues Related to Freight Transport Data Collection

Freight movements are the result of economic activities among spatially separated production, processing and consumption sites. The specifics of these movements are the result of decisions made by a variety of actors/agents, such as shippers, carriers, distributors, freight forwarders, receivers, consumers, etc.

Individual agents may be unaware of (or not care about) actions of the others further up or down the supply chain, hence freight (shipment) movement information can be fragmented and incomplete. For example, a shipper may not care what carriers transport its shipments along what path and in what kind of conveyance, as long as the shipment reaches the ultimate destination at the expected time and at the contracted shipping charge. Yet, all of these elements of the freight movement process affect what the travelling public observes and encounters and what infrastructure needs to exist for both the private and the public sectors.