Overview
Traditionally the development of haulage has been evaluated on the basis of economic development. After the 1980s, domestic haulage has fallen behind from the rate of economic growth. In practice this means that GDP does not explain the changes in haulage because the growth of GDP is faster than the growth of haulage.
Objectives of the study were:
- To describe how transport intensities in different branches of industry have changed and what are the reasons behind past development;
- The impacts of changes in transport intensities and production structure on haulage and different modes of transport;
- The impact of changes in production in different branches of industry on national transport demand.
This study appraised the transport intensities' development in different branches of industry, between 1989-2002. Transport intensity of a branch is the haulage generated by domestic production compared to the production value increment of that industry. Therefore the unit for transport intensity is tonne-kilometre per euro. Transport intensity can be defined separately for each mode of transport.
Funding
Results
Industry creates over 80% of domestic transport haulage. Transport created by industry consists of transporting industrial products, basic materials and half processed products. Other branches of industry generating significant transport are earth construction and energy production using coal and peat.
Transport intensity of fuel production is highest, about 9 tonne-kilometres per EURO, and technological industry has the lowest transport intensity (0.1 tonne-kilometres per euro). In the long run, transport intensities of industries have changed quite little. The biggest change has been in technological industry, where intensity has diminished because of internal structural change.
Transport intensities between different industries can vary considerably. Average transport intensity for industrial production was about 1.1 tonne-km per euro in 2002.
In 1989-2002 Finland's domestic transport haulage increased by only 11%, while Finland's industrial production concurrently increased by 41%. Differences in development of haulage and industrial production can be explained by changes in industrial structure. Technological industry, which produces a low need for transport, has increased in multiple rate compared to basic industry, which produces a high need for transport.
Policy implications
Transport intensities of different branches of industry can be used for assessing development of domestic haulage by mode of transport, when the basis for the study are production development estimates of different industrial branches.