Statistics Explained

Archive:Warehousing and transport logistics statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

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Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev 1.1), the present article covers warehousing and transport logistics statistics, corresponding to NACE Groups 63.1, 63.2 and 63.4, which are part of the transport and storage sector. The article includes information on auxiliary and supporting transport activities, which are a diverse range of services including:

  • support services for all modes of transport, such as baggage and cargo handling, storage/warehousing and freight forwarding/brokerage;
  • the operation of terminals (rail and bus stations, ports and airports);
  • infrastructure (notably for inland waterways, railways, roads, tunnels and bridges);
  • navigational services (notably for air and water transport);
  • towing, berthing and parking services (including car parks).

Note that these services may be provided by enterprises with their principal activity in warehousing and transport support activities or by enterprises classified to other activities, often transporters or wholesalers (in which case they will not be included in the statistics of this article). Travel agencies are covered in the article on travel agencies statistics.

Table 1: Warehousing and transport support activities (NACE Groups 63.1, 63.2 and 63.4). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006
Table 2: Warehousing and transport support activities. Density of land transport networks, 2004 (m/km2 of land area)
Table 3: Warehousing and transport support activities. Inland waterways network, 2004 (1)
Table 4: Warehousing and transport support activities. Top 10 sea ports ranked by freight traffic, EU-27, 2007 (million tonnes)
Table 5: Warehousing and transport support activities. Top 10 airports by number of passengers carried, EU-27, 2007 (million passengers)
Table 6: Warehousing and transport support activities. Top 10 airports by goods loaded and unloaded, EU-27, 2007 (thousand tonnes) (1)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Warehousing and transport support activities (NACE Groups 63.1, 63.2 and 63.4) constitute a significant part of the EU-27’s transport services sector, with 109.6 thousand enterprises which collectively employed 2.2 million persons in 2006. Paid employees accounted for 95.7 % of all persons employed in this sector, well above the transport services average (88.0 %). The workforce generated EUR 384.3 billion of turnover in 2006, resulting in EUR 139.8 billion of value added. As such, the warehousing and transport support activities sector generated 34.9 % of transport services (NACE Divisions 60 to 63) value added and employed 24.7 % of the workforce. By both of these measures it was the second largest transport services activity (among the activities presented in the sub-sectors of the transport and storage sector).

In value added and employment terms Germany dominated the warehousing and transport support activities sector, contributing between one quarter and one fifth of both value added and employment. In relative terms, Estonia and Latvia were the most specialised in this sector, as warehousing and transport support activities contributed 6.0 % and 4.2 % respectively of the non-financial business economy's value added in these Member States [1]. At the other end of the range, warehousing and transport support activities contributed only around 1 % to non-financial business economy value added in Poland (2005), Luxembourg, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Focus on transport networks

While the transport services described in most of the other sub-sectors of the transport and storage sector use transport infrastructure, infrastructure management enterprises are considered as supporting transport activities (within NACE Group 63.2).

In 2005, rail transport services relied on a network encompassing approximately 215.5 thousand km of lines across the EU-27. In density terms, in other words the length of railway line in relation to the area of a country, this was the equivalent of 50 m of track per square kilometre. The Czech Republic, Belgium and Germany had the most dense rail networks, all [2] in excess of 100 m of railway line per square kilometre. Cyprus and Malta had no rail network, and the least dense networks were unsurprisingly found in Finland, Estonia and Sweden (the three Member States with the lowest population densities), as well as in Greece.

Road transport services could count on approximately 59.5 thousand km of motorways in the EU-27 in 2004. While Germany (12.0 thousand km), France (10.4 thousand km) and Spain (10.3 thousand km) had by far the most extensive motorway networks, accounting together for more than half (55 %) of the EU-27 total in 2004, the Netherlands and Belgium had the highest densities of motorways. Note that there was no motorway network in Latvia or Malta. A low density of motorway networks was also recorded in the three least densely populated Member States, as well as in Poland and Ireland.

Inland waterways used for transport constituted a network in excess of 38.0 thousand km in the EU-27 in 2004: note that when such waterways constitute a border between two countries they are counted by both countries. Among the Member States, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands had the longest inland waterways on their territory.

Focus on ports and airports

Seven of the ten largest EU-27 sea ports in 2007 were on the North Sea. Rotterdam (the Netherlands) was the largest of all, with 374.2 million tonnes of freight loaded and unloaded in 2007, more than twice the volume of the next largest port, Antwerp (Belgium) with 165.5 million tonnes.

In 2007, the EU-27's largest airport in passenger terms was London Heathrow (the United Kingdom) with 67.9 million passengers. As regards freight traffic, the largest airport in the EU-27 was Frankfurt (Germany) with 2.2 million tonnes of loaded and unloaded freight and mail in 2007.

Expenditure and productivity

Tangible investment by the warehousing and transport support activities sector in the EU-27 was valued at EUR 48.5 billion in 2006, equivalent to 42.5 % of the transport services total. This high level of investment resulted in an investment rate of 34.7 % in 2006, well above the transport services average and close to double the non-financial business economy average (18.4 %). Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary all recorded investment rates in excess of 200 % in this sector in 2006, between 4.4 and 7.4 times as high as the average rates in their national non-financial business economies.

The share of personnel costs (22.4 %) in operating expenditure recorded by the EU-27's warehousing and transport support activities sector was almost identical to the average recorded for all transport services. In contrast, average personnel costs in this sector were above average, reaching EUR 35.8 thousand per employee in the EU-27 in 2006. Nevertheless, above average apparent labour productivity (EUR 64.0 thousand per person employed) more than compensated for the high average personnel costs, and this was reflected in the ratio of wage-adjusted labour productivity which was 178.8 % in the EU-27, well above the transport services and non-financial business economy averages.

Data sources and availability

The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.

Other data sources include Eurostat statistics for transport, inland waterways transport, maritime transport air transport.

Context

The transport and storage sector focuses on transport services provided to clients for hire and reward. When analysing transport traffic volumes (for example, tonnes of freight) as presented in this article, it is important to bear in mind that these include own account transport as well as transport services for hire and reward. This is particularly important in road transport where, for example, a manufacturer might collect materials or deliver own output, rather than contracting a transport service enterprise to do this. Equally, the use of own vehicles (typically passenger cars) accounts for a very large part of passenger transport. Such own account transport does not contribute towards the statistics on the transport services sector.

EU transport policy is based upon the 2001 White paper ‘European transport policy for 2010: time to decide’ and the 2006 mid-term review in the European Commission's communication (COM(2006) 314) ‘Keep Europe moving – sustainable mobility for our continent’. In 2007 the European Commission adopted a communication (COM(2007) 606) on ‘Keeping freight moving’, to make rail freight more competitive, facilitate modernisation of ports, and review progress in the development of sea shipping.

Environmental issues remain of great importance to this sector, as transport is a major source of emissions and noise. In 2008 the European Commission put forward a package of measures related to road and rail transport referred to as ‘Greening Transport’. This included a communication (COM(2008) 433) summarising the packages and initiatives planned for 2009, a strategy to internalise the cost of transport externalities, a proposal for a Directive on road tolls for lorries, and a communication on rail noise. The overall thrust of the package is to try to move towards more sustainable transport.

In June 2008, the European Commission adopted a communication (COM(2008) 389) on the further development of the so-called ‘Single European Sky’ (legislation adopted in 2004), focussing on safety, capacity, efficiency and the environment in the context of air traffic control.

In October 2007, the European Commission adopted a communication (COM(2007) 616) on a ports policy, focussing on capacity, freedom of access, competition, flexible employment and the environment.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

Other information

  • COM(2006) 314 of 22 June 2006 on Keep Europe moving - Sustainable mobility for our continent
  • COM(2007) 606 of 18 October 2007 on The EU's freight transport agenda: Boosting the efficiency, integration and sustainability of freight transport in Europe
  • COM(2008) 433 of 8 July 2008 on Greening Transport
  • COM(2008) 389 of 25 June 2008 on Single European sky II: towards more sustainable and better performing aviation
  • COM(2007) 616 of 18 October 2007 on a European Ports Policy

External links

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  2. ↑ Recent data is not available for Luxembourg, but older data indicates a high density.
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