Statistics Explained

Archive:Land transport and transport via pipelines services statistics - NACE Rev. 2

Data from October 2015. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

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This article presents an overview of statistics for land transport and transport via pipelines services (hereafter referred to as land transport services) in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 49. It belongs to a set of statistical articles on 'Business economy by sector'.


Table 1: Key indicators, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Figure 1: Sectoral analysis of land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2a: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2b: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 3: Largest and most specialised Member States in land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), EU-28, 2012 (¹) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4a: Key indicators, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4b: Key indicators, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 5: Key size class indicators, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Figure 2: Relative importance of enterprise size classes, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6a: Employment by enterprise size class, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6b: Value added by enterprise size class, land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE Division 49), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

There were 916.7 thousand enterprises operating with land transport services (Division 49) as their main activity in the EU-28 in 2012. Together they employed 5.5 million persons, equivalent to 4.1 % of the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) workforce, or some 52.5 % of those employed in the whole of the transportation and storage services sector (Section H). The land transport services sector generated EUR 207.2 billion of value added in 2012, which was 3.4 % of the non-financial business economy total and 42.5 % of the transportation and storage services total.

These relative shares suggest that the land transport services sector was relatively labour-intensive in comparison with other transportation and storage services and further evidence was provided by the apparent labour productivity of the EU-28’s land transport services sector in 2012 which stood at EUR 37 thousand per person employed, below the non-financial business economy average of EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed and the transportation and storage services average of EUR 46.0 thousand per person employed. The relatively low level of apparent labour productivity was analogous with low average personnel costs which stood at EUR 29.0 thousand per employee for land transport services, compared with EUR 32.4 thousand per employee for the non-financial business economy and EUR 33.1 thousand per employee for transportation and storage services; as such, the EU-28’s land transport services sector recorded the second lowest average personnel costs in 2012 among any of the transportation and storage services NACE divisions, higher only than the postal and courier activities sector (Division 53). The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio combines these two previous indicators and shows the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee. Due to lower than average productivity and average personnel costs that were slightly inferior to the non-financial business economy average, EU-28 land transport services had a relatively low wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, 128.0 % in 2012. This figure was below the corresponding ratios that were registered for the whole of the non-financial business economy (142.7 %) or for transportation and storage services (140.0 %).

The gross operating rate (which shows the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) is one measure of profitability; it stood at 13.3 % for the EU-28’s land transport services sector in 2012, around 1.4 times as high as the non-financial business economy average of 9.4 % and also slightly higher than the transportation and storage services average (12.6 %).

Sectoral analysis

Approximately two thirds of all the enterprises within the EU-28’s land transport services sector (62.4 %) were engaged in freight transport by road and removal services (Group 49.4) in 2012; this is equivalent to 572 thousand enterprises, while there were 343 thousand enterprises within the other passenger land transport subsector (Group 49.3). These relatively high values were in stark contrast to the enterprise structure observed for the remaining three NACE groups that compose the land transport services sector, as there were approximately one thousand enterprises in total across the whole of the EU-28 engaged in passenger rail transport (Group 49.1), freight rail transport (Group 49.2) and transport via pipelines (Group 49.5).

The two largest subsectors in terms of numbers of enterprises also reported the highest shares of EU-28 employment in 2012; enterprises operating within the freight transport by road and removal services subsector and the other passenger land transport subsector accounted for 53.2 % and 35.9 % respectively of the land transport services workforce. The next largest subsector was the passenger rail transport subsector that accounted for a 7.7 % share of the EU-28’s land transport services workforce. The contribution of freight transport by road and removal services to the sectoral total in 2012 was smaller in value added terms, at 48.2 %. Equally, the contribution of the other passenger land transport subsector to sectoral value added (31.7 %) was also lower than the corresponding share for employment. As a consequence, the interurban passenger rail transport subsector recorded a much higher value added share than its employment share; the same was true for the transport via pipeline subsector, while the shares were almost equal for the relatively small freight rail transport subsector.

The relatively low apparent labour productivity figure for the whole of the land transport services sector (EUR 37.0 thousand per person employed) was pulled down by the apparent labour productivity of the two largest subsectors, and to a lesser extent by that of the freight rail transport subsector — all three of these subsectors recorded apparent labour productivity within the EU-28 in 2012 that was below the non-financial business economy average (EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed). By contrast, the interurban passenger rail transport subsector recorded a level of apparent labour productivity (EUR 63.0 thousand per person employed) that was well above the non-financial business economy average. The transport via pipelines subsector registered the highest level of EU-28 apparent labour productivity (EUR 303.0 thousand per person employed) among any of the NACE groups within the non-financial business economy for which data are available, more than six times as high as the non-financial business economy average; note that apparent labour productivity is based on value added which does not take account of depreciation or financial expenditure which are normally high among capital intensive activities.

Average personnel costs per employee in the EU-28’s land transport services sector peaked at EUR 50.0 thousand in 2012 for the transport via pipelines subsector, ahead of those for the interurban passenger rail transport subsector (EUR 45.3 thousand per employee). These were the only two NACE groups within land transport services to report average personnel costs above the non-financial business economy average (EUR 32.4 thousand per employee). The remaining three subsectors each recorded average personnel costs that were within the range of EUR 26.6 thousand to EUR 28.7 thousand per employee.

In all but one of the five land transport services subsectors, the EU-28 wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio in 2012 was below the non-financial business economy average of 142.7 %; the lowest ratio was recorded for the other passenger land transport subsector (115.0 %). As with apparent labour productivity, the transport via pipelines subsector recorded, by far, the highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, at 718.0 % in 2011, which was the highest ratio among all NACE groups within the non-financial business economy for which data are available. Equally, in 2011 the EU-28’s transport via pipelines subsector recorded the highest level of operating profitability among the NACE groups covered by the non-financial business economy, with a gross operating rate of 55.1 %; this was 5.8 times as high as the non-financial business economy average in 2012 (9.4 %). The two largest subsectors within the land transport services sector also recorded gross operating rates that were above the non-financial business economy average, at 14.8 % for other passenger land transport and 11.0 % for freight transport by road and removal services, as did interurban passenger rail transport (14.5 %) and freight rail transport, which was the subsector with the lowest gross operating rate of 9.8 %.

Country analysis

France recorded the highest share (18.3 %) of EU-28 value added within the land transport services sector in 2012. Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy were also relatively important producers — each accounting for double-digit shares of EU-28 value added, closely followed by Spain with the share of EU-28 value added at 9.3 %.

The German land transport services workforce of 813 thousand persons was equivalent to 14.7 % of the EU-28 total, and was followed by France (14.0 %), the United Kingdom (9.9 %), Italy (9.5 %) and Spain (9.4 %).

In value added terms, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and Bulgaria were most specialised in the land transport services sector in 2012, with 5.0 % or more of their non-financial business economy value added being generated by land transport services. This specialisation was particularly strong in Lithuania where the share of land transport services rose to 9.1 % of non-financial business economy value added, three fifths of which came from freight transport by road and removal services; Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia and Slovakia were also highly specialised in freight transport by road and removal services. France accounted for 39.1 % of the EU-28’s added value within the passenger rail transport subsector in 2012 and was the most specialised Member State for this activity, while Lithuania was by far the most specialised Member State in freight rail transport and Greece in the other passenger land transport. Poland and Austria were most specialised in transport via pipelines, while several Member States reported no activity at all in this subsector; note that no information is available for half of the EU Member States.

The highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for land transport services in 2012 were recorded in Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania, with ratios exceeding 200.0 %. Slovakia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Germany, Lithuania and Romania were the only EU Member States to record higher wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios in 2012 for land transport services than for their non-financial business economy as a whole. There were two Member States that reported wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios below 100 %, indicating that average personnel costs per employee exceeded apparent labour productivity per person employed; they were Hungary (96.2 %) and Greece (84.5 %).

Size class analysis

A total of 1 400 large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) contributed 41.5 % of the value added that was generated in the EU-28’s land transport services sector in 2012, a share that was relatively close to the non-financial business economy average (42.5 %). However, the size structure for land transport services reflects quite different structures in its subsectors. The large enterprises’ share of sectoral value added was pulled upwards by rail transport, where large enterprises dominated, and pulled downwards by road freight transport, where a major role was played by micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons) and small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons).

Large enterprises generated 55.6 % of the land transport services value added in the United Kingdom in 2012 and provided more than half of the sectoral total also in the Czech Republic, France, Slovakia and Luxembourg; the same was true for Switzerland, where large enterprises contributed 61.3 % of the value added created in the land transport services (see Table 6b). By contrast, micro enterprises dominated the sector in Greece, providing more than half of all value added. In Cyprus, Finland and Spain, the share of micro enterprises in sectoral value added exceeded one third, as it did in Norway. For small enterprises, the biggest share was 45.1 % in Belgium, while small enterprises provided at least one quarter of value added in another five Member States. Medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons) did not account for the highest contribution to sectoral value added within any of the Member States (for which data are available), with the share of these enterprises peaking at 28.6 % in Belgium.

Data sources and availability

The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) and size class data, all of which are published annually.

The main series provides information for each EU Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.

In structural business statistics, size classes are generally defined by the number of persons employed. A limited set of the standard structural business statistics variables (for example, the number of enterprises, turnover, persons employed and value added) are analysed by size class, mostly down to the three-digit (group) level of NACE. The main size classes used in this article for presenting the results are:

  • small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): with 1 to 249 persons employed, further divided into;
    • micro enterprises: with less than 10 persons employed;
    • small enterprises: with 10 to 49 persons employed;
    • medium-sized enterprises: with 50 to 249 persons employed;
  • large enterprises: with 250 or more persons employed.

Context

This article presents an overview of statistics for the land transport services sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 49. This division includes all land transport services; it excludes own account transport. A distinction is made between the transport of passengers and freight. For passengers a split is then made between interurban rail transport (in other words, rail travel between towns and cities) and other land transport, the latter including road transport (taxis, buses and coaches, for example) as well urban and suburban rail transport (within the same city or conurbation). For freight a distinction is made between rail transport, road transport (including removal services) and pipelines.

This NACE division is composed of five groups:

  • passenger rail transport, interurban (Group 49.1);
  • freight rail transport (Group 49.2);
  • other passenger land transport (Group 49.3);
  • freight transport by road and removal services (Group 49.4);
  • transport via pipelines (Group 49.5).

Transport by pipelines excludes the network distribution of gas, water or steam (Divisions 35 and 36, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply and water collection, treatment and supply).

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

SBS – services (serv)
Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (sbs_na_serv)
Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics by size classe - services (sbs_sc_sc)
Services by employment size class (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)
SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev. 2 (from 2008 onwards) (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)

Dedicated section

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

Other information

External links

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