The hierarchical classification of economic activities (NACE (17)) lists all relevant industries and is commonly used in statistics that are retrievable via Eurostat.
The logistics sector is included within divisions 49 to 53. To exclude passenger transportation from the analysis, the following list displays the economic activities that have been considered as logistics activities. This list is used as the evaluation key for the market structure analyses.
From “Division” 49 Land transport and transport via pipelines:
49.2 – Freight rail transport
49.4 – Freight transport by road and removal services
49.5 – Transport via pipeline
From “Division” 50 Water transport:
50.2 – Sea and coastal freight water transport
50.4 – Inland freight water transport
From “Division” 51 Air transport:
51.2 – Freight air transport and space transport
From “Division” 52 Warehousing and support activities for transportation:
52.1 – Warehousing and storage
52.2 – Support activities for transportation
From “Division” 53 Postal and courier activities:
53.2 – Other postal and courier activities
The logistics activities represent the hired services that are carried out by logistics service providers. Own transportation and warehousing carried out by employees in the industry and service sector are not included (18).
The evaluation key derived above is the basis for the analyses in the next steps of the assessment.
Number of logistics service providers
The number of logistics service providers varies noticeably among the EU Member States. The following graph shows the sum of companies that, based on their NACE Rev. 2 classification, can be attributed to the logistics sector. The number comprises all firms that are market players in the EU28. Although quite complete, comparable values for Malta are missing from the Eurostat database.
17 The recent NACE classification is named NACE Rev. 2 in detail, as it is the second revision since 2007. The classification comprises codes that define business sectors. It provides codes for all economic activities starting with primary production and going on with the manufacturing industry and the services sector. (European Commission (2008). NACE Rev. 2 Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community, Luxembourg.).
18 From a purely academic point of view, “Group” 52.2 – “Support activities for transportation” does not include logistics activities, but rather infrastructural and similar activities (roadside assistance, railway stations, etc.). However, experience shows that some of the most important players in the logistics sector like Schenker, Gefco, Hoyer, DHL Freight, Hermes Logistics, and others, which are under the biggest logistics service providers in Europe, are classified as Group 52.2, especially as Class “52.29 Other transportation support activities”, that encompasses forwarding of freight, arranging or organising of transport operations by rail, road, sea or air, activities of sea-freight forwarders and air-cargo agents (and others). Therefore, Group 52.2 is considered as relevant and added to the selection of groups to measure logistics activities within this study.