Freight transport is often viewed as having significant negative impacts, but it is also a vital component of the wider economy. Every item the country manufactures or consumes is at some point transported between producers, ports, distribution centres, retail outlets and consumers.

Road haulage transports 1.3 billion tonnes of cargo, rail freight 69 million tonnes and over 400 million tonnes of cargo are handled at ports. On average, cargo is lifted 2-3 times before consumption.

The logistics sector is a major employer and wealth creator, with 206,000 logistics enterprises, 2.6 million employees and £127 billion Gross Value Added.

Freight transport also results in environmental and other wider societal impacts. HGV emit 19.5 million tonnes of CO2e.

While freight transport is undertaken by the private sector on a commercial basis, it depends on access to publicly-funded infrastructure (highways and railways) and facilities that are granted consent by planning authorities (warehouses, ports).

Although it makes a significant contribution to the economy, freight transport also generates environmental and societal impacts:
• Greenhouse gas emissions – 19.5 million tonnes CO2e from HGVs
• Air quality – NOx emissions from burning diesel contributes to poor air quality
• Road traffic accidents – impact on lives and NHS
• Quality of place impacts – noise, visual intrusion, vibration and parking issues related to HGVs
• Congestion – delays to other users and freight deliveries due to network congestion.

Public bodies have an important role in mitigating these impacts, while maintaining economic efficiency.

Measures of freight transport activity include:
• Tonnes lifted – by mode and origin or destination (O-D)
• Tonnes moved (tonne-km) – by mode and O-D
• Road freight – tonnes lifted/moved by vehicle type (HGVs and LGVs) and O-D
• Road freight – tonnes lifted/moved by commodity and O-D
• Road freight – vehicle trips and vehicle-km for HGVs and LGVs and O-D
• Rail freight lifted/moved by type – intermodal and bulk commodities and O-D
• Port traffics – by direction, tonnes-lifted, commodity and inland O-D
• Domestic or international – tonnes, O-D, commodity and, for international, port.

Freight transport’s wider environmental, societal and economic impacts are also quantified and are calculated from measures of freight activity using conversion factors:
• GHG emissions – derived from diesel fuel consumed or vehicle-km using conversion factors
• NOx – related to diesel fuel consumed or vehicle-km
• User benefits – monetary saving per tonne or vehicle-km for users of the non-road mode
• Environmental benefits – monetary values per vehicle-km removed from the road network when transferring to rail or waterborne transport.

• Traffic count data – the basic number of freight vehicles using a network link
• Road freight by origin & destination – to understand why freight is on a highway link
• Rail freight by origin & destination – to understand modal split
• Port/waterborne traffics – to understand modal split & the ports that traders use
• Shipping – to measure connectivity of, and shipping capacity offered at, the ports that traders use
• International trade – to understand imports and exports by volume and value
• Highway assignments – to understand freight vehicle movements on highway links, including transit traffic
• Railway network assignments – to understand freight train movements on railway lines, including transit traffic
• Warehouses floor space and location – to understand key origins and destinations of freight.

All the above data is in the public domain from official sources and is brought together by MDS Transmodal in the baseline of the Great Britain Freight Model to provide a consistent and integrated source of data.

Examining the current position - Understanding the origins and destinations of freight transport for an area, its modal split, why freight movements are occurring on network links, the relationship between freight transport, land use and the economy and which ports of entry and exit are used by an area’s trading companies.

Forecasting the future – Providing a robust and holistic baseline that is consistent across all modes from which to test market and policy-based scenarios for the future using a freight transport demand simulation model such as the GB Freight Model; this model explains the current position in terms of freight industry costs and therefore allows ‘what if?’ scenarios to be tested.

Developing freight strategies – Providing a robust and holistic baseline from which to test the impacts of potential interventions using a freight transport demand simulation model such as the GB Freight Model. Impacts are considered in terms of user (freight industry) costs and non-user costs (net externalities not included in the price of freight transport) and consistent with official transport appraisal guidelines.