An investigation into the factors influencing inter-urban freight mode choice decisions in the southern African development community region

Background: Two recurring issues in freight research regard the determination of the decision-makers in terms of freight mode choice and the modal attributes that shippers consider when making such mode choice decisions. Objectives: As few studies have been conducted in freight transport research in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region; this paper provides empirical results on two research questions that allows the understanding of the freight procurement landscape in SADC. Firstly, who the decision maker is in terms of freight mode choice, and secondly, which modal attributes are consider and in which order, when shippers make mode choice decisions. Method: An online survey was conducted with 86 shippers, freight forwarders and third-party logistics parties across the SADC region to address modal attributes in freight mode choice. The exploded logit model was developed to draw inference from the data. Results: The results confirm that freight mode choice decisions are mostly affected by the shipper, with the freight forwarder being typically employed as the advisor. In terms of modal attributes, the results of an exploded logit model revealed that the top five attributes in terms of importance are reliability with reference to arriving on time, transport cost, risk of damage, frequency of service and transit time. Conclusion: These results can inform freight studies, especially shipper behavioural studies, which require the enumeration of attributes that can lead to improved reliable studies on freight transport.