TMEA Regional Trade and Transport Study

Published: Trademark Eastern Africa, 2022

The Origin Destination Study

The study aimed to generate and analyse traffic flows of commodities along the major trade corridors by different modes of travel in Eastern Africa. The data should enable TMEA to better forecast changes in the volumes of traded goods.

The OD study was designed to sample from the full freight traffic collected under the Traffic Census to develop a picture of where freight flows were coming from and going to. The OD interviews were carried out for seven consecutive days at each survey station for 12 hours (6 am to 6 pm).

Key variables responded to by the OD study included: Freight vehicle/trailer configuration, Cargo distribution, Origin and destination, Trip purpose, Journey duration, Trip frequency, Fuel consumption and Journey official and unofficial payments.

The survey procedure began by mapping out the potential respondents from the transport associations in the five East Africa member states.

The Freight Cost Survey was conducted using an online, Kobo-based survey instrument. The survey asked respondents at identified transport companies to catalogue costs and trip volumes. The tool also collected information on fuel consumption and illicit costs. This study used the data collected to estimate trip densities by route, transport costs, illicit costs, and fuel consumption, both as a cost item and as a component of GHG emissions.