The Bank of Italy conducts a sample survey on Italy’s international merchandise transport. The survey, which contributes to the compilation of the “services” item of the balance of payments, collects data on freight rates broken down by mode of transport and type of load; moreover, carriers’ market shares by nationality of residence are estimated. The new annual report, referring to 2016, is available in the Statistics series.
The results of the survey, based on interviews with about two hundred transport operators, show a reduction in sea and air average freight rates and a moderate upward trend in road and rail average freight rates for 2016. The market shares of Italian carriers decreased slightly on the previous year; consequently, Italy’s merchandise transport deficit worsened marginally.
