Its authors calculated the cost structures in all EU Member States according to the five main transport modes plus warehousing and their development from 1999 to 2006 by using macro-data in combination with micro-data as verification30. The methodology was revised and validated with recent company data and complemented with the development of the cost factors from 2006 to 2012, as shown in figures 2-18 to 2-2131.
Even with this update, there remain some simplifications that have to be accepted in order to create manageable results. It is assumed that the different expenditures (which make up the cost structure) are of national origin: i.e. the personnel are of the nationality of the specific Member State and the fuel and equipment, such as trucks, ships, etc. are purchased in the specific Member State, where data is available. Since there is no valid data source for the share of foreign workers or assets and their origin, only the inland composition of one country's costs can be reviewed over time. In practice, there is a more or less significant share of foreign workers and assets like trucks and containers, mainly to counter a rising cost situation in the own market.
To make the results comparable, the analysis relies on costs per tonne, because this is the unit that matches all the calculated cost structures in transportation and warehousing processes.