Developing Database of Nationwide Freight Flows for Australia
Data on freight vehicle and commodity flows in Australia are poorly covered by official statistics, yet for many strategic purposes the analyst requires a nationwide picture of commodity flows. FreightInfo satisfies this requirement. FreightInfo is a database based on a combination of assembly techniques: the expert development of secondary data from existing national data collections, the systematic identification of major flow sources and sinks, and a rolling program of field data collection from freight consignors, consignees, and carriers. These are integrated into a coherent and consistent database covering the whole of Australia by all modes. A description of FreightInfo is presented, its creation is described, and some aggregate results relating to Australia are presented.