Chapter 10: The Value of Quality Attributes in Freight Transport: Evidence from an SP-Experiment in Switzerland

In the last 20 years, globalization and European integration have led to a substantial increase of freight transport, reflecting the internationalization of the production chain, which has led in the same period to the doubling of the share of imported inputs in manufacturing production in the major economies (OECD, 2007). This trend was further fuelled by dramatically declining communication and transport costs. Moreover, this process is accompanied by a structural change towards lighter and more voluminous freight goods, generally shipped at higher frequency. New production concepts and spatial distribution processes have enhanced the significance of logistics and generated demand for high-quality transport and logistics services. In this dynamic process, transport networks become more and more congested, leading to time delays, unreliable delivery and damages. This creates a positive feedback on the demand for high-quality services. The scope of this chapter therefore is to derive empirical estimates of the valuation of relevant service characteristics in freight transport based on a model of shippers' behaviour.