The data available via the Freight Data Hub is baseline data from the Great Britain Freight Model (GBFM). This model, which incorporates both baseline data and forecasting capability, has been used by the Department for Transport for its freight modelling since 2005. The model was updated by MDS Transmodal in 2022 to allow the Department to produce new highways forecasts.

The baseline origin-destination data for HGVs and LGVs available via the Freight Data Hub is consistent with that developed by MDS Transmodal for the Department for Transport’s latest National Transport Model.

National Highways and its consultants have used baseline data for 2019 and forecasts to 2050 from GBFM as the source of HGV origin-destination data for its new Regional Transport Models.

MDS Transmodal has used the Great Britain Freight Model to produce rail freight forecasts for Network Rail up to 2043/44 and the data available via the Freight Data Hub has been used in 2022 as the baseline data for new short-term rail freight forecasts to 2028/29.

The data available via the Freight Data Hub has been used by other national bodies:
• National Infrastructure Commission – baseline freight data and forecasts to 2050 as part of its evidence base for its report on freight called Better Delivery: The Challenge for Freight which was published in 2019
• Government Office for Science – baseline freight data as part of its evidence base for its Future of Mobility report, which was published in 2019
• Connected Cities Catapult – baseline freight data as part of its evidence base for its Transition to Zero-Emission Transport – A Pathway for Long-Haul Heavy Goods Vehicles report, which was published in March 2021

Data available via the Freight Data Hub has been used in studies for many Sub-national Transport Bodies:
• Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
• Midlands Connect
• Transport for Greater Manchester
• Transport for the North
• West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Data available via the Freight Data Hub has been used in studies for many local authorities and Local Economic Partnerships, often working alongside other consultants:
• Freight data for local highways models
• Freight strategies
• Warehouse supply and demand
• Planning inquiries
• Port market studies

The data available via the Freight Data Hub is baseline data from the Great Britain Freight Model (GBFM). GBFM was subject to an independent quality assurance review in 2016 on behalf of a Sub-national Transport Body at the request of the Department for Transport. It was described in the review as being “state of the art”.

The data available via the Freight Data Hub is based on official censuses and surveys of freight transport:
• Road freight data – DfT Continuing Survey of Road Freight Transport
• Rail freight data – Network Rail
• Port/maritime data – DfT Port Freight Statistics
• Warehousing data – Valuation Office Agency land use data
• Trade data – HM Revenue & Customs

The data is based on techniques that:
• Provide statistically significant sample sizes
• Ensure results are representative
• Respect commercial confidentiality

The data available via the Freight Data Hub is used by a variety of commercial organisations that invest in freight infrastructure and operate freight services, demonstrating its credibility with the freight industry:
• Ports
• Terminal operators
• Rail freight operating companies
• Warehouse developers
• Financial institutions

The data available via the Freight Data Hub is provided by MDS Transmodal, a freight transport economics consultancy founded in 1983. As the UK’s leading consultancy in its sector, MDS Transmodal has throughout its history innovated in developing freight transport databases and modelling techniques, drawing on decades of expertise in freight transport.