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The EU-27 Logistics Industry:

Structure and trends of Major
Subsectors and National Markets
Article January 2011
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Giovanni Satta
Universit degli Studi di Genova
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KMI International Journal of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
Volume 3
Issue 1
June 2011 pp.001-032
The EU27 Logistics Industry: Structure

and Trends of Major Subsectors
and National Markets
1
**
Giovanni Satta , Francesco Parola
***
and Sung-woo Lee
ABSTRACT
Europes transport and logistics systems need to be optimized, improved
and leveraged through cutting-edge logistics solutions. In other words, there
is a recognized growing need for a holistic European approach to transport
and logistics questions, focusing on integration and coordination between the
different dimensions of transport policy.
This paper is willing to investigate the nature and the structure of the
EU logistics industry. The study has been carried out analysing the last available
confirmed data extracted from a wide selection of statistical sources.
Starting from the relevance of the EU logistics industry within the
non-financial business economy, our main objective is to evaluate the structure
and the trends characterising the major subsectors across various nations.
Variables such as turnover, value added and employment will be discussed and
compared following a cross-country approach.
The originality of the manuscript is to provide a comprehensive view
of the industry, also facing methodological difficulties in managing data lacks
and non-homogeneous statistical classifications.
Major outcomes reveal the market fragmentation within some subsectors,
the progressive shifting towards East of the transport and logistics industry,
as well as the vertical integration and internationalization strategies performed
by some leading players.
Key words: EU logistics, transport sectors, vertical integration, market
liberalization
* University of Genova, Faculty of Economics, Department of Business Studies and Italian Centre of
Excellence for Integrated Logistics, Via Vivaldi 5, 16126 Genova (Italy). E-mail: giovanni.satta@cieli.unige.it,
Tel. : +39-10-209-5074
** corresponding author, University of Naples Parthenope, Department of Business Studies, Via Medina 40,
80133 Napoli (Italy). E-mail: francesco.parola@uniparthenope.it, Tel. : +39-81-547-4845
*** Korea Maritime Institute, International Logistics Department, Sangam Dong 1652, Mapo-Gu, Seoul
(R.O.Korea). E-mail: waterfront@kmi.re.kr, Tel. : +82-2-2105-2830
1. Background: the logistics industry in Europe

Logistics, as widely recognized, is not only one of the main drivers and key pillars
of European competitiveness, paving the way for added industrial value, the movement
of goods and cooperation among companies, but also a prime contributor to the Lisbon
agenda on growth and jobs (EC, 2007). Its relevance for European Economy is primarily
related to the share of the logistics industry in the European economy (estimated at close
to 14% of GDP), and its growth rates have been above average of the overall economy
over the recent years.
The current interest for logistics also derives from other factors. First, researchers,
policy makers and the private sector agreed that production and distribution networks depend
on efficient logistics chains to ensure the transport of raw materials and finished goods
across the EU and beyond. In this context, transportation and logistics activities become
strategic business functions, not only because related costs account for a wide share of
the costs of goods sold1, but also because logistics and transportation performance can
strongly effect customer service levels (Gurav, 2004). Therefore, external logistics, including
the organization and management of goods handling, warehousing and transport activities,
becomes the backbone of companies capability to compete on the final markets.
Secondly, transport and logistics services, using public resources such as
environment goods, may deeply effect on environmental and territorial systems (Boscacci
and Pesaro, 2002). They not only play a key role in ensuring sustainable mobility, but
also contributes to meeting other objective, like a cleaner environment, security of energy
supply, etc., as pointed out by the Commission of the European Communities (see EU
COM no 336/2006)). So, with the progressive EU enlargement, freight transportation has
become a hot political issue in Europe: in fact the growth of flows transported has caused
congestion, pollution, noise and other environmental problem2.
Finally, the ongoing enlargement of the EU has determined a more than
proportional growth of bi-directional flows within and across the EU region, presenting
the European Logistics Industry with relevant business opportunities and challenges. In
particular, the outsourcing and relocation of business operations to relatively lower cost
markets, the growth in trade with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the
increase of freight traffic and congestion, stimulate logistics services providers operations
1 According to EC estimates, on average logistics costs, comprising transportation and warehousing, account for
10-15% of the final cost of the finished product.
2 In particular, as highlighted by the European Commission and many authors, the transport sector imposes costs
on society. Road congestion alone is estimated to cost around 1.1% of GDP per year. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport increased by 28% over the period 1990-2006. Moreover, many Europeans are exposed
to transport noise levels that affect their health and quality of life. Finally safety also constitutes an important
concern since mobility primarily depends on peoples trust in the safety of transport systems. (Spachmueller
and Tiede, 2010).
The EU-27 Logistics Industry: Structure and Trends

of Major Subsectors and National Markets
provoking an high rise in the demand of specialized and integrated logistics services which
require the creation of European intermodal transport systems.
According to previous consideration, Europes transport and logistics systems need
to be optimized, improved and leveraged through cutting-edge logistics solutions. In other
words, there is a recognized growing need for a holistic European approach to transport
and logistics questions, focusing on integration and coordination between the different
dimensions of transport policy. This approach underlines the logistics role in ensuring
the efficiency of individual modes of transport and their combination (inter-modality,
co-modality, multi-modality, etc.). (COM(2006) 336). From this point of view, this paper
is willing to introduce a logistics perspective into transport policy(EU COM no 336/2006).
As largely recognized, the European Union has been operating in a changing
competitive mode for several years. In fact, progressively, the efficiencies promised by
the creation of the Single Market in 1993 are synchronizing the economies of the member
nations and allowing true pan-European distribution to develop along the U.S. model
(Foster, 1999). However, even if the vexing border controls are gone, substantial differences
remains among the various European countries in terms of market structure, competitive
approaches and cultural identities, making the EU sector, a really complicated market to
operate in.
Various authors (Christopher, 1998; Skjoett-Larsen, 2000; Zografos and Regan,
2004; Rodrigue and Notteboom, 2010) recognized the need of an integrated approach to
logistics. Nevertheless, at the EU-level, a lack of an empirical and homogeneous analysis
on the overall logistics market is still perceived by academics (McKinnon, 1998; Hesse
and Rodrigue, 2004) and practitioners (European Logistics Consultants, 1996).
This paper, presenting the last available confirmed data from a wide selection
of statistical sources, gives a general picture of the structure, development and characteristics
of the European transport and logistics services business, trying to identify main trends
and internal dynamics. Therefore, the main objective of this document is to value the status
and importance of transport and logistics industry in Europe, considering:
the relative importance of transport and logistics industry in comparison with
other industries (in terms of number of enterprises, turnover, value added,
employment, etc.);
the structure, position and characteristics of various activities and markets which
compose transport and logistics industry;
the structural profile of the logistics sector in some major EU Member States.
The manuscript is structured as follows. Section 2 describes the major data sources
and brings some methodological notes regarding statistical classification. Section 3 discusses
the relevance of the logistics industry within the non-financial business economy, also
splitting the logistics industry into transport & storage (i) and post & courier activities
(ii) aggregates. Section 4 and 5 analyse the transport & storage and post & courier
activities aggregates in terms of turnover, value added, number of enterprises and number
of persons employed. Finally, some conclusions with implication for Asia logistics market
are addressed in Section 6.
2. Methodological notes: Data sources, NACE classification

and selection criteria
Data and information in this paper predominantly come from Eurostat, the
Statistical Office of the European Community. In particular, our major sources are: Structural
Business Statistics (SBS), annual structural business statistics where all data are split by
activity, according to NACE Classification; STS (Short-Term Statistics), including
short-term indicators, useful for evaluating the recent economic developments; Eurostat
publications (Eurostat, 2009a, 2009b, 2009c), consisting of several collections such as
News releases, Statistical book, Pocketbooks, Statistics in focus, Data in focus
and Methodologies and working papers.
The statistical methodology used by Eurostat known as NACE3 is the statistical
classification of economic activities in the European Community. It is subjected to
European legislation, which imposes the use of the classification uniformly within all the
Member States, and provides a unique framework for gathering collection and presenting
statistical data in various economic domains.
Following the methodology largely applied by various Eurostat sources, the
non-financial business economy (NACE, Rev. 1.1 Sections C to I and K) can be split
as follows: industry (NACE Sections Rev. 1.1 C to E); construction (NACE Rev. 1.1 Section
F), and non-financial services (NACE Rev. 1.1 Sections G to I and K)4 . With specific
regard to the Logistics Industry, it is difficult to have a reliable picture of Europes market,
because relevant statistical information is currently not sufficient and sometime misleading.
3 NACE classification is characterized by a hierarchical structure, characterized by fourth descending levels:

sections (identified by an alphabetical code); divisions (twodigit numerical code); groups (threedigit numerical
code) and finally classes (fourdigit numerical code). NACE classification has been progressively reviewed
since its original version. In 2002, NACE Rev. 1.1, an update of previous NACE Rev. 1, was established;
it introduced a few additional items and changes to some titles. In 2008 NACE Rev. 1.1 was updated by NACE
Rev.2, which, according to article 8 of the NACE Regulation, is to be used, for statistics referring to economic
activities performed from January 2008 onwards.
4 Note that Agriculture, hunting and forestry (NACE Section A) and Fishing (NACE Section B) are not
included in the non-financial business economy. Moreover, financial services (NACE Rev. 1.1 Section J) are
also kept separate because of their specific nature and the limited availability of most standard business statistics
in this area.

In fact, according to NACE Rev. 1.1, Transport and Logistics activities are gathered
together with communication activities in section I Transport, storage and communication
(see Table 1). Therefore, some limitations emerge in this approach, as it includes
telecommunications activities within the overall logistics industry. In order to overcome
such problem, the new NACE Classification (Rev. 2, since 2008; see Annex I) has modified
the composition of this aggregate, including within the overall structure the Transportation
and storage Section (i.e. H), composed as follows: land transport, transport via pipelines,
water transport, air transport, warehousing and support activities for transport, postal and
courier activities.
Table 1. Detailed structure of Section I Transport, Storage and Communication (NACE Rev. 1.1)
Division
Group
60
Section I - TRANSPORT, STORAGE AND COMMUNICATION

Land transport; transport via pipelines
60.1
Transport via railways
60.2
Other land transport
60.3
61
Transport via pipelines

Water transport
61.1
Sea and coastal water transport
61.2
Inland water transport
62
Air transport
62.1
Scheduled air transport
62.2
Non-scheduled air transport
62.3
63
Space transport
Supporting and auxiliary transport activities; activities of travel agencies
63.1
Cargo handling and storage
63.2
Other supporting transport activities
63.3
Activities of travel agencies and tour operators; tourist assistance activities n.e.c.
63.4
64
Activities of other transport agencies

Post and telecommunications
64.1
Post and courier activities
64.2
Telecommunications
Following the above considerations, in order to appreciate the real importance and
composition of the logistics industry as a whole, in this study we performed a simplified
re-classification of the logistics sector. Therefore, Table 2 shows the specific segments
composing the entire logistics sector for the purposes of this paper. The Logistics industry
(as labelled in this study) has been classified into two categories: Transport and storage
and Post and courier activities. The importance of such methodological choice is related
to the necessity of including in our sample, leading logistics players such as Deutsche
Post, TNT and other parcel express and postal operators. The exclusion of Post and courier
activities, in fact, would have clearly poor statistical relevance of our survey.
Table 2. The Logistics industry as defined in this work after the re-classification
LOGISTICS INDUSTRY
Transport and storage
Nace Rev. 1.1 Classification

I
I.60.1
Road Transport
I.60.2
I.60.3
Water transport
I.61
Air transport
I.62
I.63.1
Warehousing and transport support activities
I.63.2
I.63.4
Activities of travel agenzie

I.63.3
I.64.1
3. The relevance of the EU Logistics Industry

in the non-financial business economy
Transport and logistics covers various industries which includes a wide range
of service providers, covering all modes of transport, as well as related services, such
as warehousing, handling, stevedoring, and value added services (packaging, labelling,
assembling, etc.). Besides, it comprises a huge kind of planning, organisational and
management services.
Over the past years, a trend of consolidation in European Logistics industry is
observed, resulting in larger, integrated firms` groups operating in the sector5; nevertheless,
historically, this industry has always been significantly fragmented and competition has
been truly intensive, as is evident in the low concentration rate of third-party logistics
in Europe6. The increased outsourcing demand has been progressively determining a process
5 Many companies and operators, in fact, are trying to manage logistics on a Pan-European or regional basis,
rather than country by country (Gooley, 1999). The aim is to achieve significant cost savings in transportation,
inventory, real estate, taxes, personnel, capital equipment, and more.
6 In fact, according to Ojala et al. (2008), the top 20 companies of third-party logistics in Europe only have
a market share of 33%.

of supply concentration: few larger logistics operators are trying to achieve scale and scope
economies, following qualitative and quantitative patterns of growth. They often decide
to externalize the simple physical execution of some non-strategic activities to other small
firms, focusing on strategic functions.
Nevertheless, in the EU, there were over 1.2 million firms (2007) operating in
the Logistics industry, representing almost 5.8% of the non-financial business economy
(see Table 3).
Table 3. Number of enterprises in the Logistics industry, percentage of total EU Logistics enterprises and
share of the Logistics industry on the non-financial business economy EU-27, period 2004-2007.
2004
Number
EU-27
2005
Share
1,170,805 100.00% 6.20%
Number
2006
Share
1,144,283 100.00% 5.80%
Number
1,174,353 100.00%
2007
Share
Number
5.80%
1,213,453 100.00% 5.80%
Share
Italy
155,453
13.28% 4.20%
156,144
13.65% 4.10%
153,182
13.04%
4.00%
149,830
12.35% 3.80%
France
96,602
8.25% 4.30%
95,496
8.35% 4.20%
94,509
8.05%
4.10%
97,738
8.05% 3.80%
Germany
90,532
7.73% 5.30%
91,783
8.02% 5.50%
93,961
8.00%
5.30%
96,588
7.96% 5.40%
UK
74,686
6.38% 4.90%
76,835
6.71% 4.80%
76,920
6.55%
4.70%
77,265
6.37% 4.60%
Spain
224,543
19.18% 9.10%
229,384
20.05% 9.00%
228,274
19.44%
8.70%
233,455
19.24% 8.60%
Top 5
641,816
54.82%
649,642
56.77%
646,846
55.08%
654,876
53.97%
Spain clearly demonstrates to be the country with the highest number of firms
operating in this sector, showing a high degree of regional specialisation. Spanish enterprises
operating in the Logistics business represent over 8.0% of the firms acting in the
non-financial business economy. This is also ascribable to the relevant EU firms incentives
received by Spain in recent years. Italy ranks second with around 150,000 enterprises, but
they represent only 3.8% of the total. Thus, the Italian market appears significantly
fragmented and characterized by a high number of small enterprises. France, Germany and
UK show a much lower number of enterprises, holding a share on the non-financial business
economy generally lower than EU average. Particularly in France the share of Logistics
firms on the total is fairly low (3.8%).
Looking at turnover, in 2007 the Logistics Industry has generated over EUR 1,400
billion of revenue (6.1% of non-financial business total revenue). These figures show the
relevance of this sector within the EU economy but they do not take into account all the
in-house logistics performed by companies (i.e. without the establishment of an ad-hoc
legal entity), as these activities escape the current EU data collection systems. In fact,
although some enterprises that formerly maintained their own in-house shipping and
receiving operation are farming out these tasks to third-party specialists, many others
continue to not outsource such activities.
In all the sampled countries the share of the logistics industry ranges from 5.50%
to 6.50% (see Table 4), in close correlation with the EU-27 average (6.00%).
Table 4. Turnover generated by Logistics industry (EUR million), percentage of total EU Logistics turnover
and share of the Logistics industry on the non-financial business economy EU-27, period 2004-2007.
2004
EUR million
EU-27
2005
Share EUR million
2006
Share EUR million
1,150,379 100.00% 6.10%
1,218,414 100.00% 5.90%
2007
Share EUR million
1,300,528 100.00% 5.80%
Share
1,429,577 100.00% 6.00%
Italy
130,090 11.31% 5.40%
137,790 11.31% 5.40%
147,432
11.34% 5.30%
155,367 10.87% 5.40%
France
164,114 14.27% 5.70%
173,062 14.20% 5.70%
179,883
13.83% 5.60%
186,860 13.07% 5.50%
Germany
189,902 16.51% 5.00%
205,577 16.87% 5.20%
222,502
17.11% 5.10%
241,980 16.93% 5.50%
UK
214,784 18.67% 6.80%
225,169 18.48% 6.70%
234,436
18.03% 6.60%
245,378 17.16% 6.50%
Spain
Top 5
93,274
8.11% 5.40%
792,164 68.86%
101,833
8.36% 5.40%
843,431 69.22%
112,902
897,155
8.68% 5.50%
68.98%
121,506
8.50% 5.60%
951,091 66.53%
In the same year (2007), the five leading countries as a whole have generated
about 66% of the European Logistics Industry. This represents a really high share, but
significantly lower than previous years (Table 4). Empirical evidence show how the EU
enlargement towards East produced positive effects for all the major European countries,
which in 2004 and 2005 experienced a growth above the EU average. Afterwards the leading
countries showed differentiated dynamics of growth. In particular, UK and Germany are
at the top of the ranking in the EU, generating a turnover of over EUR 240 billion. These
countries are followed by France, Italy and Spain showing much lower figures. The UK
leadership is challenged by Germany which, over the last 4 years, showed the best growth
rates within the advanced economies (turnover yearly growth above 8%; see Annex II).
In 2007, the Logistics Industry has generated over EUR 490 billion of value added,
equivalent to 8.3% of total value added generated in the non-financial business economy
(see Table 5). Such figures clearly reveal the relevance of transport and logistics industry
in generating wealth and richness across EU. The five leading countries produce about
three quarters of total value added. UK and Germany appear as dominant countries in
this field, with a value added at factor cost close to EUR 90 billion (2007). As for turnover
figures, France (74 billion) ranks third, followed by Italy (54) and Spain (44). The weight
of the Logistics industry on the non-financial business economy (see Table 5) ranges from
7.6% (Germany) to 8.8% (France), value not far from the EU-27 average (8.3%).

Table 5. Value added at factor cost (EUR million) generated by the Logistics industry, percentage of total
EU Logistics and share of the Logistics industry on the non-financial business economy EU-27, period
2004-2007.
2004
EUR million
EU-27
421,553 100.00%
2005
Share EUR million
8.30%
440,717 100.00%
2006
Share EUR million
8.50%
462,852 100.00%
2007
Share EUR million
8.10%
490,330 100.00%
Share
8.30%
Italy
48,275 11.45% 8.50%
48,582 11.02% 8.20%
52,962
11.44%
8.40%
54,538 11.12% 8.10%
France
66,755 15.84% 9.30%
69,253 15.71% 9.10%
71,555
15.46%
9.00%
74,246 15.14% 8.80%
Germany
79,608 18.88% 7.50%
79,640 18.07% 7.40%
82,717
17.87%
7.20%
88,891 18.13% 7.60%
UK
76,149 18.06% 7.90%
80,336 18.23% 7.90%
85,179
18.40%
7.90%
89,943 18.34% 7.80%
35,802
37,031
40,877
8.83%
7.60%
44,066
333,290
72.01%
Spain
Top 5
8.49% 7.80%
306,589 72.73%
8.40% 7.50%
314,842 71.44%
8.99% 7.70%
351,684 71.72%
Finally, by analyzing the number of persons employed in the EU, the Logistics
industry generates almost 11 million job places (see Table 6), approximately equivalent
to 8.2% of persons employed in the non-financial business economy. Germany is the leading
country (1.8 million), followed by France (1.5), UK, Italy and Spain. These figures,
correlated with those related to the number of enterprises, confirms the fragmentation of
the economic background in Italy and Spain, with many small and medium firms operating
in this sector. The relevance of the Logistics industry on the non-financial business economy
is generally higher than that recorded for the previous variables. Particularly, in France
the Logistics industry generated almost 10% of the overall job places (see Table 6).
Table 6. Persons employed in the Logistics industry, percentage of total EU Logistics persons employed
and share of the Logistics industry on the non-financial business EU-27, period 2004-2007.
2004
Units
EU-27
2005
Share
Units
2006
Share
Units
10,541,800 100.00% 8.50% 10,607,300 100.00% 8.40% 10,668,200 100.00%
2007
Share
Units
Share
8.20% 10,960,300 100.00% 8.20%
Italy
1,098,266
10.42% 7.50%
1,117,561
10.54% 7.50%
1,132,752
10.62%
7.50%
1,150,077
10.49% 7.40%
France
1,413,258
13.41% 9.90%
1,398,988
13.19% 9.70%
1,404,722
13.17%
9.60%
1,489,228
13.59% 9.90%
Germany
1,638,935
15.55% 7.90%
1,688,746
15.92% 8.20%
1,762,526
16.52%
8.20%
1,817,991
16.59% 8.20%
UK
1,392,491
13.21% 7.70%
1,409,476
13.29% 7.80%
1,357,550
12.73%
7.70%
1,383,313
12.62% 7.60%
992,046
9.30%
7.10%
1,035,511
6,649,596
62.33%
6,876,120
Spain
924,911
Top 5
6,467,861
8.77% 7.20%
61.35%
965,254
6,580,025
9.10% 7.20%
62.03%
9.45% 7.30%
62.74%
By analysing the aggregate Logistics industry we have to go into more details

in relation to the components Transport and storage and Post and courier activities.
Basically, the Transport and storage aggregate is much wider than the Post and courier
activity one. In fact, it is composed by many items such as: Land transport (i.e. transport
via railways, road transport, transport via pipelines, etc.), Water transport, Air transport
and Supporting and auxiliary activities. The above gap already emerges looking at the
number of enterprises. Over 1.1 million of firms operate in the Transport and storage
sector, while only 40,000 are those working in the other aggregate (see Table 7).
Table 7. Logistics Industrys key figures: Transport and Storage and Post and courier activities
Number of enterprises
2004
2006
2007
1,170,805 1,144,283 1,174,353 1,213,453 1,150,379 1,218,414 1,300,528 1,429,577
10,541
10,607
10,668
10,960
Transp. & stor. 1,130,805 1,104,283 1,134,353 1,169,053 1,052,254 1,117,436 1,199,200 1,325,654
8,670
8,725
8,726
9,193
1,871
1,882
1,942
1,767
40,000
40,000
40,000
2007
44,400
2004
98,125
2005
100,978
%
Logistics I.
100%
Transp. & stor. 96.58%

P&C
3.42%
2006
N. of persons employed (thousands)

2005
P&C
2006
Turnover (EUR million)
2004
Logistics I.
2005
101,328
2007
103,923
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
96.50%
96.59%
96.34%
91.47%
91.71%
92.21%
92.73%
82.25% 82.26% 81.80% 83.88%
3.50%
3.41%
3.66%
8.53%
8.29%
7.79%
7.27%
17.75% 17.74% 18.20% 16.12%
Similar differences emerge analyzing the turnover figures. Transport and storage
produces a turnover of over EUR 1,300 billion while Post and courier activities of only
EUR 103 billion.
Finally, looking at the number of persons employed, the Post and courier activity
group shows to be more labour-intensive than some of the Divisions/Groups composing
the Transport and storage aggregate. In fact, in 2006, it generates almost 2 million work
places, which are much higher figures than those reported (in 2007) by Transport via
railways, Water transport and Air transport (see Table 7).
The following sections focus on the analysis of Transport and storage (Section 4)
and Post and courier activities (Section 5) aggregates.
4. Transport and storage: competition and integration across

various subsectors
The Transport and storage aggregate is a relevant industry in the EU-27, making
a vital contribution to the functioning of the European (non-financial) economy as a whole.
In 2007, there were quite 1.17 million enterprises in this sector, which employed around
9.2 million people. This represents almost 7% of those working in the non-financial business
economy. In the same year this industry generated EUR 433.38 billion of value added
at factor cost, with a EUR 1,304.36 billion turnover. The main structural characteristics
of this aggregate are shown in Table 8.
10

Table 8. Transport and storage (NACE Divisions 60, 61, 62 and 63) - Structural Profile, EU-27, 2007
Enterprises
(thousand)
Transport and storage
Road and other land transport
Water Transport
Air Transport
Warehousing & transp. support activ.
Activities of travel agency
% of
total
Turnover
(EUR million)
1,169.53 100.0%
Value Added
% of
total
1,304,362 100.0%
(EUR million)
% of
total
433,379 100.0%
Persons Employed
(thousand)
% of
total
9,193.4 100.0%
0.89
0.1%
73,692
5.6%
33,572
7.7%
806.1
8.8%
945.23
80.8%
399,754
30.6%
161,851
37.3%
4,944.4
53.8%
0.16
0.0%
12,310
0.9%
6,001
1.4%
21.9
0.2%
20.00
1.7%
111,429
8.5%
26,332
6.1%
226.4
2.5%
3.77
0.3%
128,469
9.8%
31,263
7.2%
408.4
4.4%
112.08
9.6%
418,708
32.1%
152,360
35.2%
2,286.2
24.9%
87.39
7.5%
160,000
12.3%
22,000
5.1%
500.0
5.4%
Source: our elaborations from SBS Eurostat database
In respect to 2006, the number of enterprises in the industry as a whole had a

2.88% growth, the turnover increased 7.84%, value added 8.27% and persons employed 3.91%.
By far the largest subsector in terms of number of enterprises was road and
other land transport which contributed 80.8% of transport services enterprises in 2007. The
two next largest subsectors were warehousing and transport support activities with more
than 112,000 enterprises and activities of travel agency with quite 88,000 enterprises. The
number of firms operating in water transport business reached 20,000 units, while the other
three activities (transport via railways, transport via pipelines and air transport) represent
only 2% of the whole industry. For transport via railways and air transport it is possible
to observe that they represent truly concentrated sector, characterized by a few number
of large enterprises.
In 2007, warehousing and transport support activities generated around 418 EUR
billion of turnover (about one third of the whole industry turnover) obtaining the first
positions, and around 152 EUR billion of value added (35.2% of the total). Road and
other land transport represents the leading subsector in terms of value added (around 162
EUR billion) and the second referring to turnover (around 400 EUR billion).
In employment terms the dominance of road and other land transport subsector
was noticeable. This subsector, indeed, occupied more than one half of the EU-27s transport
services workforce. Road and other land transport, transport via railways and activities of
travel agencies were the only subsectors whose contribution to transport services was greater
in employment than in value added terms. Warehousing and transport support activities
occupied more than 2.2 million of persons (about 25% of the total).
Transport via railways subsector, although characterized by a low number of
enterprises (0.1% of the total), generated 5.6% of the turnover and 7.7% of the value added.
Its also interesting to observe that this subsector, which in 2007 employed around 800,000
11
persons (8.8% of the EU-27s transport services workforce) experimented in that year a
strong reduction in the number of employees (an almost 10% decrease respect to 2006).
The development of the EU-27 transport performance, in the last years, followed
economic trends, as a consequence of the more relevant influences on transport and services
market. In fact, as known, business cycles determine short-term cycles in trade, and regional
development determines mid and long-term trends in trade; at the same time, trade influences
the demand for transport and storage services. Between 1995 and 2006, goods transport
performance, measured in tonne-kilometres, grew at 2.8% per annum, with an average yearly
rate higher than the gross domestic product (GDP, measured at constant 1995 prices).
Changes in the structure and location of manufacturing industries in production methods
and distribution channels, determined by the demand for Just-In-Time (JIT) shipments, are
all factors that have contributed to the overall development in goods transport performance.
Various transport modes were able to catch the evolving market opportunities in
a very different way. As such, within the EU transport and logistics industry, a profound
modal unbalance in favour of road emerged. Since 1990s, European policy makers have
tried to settle the question and reach a modal shift, by the means of extensive subsidy
and supporting programs. Nevertheless, until 2006, the modal split trends remained almost
unchanged (Notteboom, 2008), and only in the last years, a clear interest in intermodal
initiatives and modal shift came out directly from the market side.
4.1 Transport via railways: market liberalization and emerging opportunities

In order to understand the actual structural profile of the rail transport sector we
have to keep in mind the considerable legislative efforts to open up and revitalize this
market. The EU liberalization process started in 1991 and over the last twenty years radically
changed the overall picture. Since the beginning of 2007 both national and international
rail freight networks had been opened, and from January 2010 also international passenger
transport has been opened to competition.
Major aims of such legislative intervention were to improve the competitiveness
of rail in respect to road transport, through the increase of the commercial speed and a
higher service reliability, and to encourage competition for the market. Such a process
was in practice a compulsory choice, considering the long-run decline of rail transport
in EUs transport system (Oxford Analytica, 2010). In fact, as pointed out by the European
Commission, rail freight transport has suffered from a lack of reliability and efficiency,
caused, inter alia, by insufficient technical and administrative interoperability, and by the
priority given to passenger trains on lines with mixed traffic (COM(2006) 336).
As a result, in 2007 there were 890 rail enterprises in EU. Unsurprisingly Germany
hosts almost 33% of the railway undertakings (290 enterprises), followed by Poland (104),
12

UK (100), Romania (88) and Italy (36). This is clearly the results of the liberalization
process across the EU. About 70% of the railways operator is concentrated in the top
five Member States.
Historically, the European market appears strongly fragmented, due to the presence
of entry barriers related to interoperability problems (rail span, railway signaling,
electrification system, etc.), sunk costs, monopolistic rentals, etc. Nevertheless, with specific
regards to freight sector, new rules for liberalization, harmonization, standardization and
utilization of infrastructure intensified the trend towards the development of a pan European
rail services on a one-stop shop basis (Notteboom, 2008) and the internationalization of
rail enterprises (Spachmueller and Tiede, 2010). In fact, an interesting number of rail
operators are now venturing into other countries rail markets, aiming to exploit and leverage
their own national competitive advantages (e.g. Veolia, Trenitalia, etc.).
The new generation of rail operators, acting in a more commercial way, had
permitted the railway sector to reach a higher competitiveness in respect to other transport
modes and a more satisfactory profitability. Even if some national rail operators continue
to face profitability issues, value added in the EU-27s rail transport sector reached EUR
33.6 billion in 2007, equivalent to 7.7% of the total transport services (NACE Divisions
60 to 63). It is worth mentioning how the rails value added share slightly declined in
respect to 2005 (8.4%). As shown in Table 9, the generated value added is fairly
concentrated in a handful of countries. In fact, in 2007, the top five Member States
(Germany, The United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Spain), represented almost 50% of the
total. In particular, Germany holds a 17% share. The United Kingdom and Italy represent
almost 10% each. Full and complete data analysis on all European countries had permitted
to observe that some transition countries such as Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland
have strong rail networks, which shall favor the development of multi-modal transport
infrastructure in Western Europe, as these nations are located along the major corridors
within the European market (Bialas-Motyl, 2010).
Table 9. Transport via railways: Ranking of Top five Member States, 2007
Rank
ing
Largest number of
Enterprises
% of
Country Units
EU-27
Highest Turnover
Country
(EUR
Million)
Highest value added
% of
EU-27
Country
(EUR
Million)
Largest number of employed
% of
EU27
% of
EU-27
Country
Units
Poland
120,382
14.9%
79,358
9.8%
Germany
290
32.7% Germany
16,474
22.4% Germany
5,666
16.9%
Poland
104
11.7%
UK
10,237
13.9%
UK
3,868
11.5% Germany
UK
100
11.3%
Italy
6,323
8.6%
Italy
3,241
9.7%
Italy
64,115
8.0%
Romania
88
9.9% Poland
4,041
5.5%
Poland
1,968
5.9%
UK
55,746
6.9%
Italy
36
4.1% Austria
2,533
3.4%
Spain
1,420
4.2% Hungary
43,073
5.3%
Top Five
618
69.7% Top Five
39,608
16,163
48.1% Top Five
362,674
45.0%
53.7% Top Five
Source: our elaborations from SBS Eurostat

Note: data on the French rail industry are not available
13
The total EU-27s rail transport turnover amounted to EUR 73.7 billion (2007),
with an almost 10% increase in respect to 2006. Germany is again the leading country,
accounting for EUR 16.5 billion (22.4% of the total), followed by UK (13.9%), Italy (8.6%),
Poland (5.5%) and Austria (3.4%). As such, the five leading nations generated over 53%
of the European rail transports turnover.
Finally, looking at the persons employed in the railways sector, it is possible to
observe the leadership of Poland, with almost 120,500 employees, which represent roughly
15% of the total. Germany, Italy and UK reported significantly lower figures in 2007,
due to the recent progressive downsizing process of former monopolistic operators.
4.2 Road and other land transport: managing market fragmentation and achieving
economies of scale
The aggregate Road and other land transport covers road freight transport, urban
and suburban passenger transport by bus, coach, tram, trolleybus, underground or elevated
railway, inter-city land passenger transport (other than railways), as well as taxi operations
and charters. Road transport has been one of the main areas of growth in the transport
services sector as it benefited from increased demand for mobility and flexibility from
private individuals and enterprises alike.
The road transport market structure is deeply affected by the political and
environmental changes (i.e. the legislative framework) and the competitive relationships
within the sector.
From a regulation viewpoint this sector was quite active at the EU level over
the last few years (Lehmkuhl, 2002). In particular, in May 2007 the European Commission
adopted three proposals (COM(2007) 263 to 265) aiming at modernising the rules governing
road transport operators and the access to the road transport market. The proposals aim
to reduce distortions of competition and improve transport operators compliance with the
provisions of social legislation and road safety rules. Moreover, in July 2008, the European
Commission adopted a proposal (COM(2008) 436) to reform the legislation on road charges
for heavy goods vehicles. The proposal is intended to enable Member States to reduce
environmental damage and congestion through more efficient and environmentally-targeted
road tolls for lorries. A Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EC,
No 1370/2007) on public passenger transport services by rail and by road was adopted
in October 2007. Finally, in September 2007 the European Commission published a Green
paper on urban transport (COM(2007) 551), to look, among others, at the questions of
congestion and pollution linked to urban transport.
With regards to the second factor (i.e. the competitive relations), the main driving
force re-defining the structure of the haulage industry and its competitive dynamics, is
14

the increased cost pressure (Mason et al., 2007). This is not only coming from customers,
but also derives from the sectors liberalization, i.e. the new European legislation (EU
Working Time Directive for Mobile Workers, WEE directive, congestion charges and safety
compliance), and from some exogenous factors such as fuel price growth, increasing
insurance premium and road congestion7.
In this competitive context, thus, it became strategic for enterprises to improve
and leverage cost reduction capabilities, throughout qualitative and quantitative growth
patterns. The pursuit of economies of scale through an endogenous growth does not represent
anymore the only way for achieving a cost savings. In fact, the capability of developing
organisational innovations and effective partnerships with players involved in the supply
chain (Hamel, 1991; Koka and Prescott, 2008; Hoetker and Mellewigt, 2009), are
increasingly important for ensuring a higher process efficiency.
Looking to the main structural and economic variables of the sector, an estimated
945.2 thousand enterprises were registered in the EU-27s road and other land transport
(NACE Group 60.2) sector which employed about 4.9 million persons in 2007. As such,
the road and other land transport sector supplied just over half of the workforce in transport
services (NACE Divisions 60 to 63).
The EU-27s road and other land transport sector generated value added of EUR
161 billion in 2007 from turnover valued at EUR 400 billion. As a result, road and other
land transport accounted for around two fifths of all value added generated by transport
services in 2007.
Within road and other land transport services the largest activity was the road
freight transport (NACE Class 60.24) subsector. This subsector accounted for around two
thirds of the value added created by the EU-27s road and other land transport sector in
2007 and occupied around three fifths of the workforce.
In terms of number of enterprises, Spain shows the highest number of firms in
this sector (over 200 thousand), followed by Poland and Italy.
Unsurprisingly, the larger Member States contributed the greatest shares of EU-27
value added in this sector (see Table 10). The United Kingdom and France each accounted
for around 15% of EU-27 value added in 2007. These countries are followed by Germany
(13.4%), Spain (13.1%) and Italy (11.0%). However, an analysis based on relative
specialisation highlights the importance of the road and other land transport sector in several
other Member States. For example, this activity contributed around 6% of non-financial
business economy value added in Lithuania, and over 3.5 % in Latvia, Finland, Luxembourg,
7 The effects of road congestion on logistics enterprises cost structures have been clearly pointed out by Foster
(1999). In fact, according to the author [r]oad congestion is being exacerbated daily by growing intra-European
trade, centralized manufacturing, time-definite delivery requirements, and the move toward placing smaller
orders. Moreover, [n]ot only does this congestion cause delays and add extra costs, but it also has evoked
a political reaction from an environmentally conscious public, which has called for restrictions on truck
movements and higher road fees and taxes.
15
Spain, Slovenia and Greece. Looking at the turnover, the same top 5 countries, namely
UK, Italy, France, Germany and Spain, accounted for almost 65% of the EU-27 total figure.
Finally, in terms of persons employed, France ranks first, occupying over 13%
of the EU-27 workforce in this field. This country is followed by Germany, Spain, United
Kingdom and Italy.
Table 10. Road and Other land transport: Ranking of Top five Member States, 2007
Largest number of Enterprises
Rank
ing
Country
Highest Turnover
Highest value added
(EUR
Million)
(EUR
Million)
Units
% of
EU-27
% of
EU-27
Country
Country
Spain
204,432
21.6%
UK
56,918
14.2%
UK
Poland
132,521
14.0%
Italy
116,806
12.4%
Italy
55,097
13.8%
France
54,871
13.7%
France
80,188
8.5%
Germany
59,374
6.3%
Germany
44,455
11.1%
Spain
47,544
11.9%
Top Five
593,321
62.8%
Top Five
258,885
64.8%
% of
EU-27
Country
Units
% of
EU-27
25,503
15.8%
France
659,123 13.3%
France
23,306
14.4%
Germany
620,856 12.6%
Germany
21,745
13.4%
Spain
594,923 12.0%
Spain
21,212
13.1%
UK
520,959 10.5%
Italy
17,811
11.0%
Italy
497,260 10.1%
Top Five
109,577
67.7%
Top Five
2,893,121 58.5%
Source: Our elaborations from SBS Eurostat
4.3 Water Transport: firms internationalization and vertical integration

Water transport activities include, both sea and coastal transport (NACE Group
61.1) and inland water transport (NACE Group 61.2). Sea and coastal transport is made
up of transport of passenger and freight over water (whether scheduled or not), operation
of excursion, cruise or sightseeing boats, operation of ferries, transport by towing or pushing
of barges. This class also includes renting of ships and boats with crew. Inland water
transport comprehends transport of passenger or freight via rivers, canals, lakes and other
inland waterways, including inside harbors and docks.
As shown in Table 11 sea and coastal transport dominated the water transport
sector, with EUR 111.5 billion of turnover in 2007 (equivalent to 94.5% of the whole
water transport sectors turnover), about EUR 24.03 billion of value added (91.2%) and
almost 1.83 million of persons employed (80.7%). The remainder accounted for by inland
water transport.
It is worth observing the relative importance of inland water transport in terms
of number of enterprises; in fact, in this subsector there are 9,324 enterprises (2007),
equivalent to 45.9% of the total. Such equal distribution is also due to the relevant
concentration process which has characterized shipping line subsector in recent years. As
widely recognized, the numerous takeovers and mergers which took place in the competitive
arena, have created a handful of big companies with a high market share, thus reducing
16

the whole number of enterprises operating in the subsector (Stopford, 2009). The water
transport sector has been historically characterized by a clear-cut separation of roles among
the firms operating in the two subsectors. In the past, in fact, inland water transport services,
in particular barge services, were offered by independent barge operators (Charlier and
Ridolfi, 1994). Nevertheless in recent years some deep-sea carrier got directly involved
in inland navigation (Notteboom, 2008). This choice was triggered by the will of exploiting
the market opportunities coming from a quite profitable business and it was also driven
by the need of integrating their core activities for providing a higher quality and capillarity
of services.
The EU heavily relies on maritime transport for its external trade, as a consequence
of the relative importance of water transport, which depends on geographical and historical
factors. In 2007, in the European water transport subsector there were about 20,000
enterprises, with a good increase in respect to 2006 (18,000 units). They represent only
1.7% of the transport services enterprises in 2007. As revealed in Table 11, the top five
Member States host 68.5% of the total. Surprisingly Netherlands and Greece together
represent about 37% of the whole subsector; they are followed by Germany (14.4%), France
(9.7%) and Italy (7.6%).
Table 11. Water transport: Ranking of Top five Member state, EU-27, 2007
Rank
ing
1

Country
Units
% of
EU-27
Highest Turnover
Country
(EUR
million)
Highest value added

% of
EU-27
Netherlands
4,330
21.7%
Germany
29,154
26.2%
Greece
3,031
15.2%
Denmark
22,983
Germany
2,873
14.4%
Italy
11,102
France
1,948
9.7%
France
11,097
Italy
1,513
7.6%
UK
10,043
Top Five
13,695
68.5%
Top Five
84,379
Country
(EUR
Million)
% of
EU-27
Country
Units
% of
EU-27
Germany
7,380
28.0% Germany
40,082
17.7%
20.6%
Uk
3,154
12.0%
Italy
28,724
12.7%
10.0%
Denmark
3,118
11.8%
Greece
18,488
8.2%
10.0%
Italy
3,021
11.5%
France
17,991
7.9%
2,768
10.5%
Sweden
17,158
7.6%
73.8% Top Five
122,443
54.1%
9.0% Netherlands
75.7%
Top Five
19,441
In terms of number of persons employed, Germany ranked the first position with
more than 40,000 units (17.7%), followed by Italy (28,724 persons employed; 12.7%),
Greece (18,488 employees), France and Sweden (both more than 17,000 units). This data
also explain how different countries are characterized by various enterprises average size
class.
Value added in water transport subsector reached about EUR 26.5 billion in 2007,
equivalent to 6.1% of the transport and storage industry, with a significant increase in
respect to the previous years (EUR 22.0 billion in 2006), as a consequence of the goods
trends in seaborne transport of goods until 2007. It is also possible to observe that value
added generated in the EU-27 water transport subsector is fairly concentrated in a handful
17
of countries; in fact, the top five States reached about EUR 19.5 billion, equivalent to
73.8% of the whole value added. In particular, Germany obtained the first position, generating 28% of the total valued added, followed by UK (12%), in spite of the low number
of enterprises and persons employed, Denmark (11.8%), Italy (11.5%), and Netherlands
(10.5%).
In 2007 the total turnover reached EUR 111.43 billion in 2007. In terms of turnover
the five leading countries reached in 2007 about EUR 84.38 billion, equivalent to 75.7%
of the total. Unsurprisingly Germany represent the first market, with almost EUR 30 billion
(26.2% of the total), followed by Denmark (20.6%), which also represents a really dynamic
and relevant market, Italy (10%), France (10%) and UK (9%).
In conclusion, this in-depth analysis of the available data allowed to observe some
relevant trends affecting the sector. First, the process of concentration characterising the
sector over the last few years recently stopped. Second, some shipping companies undertook
a process of vertical integration in warehousing and transport supports activities, not only
for achieving economies of scale and scope, but also for better controlling the entire supply
chain (Levy, 1985; Stukey and White, 1993). For instance some shipping lines are
diversifying their core activities, also providing rail services. Third, a high level of
specialization in the water transport sector in some of the smaller and medium-sized Member
States (Enache, 2009), in particular, Baltic Sea country. This process has also been supported
by the presence, in this regions of ports which are equipped to handle virtually any
combination of intermodal transport.
4.4 Air Transport: market liberalisation, low-cost carriers growth and UK

hegemony
Basically, the aggregate of Air transport concerns enterprises engaged in the
transport of passengers and freight by air on scheduled (NACE Group 62.1) as well as
unscheduled services (NACE Group 62.2). The expansion of air traffic has faced criticism,
notably because of the growing levels of emissions and noise from this means of transport,
although emissions have grown more slowly than air traffic volumes due to technological
improvements. In November 2008, a Directive was adopted (EC, No 101/2008) to include
aviation in the existing emissions trading scheme for carbon dioxide, starting from 2012.
Growth in EU air traffic has occurred during a period of market liberalisation and structural
change, with an increased number of operators, particularly low-cost carriers.
The development of low-cost carriers (LCCs) has expanded the market for air
travel, by offering the possibility of relatively cheap flights for the leisure market. The
three largest low-cost carriers in Europe in 2008 in terms of revenue passenger-kilometres
were Ryanair, EasyJet and Air-Berlin. Actually, the growth of LCCs is focused on the
Western European Market (Dobruszkes, 2006).
18

Increased competition, allied with greater costs (notably for fuel), and the rapidly
worsening economic climate, have led to a number of airlines struggling to continue
operations, with Alitalia, for example, entering administration in 2008, before emerging
in a restructured form in 2009. In September 2008, a Regulation (EC, No 1008/2008) for
air services was adopted, updating legislation from 1992. With the aims of ensuring more
competition, and improving quality, it covers a wide range of issues, such as price
transparency, oversight of operating licences, market access, aircraft registration, and public
service obligations.
In 2007, there were almost 3.8 thousand enterprises in the air transport sector
in the EU-27. In the same year, the estimated 408.4 thousand persons employed in this
sector generated EUR 31.3 billion of value added, and as such the air transport sectors
contribution to the transport & storage total was over 4% for employment and around 7%
for value added. Three tenths of the EU-27s value added in air transport was generated
in the United Kingdom alone, while Frances contribution was one fifth. For the fourth
consecutive year Germany recorded a negative value added for air transport in 2007, and
this Member States relative size can be better expressed by its 14.0 % share of the EU-27
workforce.
By analysing the top 5 Member States (see Table 12), the United Kingdom shows
the highest figures for all the selected variables. In relation to the number of enterprises,
UK is followed by France (555,000) and Germany (425,000). The top 5 countries host
65% of EU-27 firms operating in this sector. In terms of turnover, the ranking is similar
th
to the previous one, with the entry of Spain in the 5 place.
By analysing the figures related to the value added, after UK and France, the
Netherlands emerges as third leading country. Indeed, in 2007, the value added was highly
concentrated in the top 5 countries; the leading nations generated almost 77% of the EU-27
value added. Finally, in employment terms, UK (22.9%), France (17.9%) and Germany
(14.0%) confirm to be the major leading forces in this field, occupying a great portion
of the overall EU-27 workforce.
Table 12. Air transport: Ranking of Top five Member State, 2007
Rank
ing

Country
Units
% of
EU-27
Highest Turnover
Country
(EUR
million)
Highest value added

% of
EU-27
Country
(EUR
Million)
% of
EU-27
Country
Units
% of
EU-27
UK
1,014
26.9%
UK
29,737
23.1%
UK
8,667
27.7%
UK
93,431 22.9%
France
555
14.7%
France
19,673
15.3%
France
6,590
21.1%
France
73,229 17.9%
Germany
425
11.3% Germany
14,959
11.6% Netherlands
3,221
10.3%
Germany
57,335 14.0%
Italy
243
2,831
9.1%
Spain
Netherlands
Top Five
235
2,472
6.4%
Italy
6.2%
Spain
65.5% Top Five
11,081
8.6%
Spain
10,538
8.2%
Italy
2,699
8.6%
Italy
85,988
66.9%
Top Five
24,008
76.8%
Top Five
38,840
9.5%
22,531
5.5%
285,366 69.9%
Source: Our elaboration from SBS Eurostat
19
4.5 Warehousing and transport support activities: the emergence of new logistics
players
This Section gathers information on auxiliary and supporting transport activities
as covered by NACE Groups 63.1 (Cargo handling and storage), 63.2 (Other supporting
transport activities) and 63.4 (Activities of other transport agencies), not considering travel
agencies (NACE Group 63.3).
Thus, warehousing and transport support activities. includes various activities
such as support services for all modes of transport (baggage & cargo handling, storage
& warehousing, freight forwarding & brokerage) and the operations of terminals and
infrastructure as well as navigational services (notably for air and water transport), towing,
berthing and parking services8.
Cited services are often provided by a variety of trade specialists who can offer
various functions to facilitate the movement of cross-border shipments. The efficiency of
transport and logistics facilities becomes crucial not only for logistics performance (attracting
intermodal operators), but also for local industries competitiveness (ensuring lower transport
and logistics costs). Although companies opt today for lean production lines and just-in-time
delivery, warehouses still play an important role in the logistics activities, being strategic
hubs in the flow of goods within a logistics system. In the recent years, the centralization
of distribution chain, the increase in effective outsourcing and the request for wider logistics
infrastructures have urged to create new modern warehouse infrastructures. In such an
environment, there has been a remarkable increase in the development of large-scale logistics
facilities across Europe (Blaskoza, 2008). Moreover the requirement of a higher integration
of terminal operations in the supply chain management (Lambert et al., 1998; Marlow and
Paixao, 2003; Carbone e De Martino 2003; Panayides and Song, 2009), has forced leading
terminal operators and warehousing companies to develop diversification strategies, aiming
8 In particular cargo handling and storage includes, within the other, operations of loading and unloading of
goods or passengers luggage irrespective of the mode of transport used for transportation, stevedoring, operations
of storage and warehouse facilities for all kind of goods (notably operations of grain silos, general merchandise
warehouse, refrigerated warehouse, storage tanks, etc.), but excludes operations of terminal facilities (included
in NACE Group 63.2). The class Other supporting transport activities includes a wide number of activities
related to land transport, water transport and air transport; within the other, the following are worthy of note:
operation of terminal facilities such as railway stations, bus stations, stations for the handling of goods, harbors
and piers, airway terminals; operation of railroad infrastructure; maintenance and minor repair of rolling stock;
winter storage of caravan; operation of waterway locks; navigation, pilotage and berthing activities; lighterage,
salvage activities; lighthouse activities; airport and air-traffic-control activities; ground services activities on
airfields. Finally, the class Activities of other transport agencies includes several services like forwarding of
freight, arranging or carrying-out of transport operations by road, sea or air, receipt of group and individual
consignment (including pick-up of goods and grouping of consignments), issue and procurement of transport
documents and way-bills, organization of group consignment by road, rail, air or sea, activities of customs agents,
activities of sea-freight forwarders and air-cargo agents, good-handling operations (e.g. temporary crating for
the sole purpose of protecting the goods during transit, uncrating, sampling, weighing of goods).
20

to control larger parts of the supply chain. As a result, pursuing a door-to-door approach,
some operators have transformed into logistics organizations, often asset-based. Similar
strategies have been performed by LTL (Less Than a Load) operators, which are
progressively expanding into warehouse activities.
When logistics facilities or/and intermodal operators lack, the intermediaries,
such as forwarders, could have a role in ensuring transport integration. With specific regard
to European Ports, some contributions (Ducruet and Lee, 2007; Ducruet and Van Der
Horst, 2009) highlighted that they permit to obtain a higher efficiency in transport chain
when intermodal operators absence (or weak presence), determines infrastructures low
performances.
In 2007, there were more than 112,000 enterprises operating in warehousing and
transport support activities, in the EU-27. As shown in Table 13 the leading country is
Italy, which hosts 17,642 enterprises, equivalent to 15.7% of the total, followed by Germany
(13.2%) and Spain (12.0%), UK (9%) and finally Greece (7%). The Spanish third position
and Greek fifth position are worthy of note. According to previous figures a wide number
enterprises operating in warehousing and transport supports activities are located in Southern
European Country.
Table 13. Warehousing and transport support activities: Ranking of Top five Member States, 2007
Rank
ing

Country
Units
% of
EU-27
Highest Turnover
Country
(EUR
million)
Highest value added

% of
EU-27
Country
(EUR
Million)
% of
EU-27
Country
Units
% of
EU-27
Italy
17,642
15.7% Germany
91,004
21.7% Germany
37,694
24.7% Germany
508,133
22.2%
Germany
14,772
13.2%
UK
63,199
15.1%
UK
29,828
19.6%
Italy
321,884
14.1%
Spain
13,469
12.0%
France
54,577
13.0%
France
18,427
12.1%
UK
306,955
13.4%
Uk
10,081
9.0%
Italy
43,319
10.3%
Italy
16,161
10.6%
France
254,175
11.1%
Greece
7,808
7.0%
Spain
35,541
8.5%
Spain
13,379
8.8%
Spain
208,714
9.1%
Top Five
63,772
1,599,861
70.0%
56.9% Top Five
287,640
68.7% Top Five
115,489
75.8% Top Five
Source: Our elaborations from SBS Eurostat
The total EU-27 warehousing and transport support activities turnover, in 2007,
amounted to EUR 418,708 million. This information fairly help to understand the relevance
of this subsector in respect to the transport services sector and generally the whole logistics
industry. The top five Member States in terms of turnover, generated altogether almost
69% of the European total turnover. In particular Germany obtained the first position,
reaching more than EUR 91 billion of turnover (21.7% of the total), followed by UK
(15.1%), France (13%), Italy (10.3%) and Spain (8.5%) respectively.
In terms of value added generate, unsurprisingly Germany is the first Member
State, again, with a result of more than EUR 37.6 billion of value added, equivalent to
21
24.7% of the European total. Other dynamic and profitable markets are UK, which generate
almost EUR 30 billion (19,6%), France (12.1%), Italy (10.6%) and finally Spain (8.8%).
As a result in the five leading Member State is concentrated more than 75% of the total
value added generated in the EU-27.
Warehouse and transport support activities largely contributed to the EU-27
employment, occupying in 2007 almost 2.3 million of persons. On this point of view the
leading countries are Germany9, where persons occupied in this sub-sector were more than
0.5 million, and Italy, with more than 0.32 million of employees.
From data, emerges the relevance of Germany in the sector, ranking the first place
with reference to three of the four analyzed variables. Considering that infrastructure
management enterprises belong to supporting transport activities, Germanys performance
in the sector seems to be influenced by the presence in the country of relevant nautical
assets for the logistics industry, such as efficient ports (no fewer than 10 seaports providing
unrivaled access to the shipping lanes of the North Sea and Baltic, expansive rivers (Rhine,
Elbe and the Danube) and extensive coastline10. Moreover in this Member States, maritime
terminals are connected to an extremely efficient system of rivers and canals with more
than a hundred ports of their own.
5. Post and courier activities

Post and courier activities mainly concerns pick-up, transport and delivery of mail,
parcels and the like: it includes both national post activities (NACE Class 64.11)11 and
other courier activities (NACE Class 64.12)12.
According to a recent inquiry13 on postal services promoted by the European
9 To maximize the efficiency of Germanys distribution infrastructure, government agencies have been
cooperating with the logistics industry to develop so-called freight villages. These cargo support centers
(called GVZ in Germany) act as regional nodes with optimal access to long haul networks and local delivery
points. They also provide essential services such as customs clearance, security and vehicle maintenance. GVZ
are becoming increasingly common throughout Europe.
10 For a deep analysis of the European ports throughput see Amerini (2010a, 2010b). These studies also
contribute to show the impact of the general economic crisis on European ports activities and the main trends
in the maritime transport of goods.
11 National post activities comprises a variety of services such as pick-up transport and delivery (both domestic
and international) of mail and parcels, collection of mail and parcel from public letter-boxes and post offices,
distribution and delivery of mail and parcels, mailbox renting, etc..
12 Courier activities other than national post activities includes picking-up, transport and delivery of letters and
mail-type parcels and packages by firms other than national post. Either only one kind of transport or more
than one mode of transport may be involved and the activity may be carried out with either self-owned
transport or via public transport.
13 ITA Consulting, WIK-Consult (2009), The evolution of the European Postal Market since 1997, Final Report,
Study for the European Commission, DG Internal Market and Services, August 2009.
22

Commission (DG Internal Market and Services), the role of postal services is evolving
substantially. This sort of services, in fact, today finds itself at the crossroads of three
markets relevant for development: transport, communication and advertising. Indeed, the
role of postal and courier services becomes more and more important in economies (as
European economy) characterized by manifold in-sourcing and outsourcing activities of
non-core business.
Insofar as they still exist, the former national monopolies in the field of post are
today in competition with various enterprises from the private sector. In fact in a wide
number of Member States, universal service providers (USPs), operators that could be no
longer public organizations and that have replaced traditional postal administrations, still
operate as a monopoly and have exclusive rights, balanced by the fact that they have a
universal service obligation, but, at the same time, private operators role in the express
services is progressively growing, so that they dominate this market, providing letter and
parcel services, specifically to the business-to-business, direct mail and business-to-private
segments of the market. Such a situation is the main consequence of the gradual development
toward market liberalization for post and courier services, started since the mid-1990s. As
a result, today parcels and express services are markets completely open to private operators,
where competition is strong enough. The recent development in Community legislation
affecting the European postal sector, goes towards the whole abolishment of remaining
restrictions on mail deliveries under 50 grams, which had been remained a reserved area
for national operators until February 2008, and opens up Europes postal sector to full
competition, with relevant consequences on the operators of the market. Finally it is possible
to observe that Corporatization and privatization of former postal administrator have
permitted considerable progress to the commercialization of the postal business. In order
to face new entrants in the parcel and express business and, more recently in their letter
post business USPs are increasingly commercially minded and customer-oriented. However,
competition does not emerge smoothly, in fact, National regulatory and competition
authorities have still to face with abusive behavior of universal services providers who
still dominate the national letter market.
European postal and courier operators have now to cope with remarkable changes
in their sector, referring to new competition rules and sophisticated customer needs. In
particular, the electronic means, as substitute products have determined a decline in mail
volume (postal operators core business), urging postal incumbents to diversify their
activities by providing mail preparation, printing solution, mailroom management and
electronic services (Mollet, 2008). At the same time postal operators have identified various
business opportunities aiming to increase their revenue and sustain their balance. Express,
delivery financial services and logistics are the main areas considered by operators. Similar
problems have been encountered by couriers.
In such an environment, some postal operators and couriers have founded really
23
attractive the logistic business, considering the relatedness with their traditional core
activities, and have tried to enter the market, in order to obtain both economies of scale
and economies of scope. In particular, economies of scope could be reached with regards
to supply chains support activities (i.e. sharing infrastructure and technology, leveraging
network management skills) and to supply chains primary activities (i.e. marketing activities
and customer know-how; area coverage, etc.).
Nevertheless, as correctly pointed out by Mollet (2008), diversification in logistics
activities also carries risks for postal operators and couriers, because, if they do not implement
adequate strategies, they could succumb in the struggle with other operators which cover
the sector. Logistic Industry, despite actual remarkable growth, remains a highly competitive
business, where it appears difficult to identify profitable niches, with high margins. For
such a reason some national postal operators have decided to focus themselves on traditional
activities (mail), entering new geographic markets (i.e, Osterreichische Post, Austria; De
Poste, Belgium; Royal Mail, UK; Post Denmark, Denmark) or have preferred to develop
their business in other activities such as financial services (i.e. Poste Italiane, Italy; La Poste,
France). Only few operators, such as DPWN (Germany), TNT (Netherlands) and Die Post
(Switzerland) have been able to exploit and leverage their traditional competitive advantages
and found remarkable synergy, entering successfully logistics markets.
As shown in Table 14, there were more than 44 thousand enterprises in the EU-27s
post and courier activities sector (NACE Group 64.1) in 2007. In particular, only 1,572
enterprises (equivalent to 3.5% of the total) operated in National post activities subsector,
while almost 43 thousand belonged to courier activities subsector.
Table 14. Post and courier activities (NACE Division 64.1) Structural profile, EU-27, 2007
Enterprises
Turnover
Value Added
Units
% of total
(EUR million)
Units
% of total
44,400
100.0%
103,923
100.0%
61,310
100.0%
1,882,300
100.0%
National post activities
1,572
3.5%
56,819
54.7%
41,271
67.3%
1,199,900
63.7%
Other courier activities
42,828
96.5%
47,104
45.3%
20,039
32.7%
682,400
36.3%
% of total (EUR million) % of total
Persons Employed
Source: our elaboration from SBS Eurostat

Note: number of persons employed, 2006
Adopting a countrys perspective, its possible to observe (see Table 15) a

significant concentration of enterprises in the five leading Member States. As a whole they
hosted around 31 thousand enterprises in 2007, equivalent to more than 70.4% of the total.
In particular UK reached the first position with a share of 26.1%, followed by Germany
(20.3%), and Spain (12.2%). Unsurprisingly Netherland obtained fourth position (6.1%),
followed by Belgium (5.6%). Its worth underlying the absence of Italy among the leading
countries, and, at the same time, the presence of two Member States characterized by little
24

geographical dimensions.
Table 15. Post and courier activities: Ranking of Top five Member State, 2007
Rank
ing
Highest Turnover
% of
EU-27
Germany
23,762
22.9%
Country
Units
UK
11,609
26.1%
Germany
8,995
20.3%
UK
21,259
20.5%
UK
11,378
18.6%
UK
282,410
15.0%
Spain
5,427
12.2%
France
14,271
13.7%
France
11,361
18.5%
France
271,229
14.4%
Netherlands
2,710
6.1%
Italy
12,039
11.6%
Italy
8,113
13.2%
Italy
165,245
8.8%
Country
(EUR
million)
Highest value added
% of
EU-27
Country
(EUR
Million)
% of
EU-27
Country
Units
% of
EU-27
Germany
12,275
20.0%
Germany
443,713
23.6%
Belgium
2,499
5.6%
Spain
5,090
4.9%
Belgium
2,011
3.3%
Spain
106,331
5.6%
Top Five
31,240
70.4%
Top Five
76,421
73.5%
Top Five
45,138
73.6%
Top Five
1,268,928
67.4%
Source: Our elaboration from SBS Eurostat
For 2007, employment data referring to this sector are not available for EU-27
as a whole, for the absence of data relative to some countries. In 2006 there were close
to 1.9 million persons employed in the sector: unsurprisingly national post activities was
the largest of the two subsector within post and courier activities sector in terms of
employment, with almost 1.2 million persons employed (63.74%), the remainder being
accounted for by courier activities (Table 14).
Post and courier activities fairly represents an important subsector for Germany,
where in 2007 were employed more than 443 thousand persons (equivalent to 23.6% of
total Post and courier activities employment in 2006). The other four leading countries
in terms of employment, in 2007 were UK (282,410 employed), France (271,229), Italy
(165,245) and Spain (106,331).
The total EU-27s turnover generated by the post and courier activities reached
in 2007 almost EUR 104 billion, with an increase equivalent to about 3 percentage points
in respect to 2006 (EUR 100,978 billion). As shown in Table 14, even if the class National
post activities remains the largest of the two subsectors in terms of turnover within the
post and courier activities sector, accounting for 54.7% of the total, the two subsector
reached closer performance in respect to previous years. This is the consequence of the
extremely high performance of the Other courier activities class, which has grown almost
7% between 2006 and 2007, while National post activities has seen a slight decrease
(equivalent to -0.11%) in the same year.
Adopting a countrys perspective, it is possible to observe that European post and
courier turnover is fairly concentrated in a handful of countries. In fact, in 2007, the top
five Member States represented 73.5% of the total. In particular Germany reached the first
position, with almost EUR 24 billion of turnover (equivalent to 22.9%), followed by the
United Kingdom, which obtained a performance slightly lower (EUR 21.2 billion),
25
equivalent to 20.5% of the total. The other three leading countries, unsurprisingly are France
(EUR 14.2 billion), Italy (EUR 12.03 billion) and Spain (EUR 5.09 billion), so that we
can argue that the five largest EU economies were also the five largest contributors to
the post and courier activities sector in 2007, measured in turnover.
Post and courier activities generated in EU-27 (2007) a value added at factor cost
of EUR 61.3 billion, with an increase of 2.2% in respect to 2006. In terms of value added
the class National post activities remain fairly the most important of the two subsectors,
probably as a consequence of the fact that in various countries they still operate as a
monopoly and have exclusive rights.
In 2007 the top five Member States obtained a share equivalent to 73.6% of the
whole value added generated in EU-27. In particular Germany maintained the first position
with more that EUR 12.2 billion (20.0%), followed by the United Kingdom (18.6%), France
(18.5%), Italy (13.2%) and, surprisingly, Belgium with more than EUR 2 billion (3.3%
of the total).
6. Concluding remarks
Main general economic trends, such as the enlargement of the EU, the strong
growth of periphery regions and the growing necessity for costs and environmental
externalities reduction, have deeply affected EU Transport and Logistics Industry. As
results, some relevant conclusions can be finally pointed out:
i) A unitary and homogeneous EU approach to transport and logistics industry,
with regards to both modal and geographical aspects, is required. From a modal
point of view, transport and logistics should be analyzed and managed aiming to optimize
the value of supply process as a whole and create an efficient, sustainable, integrated
European transportation and logistics network. According to such an approach effective
inter-modality, co-modality and multi-modality become a must, if the EU wants to efficiently
manage the increasing flows of transported goods and maintain its role in the worldwide
logistics market. Thus, the value of each transport node depends on its capacity to interface
with and to coordinate multiple transport modes. From a geographical viewpoint, the
EU logistics market progressively became more homogeneous. Nevertheless national
distinctive features must be considered and market segmentation appears as necessary: in
fact, service requirements from customers (in terms of delivery time, flexibility, packaging,
reliability, etc.) vary widely in Europe, and logistics networks should reflect this reality
(Foster, 1999).
26

ii) The analysis of European transport and logistics industry and markets require
new tools and methodological approaches (see point i). Traditional EU statistical methods,
in fact, have made available a remarkable amount of statistical information, which however,
often has produced a misleading picture of EUs logistics market. With the introduction
of the Rev. 2.1 classification, a relevant improvement will be soon appreciable in the
forthcoming EU statistical reports.
iii) Leading European Countries remain the key logistics markets, but, with the
shifting East of the geographic centre of Europe, new challenges are emerging. Although
Germany, UK, Italy, France, Netherlands and Spain, actually represent the larger portion
of European logistics markets, Eastern Europe is gaining in importance, both as a
manufacturing location and as a consuming market. Consequently, Central European
countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary are experimenting a dynamic trend
in the logistics industry and thus they hold the most potential for logistics providers (Lee
et. al., 2007).
iv) New big integrated operators are appearing. The trend towards outsourcing
the logistics services continues, bringing new competitive rules, and stressing towards a
more concentrated sectorial structure. In such an environment, main logistics operators,
in particular third-party logistics, are urged to grow rapidly in firms size and service quality.
The strategies adopted by economic actors widely differ from each other. Some transport
operators have preferred to enrich and enlarge their range of logistics services offered
throughout vertical integration, transforming in integrated logistics operators. Finally, a few
specialized logistics players have decide to undertake a growth strategy in various countries
exploiting and leveraging their national competitive advantage.
As is the case with EU, the trend will appear in Asia, notably, Northeast Asia,
because they will also be unified into a big economy community. Asia should recognize
the trend and prepare new analytical tools and accurate statistics data to analyse its logistics
industry.
Received: Nov. 18, 2010

Reviewed: Nov. 26, 2010
Accepted: Dec. 28, 2010
27
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30

Annex I
Detail structure of Section H Transportation and Storage (NACE Rev. 2)
Division
Group
49
Section H - TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

Land transport and transport via pipelines
49.1
Passenger rail transport, interurban
49.2
Freight rail transport
49.3
Other passenger land transport
49.4
Freight transport by road and removal services
49.5
Transport via pipeline
50
Water Transport
50.1
Sea and costal passenger water transport
50.2
Sea and coastal freight water transport
50.3
Inland passenger water trasnport
50.4
Inland freight water transport
51
Air transport
51.1
Passenger air transport
51.2
Freight air transport and
52
space transport
Warehousing and support activities for transportation

52.1
Warehousing and storage
52.2
Support activities for transportation

Postal and courier activities
53
53.1
Postal activities under universal service obligation
53.2
Other postal and courier activities
31
Annex II
Turnover growth rates
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
Total Growth
Composite growth rate
EU-27
5.91%
6.74%
9.92%
24.27%
7.51%
Italy
5.92%
7.00%
5.38%
19.43%
6.10%
France
5.45%
3.94%
3.88%
13.86%
4.42%
Germany
8.25%
8.23%
8.75%
27.42%
8.41%
UK
4.84%
4.12%
4.67%
14.24%
4.54%
Spain
9.18%
10.87%
7.62%
30.27%
9.21%
Top 5
6.47%
6.37%
6.01%
20.06%
6.28%
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
Total growth
Composite growth rate
4.55%
5.02%
5.94%
16.32%
5.17%
Value added growth rates

EU-27
Italy
0.64%
9.02%
2.98%
12.97%
4.15%
France
3.74%
3.32%
3.76%
11.22%
3.61%
Germany
0.04%
3.86%
7.46%
11.66%
3.74%
32
UK
5.50%
6.03%
5.59%
18.11%
5.71%
Spain
3.43%
10.39%
7.80%
23.08%
7.17%
Top 5
2.69%
5.86%
5.52%
14.71%
4.68%

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The EU-27 Logistics Industry:

Available from: Giovanni Satta

KMI International Journal of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

June 2011 pp.001-032

The EU27 Logistics Industry: Structure

Giovanni Satta , Francesco Parola

and Sung-woo Lee

KMI International Journal of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

1. Background: the logistics industry in Europe

The EU-27 Logistics Industry: Structure and Trends

KMI International Journal of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

2. Methodological notes: Data sources, NACE classification

3 NACE classification is characterized by a hierarchical structure, characterized by fourth descending levels:

The EU-27 Logistics Industry: Structure and Trends

Section I - TRANSPORT, STORAGE AND COMMUNICATION

Transport via railways

Other land transport

Transport via pipelines

Sea and coastal water transport

Inland water transport

Scheduled air transport

Non-scheduled air transport

Cargo handling and storage

Other supporting transport activities

Activities of other transport agencies

Post and courier activities

KMI International Journal of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Nace Rev. 1.1 Classification

Transport via railways

Transport via pipelines

Warehousing and transport support activities

Activities of travel agenzie

3. The relevance of the EU Logistics Industry

The EU-27 Logistics Industry: Structure and Trends

1,170,805 100.00% 6.20%

1,144,283 100.00% 5.80%

1,213,453 100.00% 5.80%

KMI International Journal of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

1,150,379 100.00% 6.10%

1,218,414 100.00% 5.90%

1,300,528 100.00% 5.80%

1,429,577 100.00% 6.00%

130,090 11.31% 5.40%

137,790 11.31% 5.40%

155,367 10.87% 5.40%

164,114 14.27% 5.70%

173,062 14.20% 5.70%

186,860 13.07% 5.50%

189,902 16.51% 5.00%

205,577 16.87% 5.20%

241,980 16.93% 5.50%

214,784 18.67% 6.80%

225,169 18.48% 6.70%

245,378 17.16% 6.50%

The EU-27 Logistics Industry: Structure and Trends

48,275 11.45% 8.50%

48,582 11.02% 8.20%