A policy-oriented cost model for shipping commodities by truck.

PDFTech ReportCFIRE 02-30DTRT06-G-0020TruckingCommoditiesCostsEconomic modelsFreight transportationTransportation policyPolicy analysisUnited StatesNational Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)Hussein, Mazen I.Petering, Matthew E. H.National Center for Freight and Infrastructure Research and Education (U.S.)United States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionSurprisingly, transportation planners and policy makers do not have the ability to estimate the cost of shipping a quantity of a commodity between twolocations for broad categories of goods. Costs of shipping are important components in mode, route, and location choice processes. Good knowledgeof costs can aid public sector decision makers in determining the economic benefits of infrastructure improvements or determining the impacts on theprivate sector of various policies and operational strategies. Shipping costs relate to logistics practices of businesses, and these practices have beenchanging rapidly in recent years. In this study, we inventory cost models that have been used in the past and evaluate the availability of data setscontaining shipment cost information. We then build a cost model for shipping various commodities and commodity groups by truck and presentseveral examples to show how the model can address issues of interest to carriers, shippers, and governments