Building latent segments of goods to improve shipment size modeling: Confirmatory evidence from France

Raphael Piendl, Martin Koning (), François Combes () and Gernot Liedtke
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Raphael Piendl: DLR - German Aerospace Center
Martin Koning: AME-SPLOTT - Systèmes Productifs, Logistique, Organisation des Transports et Travail - Université Gustave Eiffel
François Combes: AME-SPLOTT - Systèmes Productifs, Logistique, Organisation des Transports et Travail - Université Gustave Eiffel
Gernot Liedtke: DLR - German Aerospace Center

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Abstract: Freight transport demand models are generally based on administrative commodity type segmentation which are usually not tailored to behavioral freight transport demand modelling. Recent literature has explored new approaches to segment freight transport demand, notably based on latent class analysis, with promising results. In particular, empirical evidence from road freight transport modelling in Germany hints at the importance of conditioning and handling constraints as a sound basis for segmentation. However, this literature is currently sparse and based on small samples. Before it can be accepted that conditioning should be integrated in the state-of-the-art doctrine of freight data collection and model specification, more evidence is required. The objective of this article is to contribute to the issue. Using detailed data on shipments transported in France, a model of choice of shipment size with latent classes is estimated. The choice of shipment size is modelled as a process of total logistic cost minimization. Latent class analysis leverages the wide range of variables available in the dataset, to provide five categories of shipments which are both contrasted, internally homogenous, and directly usable to update freight collection protocols. The groups are: "standard temperature-controlled food products"', "special transports"', "bulk cargo"', "miscellaneous standard cargo in bags"', "palletised standard cargo"'. This segmentation is highly consistent with the empirical evidence from Germany and also leads to better estimates of shipment size choices than administrative segmentation. As a conclusion, the finding that conditioning and handling information is essential to understanding and modelling freight transport can be regarded as more robust.

Keywords: FREIGHT TRANSPORT; SHIPMENT SIZE CHOICE; TOTAL LOGISTICS COST; SEGMENTATION UNIVERSALITY; TRANSPORT DE MARCHANDISE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04117547v1
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Published in European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, 2022, 22 (2), pp 22-52. ⟨10.18757/ejtir.2022.22.2.5662⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04117547

DOI: 10.18757/ejtir.2022.22.2.5662

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