Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation English. Final report Transport statistics

Transcription

1 Euro-Mediterranean statistical cooperation English Final report Transport statistics September 2009

2 This publication has been drafted in the framework of MEDSTAT II, the Euro-Mediterranean regional statistical co-operation programme funded by the EU. The MEDSTAT programme The European Union's policy toward the Mediterranean region is shaped by the Euro-Mediterranean partnership (or Barcelona Process) established as a result of the Barcelona Conference held in In the area of statistics, EU Member States and Mediterranean partners have intensified their relations since 1996 through the MEDSTAT regional statistical co-operation programme, financed under the MEDA regulation. With a budget of EUR 20 million, MEDSTAT I was implemented from 1996 to MEDSTAT II was launched in 2006 for a 45-month period with a budget of EUR 30 million. MEDSTAT aims to respond to the needs of the association agreements, particularly in relation to free trade, sustainable development and social development. It contributes to the supply of statistical information that is useful in monitoring the progress of Euro-Mediterranean co-operation. Its objective is to harmonise statistical methods in line with European and international norms and standards and to improve the coherence of data in the Mediterranean partner countries as well as their comparability with the statistical data of the EU and EFTA countries. MEDSTAT also aims to improve the quality of services provided to users by the national statistics institutes and the other partner bodies involved in the production of statistics. The provision of upto-date, reliable and relevant high-quality statistical data is vital for political decision making and to ensure good governance. From December 1996 until March 2003, MEDSTAT I covered several statistical sectors. Among them, the environment was the subject of a second project, MEDSTAT-Env II, which was implemented between 2003 and From January 2006 to November 2009, MEDSTAT II has worked on extending the qualitative work already done by organising training and by contributing technical resources to the information systems of national institutes and other statistics producers in the Mediterranean countries. Special attention is paid to the coherence of data, to their harmonisation and dissemination in nine statistical sectors: trade in goods and services, transport, migration, tourism, the environment, national accounts, social statistics, energy and agriculture. The programme currently involves 10 partners: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the occupied Palestinian territory, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey. This publication can be consulted in English and French at the following website address: For further information, please contact: EUROPEAID-INFO-MEDSTAT2@ec.europa.eu Disclaimer This publication has been drawn up with the help of the European Union. The publication's content is the sole responsibility of MEDSTAT II - Lot 2 and may under no circumstances be considered to be a reflection of the European Union's opinion. MEDSTAT II - Lot 2 is implemented by ADETEF in partnership with INSEE France, ISTAT Italy, ONSUK, KSH Hungary, INE Spain, INE Portugal, GUS Poland, Plan Bleu and Landsis Reproduction rights This publication can be totally or partially reproduced providing the source is mentioned: Author: Thierry COULET - MEDSTAT II - Lot 2, Final report - Transport statistics, Publication MED- STAT II, Ed. ADETEF, September 2009 ISSN X.

3 This document has originally been produced in French and this translation is provided only for the convenience of the readers. The author doesn t take any responsibility on the quality of the translation. Final Report Transport Statistics Author Mr. Thierry COULET, Long-term expert responsible for transport statistics of the MEDSTAT II programme. Table of contents Acronyms p Executive summary.p Introduction.. p Context and approach implemented in the work programme on transport statistics p Main characteristics of the situation at the outset of the project......p Priorities determined and general aims of the project.. p Actions undertaken... p Contribution of the sector to the specific aims of MEDSTAT II...p Institutional and inter-institutional strengthening....p Harmonisation...p Sharing and validation of data....p Transparency and development of the data.....p Exploration of new areas p Analysis by the Mediterranean partner countries of programme interventions in the sector of transport statistics and their results......p The contribution of the MEDSTAT II programme to the improvement of transport statistics in the Mediterranean countries..... p The transfer of knowledge and skills.....p The adoption of the knowledge and skills.....p The consolidation of specialists teams and data sharing......p The perspectives p Beyond MEDSTAT: several lines of thought on the continuation of work undertaken in the area of transport statistics. p. 27 1

4 Appendices Appendix 1: Work programme reviewed and validated at the second coordination Meeting...p. 30 Appendix 2: Concise description of the activities carried out..p. 32 Appendix 3: List of the indicators collected p. 50 Appendix 4: List of the indicators gathered within the framework of the specialised collections undertaken with a view to create two publications in the series Statistics in Brief ;...p. 54 Appendix 5: Details of the validation tests carried out on the data collected...p. 63 Appendix 6: Questionnaire sent to the national coordinators in order to evaluate the impact of the activities of the MEDSTAT II programme in the sector of transport statistics...p. 66 Acronyms ACS AELE CAPMAS CBS CE CEMT DOS ICBS INSEE LMIU MEEDDAT ONS PCBS PPM RFF ROP RSSP SNCF SSN TPA UE UNECE Administration Centrale de la Statistique Liban (Central Administrative Body for Statistics Lebanon) Association Européenne de Libre Echange (European Free Exchange Association) Agence Centrale pour la Mobilisation Publique et les Statistiques Egypte (Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics Egypt) Bureau Central de la Statistique Syrie (Central Bureau for Statistics Syria) Commission Européenne (European Commission) Conférence des Ministres des Transports (Conference of Transport Ministers) Département des Statistiques Jordanie (Department of Statistics Jordan) Bureau Central des Statistiques Israélien (Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics) Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques France (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies France) Lloyd s Maritime Information Unit Ministère de l Ecologie, de l Energie, du Développement Durable et de l Aménagement du Territoire France (Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Durable Development and National and Regional Development France) Office National de la Statistique Algérie (National Statistics Office Algeria) Bureau Central des Statistiques Palestinien (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics) Pays Partenaires Méditerranéens (Mediterranean Partner Countries) Réseau Ferré de France (Rail Network of France) Rapport d Orientation et de Programmation (Report on Trends and Programming) Rapport sur la Situation Statistique du Pays (Report on the Statistical Situation of the Country) Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer (National Rail Company) Système Statistique National (National Statistical System) Autorité de Planification des Transports Egypte (Transport Planning Authority Egypt) Union Européenne (European Union) Commission Economique des Nations Unies pour l Europe (Economic Commission of the United Nations for Europe) 2

5 1. Executive Summary This final publication attempts to provide an assessment of the actions carried out and the results achieved over the three years of operation of the MEDSTAT II programme in the sector of transport statistics. The main objective of the MEDSTAT II programme in this sector was to help the Mediterranean partner countries to develop their information systems on transport activities so as to enable them to track progress in this key sector of economic activity and determine strategies best adapted to their situation, their characteristics and their ambitions. In order to accomplish this, a number of conditions need to be met. First, it makes sense to ensure close cooperation in each country between the National Institute of Statistics, responsible for the operation and guarantor of the overall integrity of the national statistical system, and the Ministry of Transport, which is not only an essential user of these statistics but also, quite often, itself a key generator of this information. Most often, a statistical quantity can only be interpreted in a significant way if it can be compared to other data, especially to data regarding the same characteristic for other countries. This is particularly true when considering an activity like transport, which by its very nature connects a country and a region to its neighbours and to the rest of the world. For this reason it is absolutely essential to adopt concepts, classifications and statistical methods in all areas of transport statistics that are harmonised to the international blueprint. The reinforcement of inter-institutional cooperation among the partner countries, the harmonisation of concepts, classifications and methods implemented in the production of transport statistics, as well as the transparency of the activities, the results achieved and the data produced, have been at the heart of all the actions undertaken within the framework of the programme of work in this sector. This programme is structured around three fundamental themes, infrastructural statistics, materials statistics, and the statistics of flow, these three themes motivating the creation of a publication in the series Statistics in Brief. Even if the availability of infrastructure statistics was relatively sufficient at the inception of the programme, the coverage and the availability of statistics for materials have been considerably increased as a result of the activities conducted within the framework of this project. The production of statistics for flow represents both an essential stake and a major challenge. It is an essential stake because it is clear that transport statistics must allow, first and foremost, for the assessment of actual transport activities, in other words the movements of vehicles, irrespective of the method of transport involved, as well as the number of passengers and the volume of goods transported. But this area of transport statistics without any doubt also involves the greatest difficulties for measurement. An ambitious programme of technical assistance for statistics relating to the flow of air, maritime and road transport has enabled substantial progress to be made in this area. Other equally essential themes have been addressed over the course of this programme. First of all, this involves indicators of economic, technical and environmental performance. Transport activities are at the heart of the economic function of an entire country and their economic and technical efficacy is an essential part of the whole 3

6 economy. But this sector also constitutes one of the main consumers of energy and its activity has a very heavy impact upon the environment. It is appropriate, given these conditions, to consider these aspects of economic, technical and environmental efficacy in every strategy relating to the development of transport. This assumes the availability of reliable, and harmonised information. It is the understanding of these considerations that has given rise to the proposal of common indicators. Finally, the development of intermodality is a major characteristic in the evolution of modern transport systems and it often influences how a port, an airport or a whole economy is integrated into the flow of international exchange and the world economy. Aware of what is at stake, the Mediterranean partner countries have determined to reflect upon the development of statistical information regarding intermodal transport. The development of a reliable and harmonised source of information about these elements, which will certainly remain at the heart of the evolution of transport systems in future years and decades, should certainly remain among the priority objectives for work on transport statistics in the Mediterranean partner countries during the next few years. This should also include development of information about other essential aspects, such as intra-city and intercity public passenger transport and the safety of transport systems. Pursuing regional cooperation regarding all of these issues would doubtlessly make it possible for all partner countries to achieve the greatest benefit from these efforts. 4

7 2. Introduction Transport plays a dual role in economic development: it is at the heart of this process on account of its essential role in national economic function and integration of a nation into the trends of international exchange and globalisation. At the same time, it plays a direct role by thereby being among those sectors that experience the highest growth rates, where job creation is the most significant. Additionally, in many countries, particularly those in the Mediterranean region, the transport sector, particularly the sub-sector of road transport, is widely comprised of small, indeed very small economic units, individual or family-run businesses, which very often employ only one person, the owner of the vehicle. Because of this quality, the transport sector plays an essential role in the economic and social fabric. The development of the capacity to move goods and people has always contributed to economic development and a rise in living standards. Mobility has engendered the growth of commercial exchange, while rising living standards have been accompanied, in all countries and at all times, by an increase in the mobility of individuals, particularly by means of private automobiles but also by air and by rail. However, these developments give rise to concerns about economic efficacy and environmental impact. It is well known that along with industry and housing, transport constitutes a sector that most intensively consumes energy and is thus one of the main sources for the emission of greenhouse gases and fine particulates. Given these circumstances, it is essential to ask questions about the economic, technical and environmental efficacy of transport activities in general and different transport methods in particular, in every endeavour to elaborate a strategy for this sector. It is in full awareness of the overall importance of these issues and the needs for related statistical information in the specific context of the Mediterranean partner countries that the MEDSTAT II programme has tried to respond in the sector of transport statistics. Beyond the measurements of growth of activity and employment that national figures can provide, this sector of the programme has also placed emphasis upon the measurement of investments that are at the heart of the development of transport activities, investments in infrastructure and in materials, the measurement of the capacity for the movement of goods and people, in other words the flow of transport and the movement of vehicles, and finally upon the economic, technical and environmental effects that result from these activities. The aim of the programme was to enable the partner countries to have available an information base to help implement their transport policies, in conformity with international norms and in such a way as to enable them to conduct significant and instructive comparisons. These guidelines have guided the design of the work programme in the sector of transport statistics, centred upon four main themes: - Statistics regarding infrastructure (roads and motorways, railways, ports and airports); - Statistics regarding materials (road vehicles for the transportation of passengers and for the transportation of goods, trains, carriages for transporting passengers and goods wagons, aeroplanes and ships); 5

8 - Statistics regarding flow (movement of vehicles and transportation of passengers and goods); - Indicators of economic, technical and environmental outcomes of transport. This analysis concerned the four principal modes of transport: road transport, rail transport, air transport and the maritime transportation of passengers and goods. This publication aims to create a compendium of the actions undertaken and the results achieved within the framework of this programme. More specifically, it will address: - the approach and the context in which the work programme of the sector has been elaborated and put into effect (section 3); - the contribution of the sector of transport statistics to the specific aims of the MEDSTAT II programme (section 4); - the appraisals by the Mediterranean partner countries of the interventions carried out within the framework of this work programme and the results achieved (section 5); - some areas of reflection regarding a continuation of work on a regional scale in the field of transport statistics (section 6). 6

9 3. Context and approach implemented in the work programme on transport statistics The first months of the MEDSTAT II programme were dedicated to a long phase of orientation, with the dual aim of defining a work programme adapted to the situation and to the needs explained by the partner countries and of guaranteeing the implementation of the activities of the programme within these countries. Therefore, a series of projects for orientation was undertaken in all the sectors of the MEDSTAT II programme in April 2006 with the aim of drawing up an inventory of the situation in each country and of reaching agreement on the approaches and priorities to be maintained in each sector. Two types of summary documents were produced at the conclusion of these missions: - Documents relating to sectors and reviewing essential points of the orientation missions and the main recommendations for the implementation of activities in different sectors. These reports on the different sectors were presented to the Management Committee in December On this basis, each sector developed its own work programme, which was presented, discussed and updated on the occasion of the individual coordination meetings ( Task Forces ) for each sector. - Documents relating to each country where elements for different sectors had been integrated to present an inventory of national statistical systems at the outset of the project ( Report on the statistical situation of the country ) and a summary of the priorities assigned to the actions of the programme in each country ( Report of adjustment of the programme ). These two documents constituted the basis for the elaboration of the national documents for roads. The main elements of this assessment and these adjustments for the sector of transport statistics are detailed below Main characteristics of the situation at the outset of the project The initial missions for assessing transport statistics carried out in all the partner countries during the second quarter of 2006 had enabled us to make the following observations: - The work of collecting and conveying data set up within the framework of the MEDSTAT I programme was no longer being pursued; - European statistical definitions and classifications were not well known and not employed; - Sufficiently complete and reliable information about transport infrastructure was, however, available in several partner countries; - Coordination between the National Institutes for Statistics and the Ministries of Transport was often inadequate. It is important to stress that in the majority of partner countries, as in many member states of the European Union, the Ministry of Transport often plays a central role in the definition and the elaboration of transport statistics. Likewise, agencies of each sector may, in certain cases, be in charge of generating statistical information. The role of the National Institute of Statistics thus consists of ensuring the coherence of the data collected, their conformity to international concepts, norms and methods and their distribution. The nature of this statistical 7

10 organisation is a fundamental element of the national statistical system related to forms of transport and, of course, had to be considered in the organisation and implementation of the different actions envisaged in the work programme. As regards the data available, the situation appeared to reveal a great deal of variance at the outset of the project from one statistical area to the next. Although the statistics regarding transport infrastructure (roads and motorways, rail networks, ports and airports) were, in general, widely available and could be considered quite reliable, the same did not apply to statistics relating to materials and flow. In these areas, the available data were sparse and demonstrated many problems in consistency. Performance indicators for the transport area were not actually available for any partner country. The sources used for the production of statistics relating to transport are varied and include more or less the whole spectrum of traditional statistical sources: census, surveys of companies and households, and administrative sources. The breadth of these sources and the complexity this entails lead us to ascribe particular importance to the consistency of the data. In the area of transport infrastructure, the main sources utilized are of an administrative nature: ministries of transport or for materials for all methods of transport, but also, in certain cases, agencies specialising in the management of rail, port or airport infrastructure. In the area of transport materials, the main sources of data are often, once again, of an administrative nature. Most often, in particular, they are Ministries of Transport or of the Interior for road vehicles for the transportation of passengers or goods, and often for private cars as well. The transport companies themselves represent sources of important data, particularly with regard to the materials for air, maritime or rail transport. Flow statistics are based either on administrative sources or on surveys depending upon the method of transport involved. Thus, statistics on traffic and the flows of transportation of passengers and goods by air, by sea and by rail are based fundamentally on the regular circulation of information among port, airport and railway authorities on the one hand, and the Ministry of Transport and the National Institute for Statistics on the other. Statistics relating to the flow of road transportation of goods and passengers, in particular, can most often only be generated on the basis of surveys, sometimes quite sophisticated ones, involving the companies in this sub-sector. National road transport companies may sometimes be required to participate in procedures for collecting systematic data, but at most, their activity only constitutes a very small proportion of total transport activity on behalf of third parties, and therefore an even smaller proportion of the total activity of road transport. In certain cases, there are agencies involved in the organisation and regulation of goods transport at a national level and they can constitute a source of statistical information. However, these organisations themselves only manage a proportion of the internal flow of the transportation of goods and moreover are tending to see their scope of action dwindling as each year passes. With the performance indicators being most often derived from statistical data on infrastructure, materials and flow, combined with data from national finance, energy and environment, the sources called upon do not differ from the ones previously described with regard to the actual transport data. It is on the basis of this initial assessment that the work programme for the sector of transport statistics was elaborated, discussed and updated on the occasion of the two meetings for coordination which were held, the first in Luxembourg on 21 and 22 March 2007, and the second in Lisbon on 5 and 6 June

11 3.2. Priorities determined and general aims of the project In the light of the foregoing, the priorities determined during this initial phase mainly involved the following elements: - the development of statistics for the transportation flow of goods by air, sea and road; - the harmonisation of concepts and definitions used with international and European statistical standards; - the development of performance indicators relating to the four main methods of transport: air, sea, rail and road. During the course of the programme, we added some supplementary aims involving the harmonisation and the distribution of existing data about transport infrastructure, the development and the distribution of statistics about materials, the harmonisation of concepts and definitions relating to rail transport, and the development of methodologies for the production of data on intermodal transport and on marine safety. These priorities are inscribed in the overall aims of the project and consist of: - harmonisation of the concepts, definitions and methods utilised in the production of statistics; - developing the scope and improving the quality of available statistics; - increasing the dissemination of the information produced; - establishing the bases for a regular and ongoing exchange of data amongst the partner countries and Eurostat. This analysis and definition of these priorities were the focus of creating the work programme of the sector, presented, discussed and amended at the first sector coordination meeting ( Task Force ) held in Luxembourg on 21 and 22 March 2007, then updated at the second coordination meeting which was held at Lisbon on 5 and 6 June The work programme adopted at the conclusion of this second coordination meeting is presented in Appendix 1. The main difficulties encountered in the implementation of these priority actions were the following: - In the area of statistics relating to infrastructure, essentially they have has to do with the reorganisation of available data based upon international concepts and classifications; - In the area of statistics relating to materials, the main difficulties involved the adaption to international concepts and classifications and the corresponding reorganisation of available data in all the transport subsectors, road, air, sea and rail. In the case of road transport, an additional problem often arises in connection with the lack of reliability of vehicle registers. In particular, it appears that in many cases, the withdrawal from service of road vehicles may not be recorded systematically, which leads to an artificial inflation of the number of vehicles in circulation; - It is in the area of statistics relating to flow that the difficulties are the most numerous and the most serious. In this case, the problems differ greatly depending upon the method of transport concerned. The statistics relating to the flow of rail transport only involve a few partner countries and do not appear to pose serious problems. The statistics relating to the flow of air 9

12 and sea transportation of passengers and goods are available for the majority of the main ports and airports but very often, they do not allow for a precise breakdown of flows with respect to origin and destination or, in the case of goods, with respect to the type of commodity. The statistics relating to the flow of goods by road transport give rise to the most serious difficulties. Their creation requires sophisticated survey methods involving transport companies, which no partner country has managed to master completely to date; - Once more, since performance indicators are essentially derived from statistical data on infrastructure, materials and flow, the problems posed their creation are largely related to the difficulties mentioned above, and in addition to the means of collection and consistency of this information along with the incorporation and application of new concepts Actions undertaken The work programme that was initiated followed directly from the priorities identified previously and it was structured around the four following theme: - Transport infrastructure: work on this theme was structured around setting up national working groups with the aim of collecting and harmonising existing information. On this basis, a regional workshop was organised for the purpose of discussing the data collected and the methods implemented in their production with a view to preparing a publication in the series Statistics in Brief on this topic; - Transport materials: once again, the work on this topic was focused on setting up national working groups with the aim of collecting and harmonising existing information. A regional workshop was likewise organised with a view to discussing the data produced and preparing a publication in the series Statistics in Brief on this theme; - Transport flow: the work on this theme was organised around an ambitious programme of technical assistance projects designed to implement a method for the generation of data about the flow of air and sea transportation of passengers and goods and on the flow of goods by road transportation. A collection of harmonised data was produced on this basis and a regional workshop was set up, with a view of evaluating the quality of the data collected and developing recommendations on methodology arising from the technical assistance programme missions with a view to issuing a publication in the series Statistics in Brief on this theme; - Performance Indicators: a regional workshop was organised with the aim of t defining a list of economic, technical and environmental performance indicators for air, sea, rail and road transport. Upon its conclusion, a programme of technical assistance missions was initiated, designed to help interested partner countries to develop indicators created on a harmonised basis. In order to implement these priorities taking into account the specific difficulties mentioned above, three main forms of action were incorporated in the work programme: - Workshops aimed at sharing experiences and dealing with practical issues, specifically connected with the collection of data with a view to 10

13 their publication. This method was put into practice in the collection of data on infrastructure, materials and transport flow; - Study visits to organisations responsible for the collection or dissemination of statistics in areas where partner countries still had little experience. This method was implemented in the areas of statistics relating to maritime flow and railway statistics; - Technical assistance missions for evaluating the situation in a partner country with regard to statistical production in a particular area and helping to install new concepts or new tools. This method was specifically implemented for setting up methods to generate statistics on the flow of road transportation of goods and on transportation performance indicators. Whereas the first two methods correspond more particularly to general need at the regional level, the third method has the aim of responding to more specific needs of a particular country. It also represents a more operational method of support for setting up norms, concepts and systems for data collection and the elaboration of statistics. In total, over the entire three-year period of implementing the programme, 32 events were organised in the sector of statistics relating to transport, including 2 coordination meetings, 2 study visits, 5 workshops and 23 technical assistance missions. The course of these events in relation to the priority areas for action were as follows: - Statistics relating to infrastructure: a workshop organised in Paris on 19 and 20 July 2007; - Statistics relating to materials: a workshop organised in Athens from 3 to 5 November 2008; - Statistics relating to flow: a workshop organised in Marseille on 16 and 17 December This workshop concluded an ambitious programme of technical assistance missions conducted on this theme with all of the partner countries 1. Altogether, 21 missions were carried out between the month of June 2007 and the month of January 2009, six missions on statistics relating to the flow of air transport, including one in each of the partner countries except Israel, Palestine and Syria, seven missions on statistics relating to the flow of maritime transport, including one in each of the partner countries except Israel and Palestine, and eight missions on the statistics on the flow of road transportation of goods, including one in each of the partner countries except Israel. A study visit on statistics relating to the flow of maritime transport was also organised in London from 25 to 28 February 2008; - Performance indicators: a workshop organised in Brussels from 14 to 16 July 2008 and an technical assistance mission carried out in Egypt from 9 to 13 May 2009; - Statistics relating to intermodal transport: a workshop organised in Luxembourg from 1st to 3 April 2009 and an technical assistance mission carried out in Tunisia in October 2008; - Statistics relating to rail transport: a study visit organised in Paris from 23 to 25 September A more detailed description of these various technical activities is provided in Appendix 3. All these events, workshops, study visits and technical assistance missions benefited from expert knowledge and contributions provided by: 1 Except Israel, which did not request it. 11

14 - Eurostat (workshops on statistics relating to infrastructure and materials, on performance indicators and statistics relating to intermodal transport); - National statistical institutes, particularly INSEE (workshop and diverse technical assistance missions on the statistics of flow) the federal office of statistics of the Republic of Germany (workshop on the statistics of intermodal transport); - The French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, and Sustainable Development and National and Regional Development (workshops on performance indicators and on the statistics of intermodal transport, study visit on the statistics of rail transport); - The Economic Commission of the United Nations for Europe (workshop on the statistics of intermodal transport); - European organisations and companies, in particular Lloyd s Maritime Information Unit (study visit on the statistics of maritime flow), the SNCF and the RFF (study visit on the statistics of rail transport), Aéroports de Paris (workshop on the statistics of flow and diverse technical assistance missions on the statistics of the flow of air transport), the ADEME (workshop on performance indicators). The cooperation between national institutes of statistics and ministries of transport that is so desirable for the partner countries has thus been put into practice in the implementation of this work programme itself. All the technical documents prepared for the workshops and all the reports compiled at the conclusion of completed technical assistance missions are available on the Circa website of the European Commission. 12

15 4. Contribution of the sector to the specific aims of MEDSTAT II The overall aim of the MEDSTAT II programme was to contribute to the implementation of partnership agreements between the European Union and the Mediterranean partner countries, by helping to improve the quality of statistical services and data, in order to: - Respond to the needs for economic and social information as expressed in the Declaration of Barcelona and in conformity to the 4 th Euro- Mediterranean Ministerial Conference of 15 and 16 November 2000; - Provide users with the up to date, reliable and pertinent statistical information essential for political decision makers and for good government. The major initiatives of MEDSTAT II are reflected in its specific objectives, which are to contribute to: - institutional and inter-institutional strengthening of National Statistical Institutes and Statistical Systems of the Mediterranean partners, - harmonisation of statistical data with European and international norms, in order to improve the comparability of figures produced by the partner countries with those of the member states of the European Union and the countries of the AELE; - setting up databases and sharing relevant data amongst the Statistical Institutes of the Mediterranean countries and Eurostat, - greater transparency and better dissemination of activities, results and data produced by the programme, - satisfaction of the needs of users within a more general framework of service to consumers. These general and specific objectives have remained at the heart of the activities undertaken in the sector relating to transport statistics, and have been concretely and systematically included in the terms of reference for all events organised in the sector. The actions undertaken within the framework of the work programme defined at the different meetings on coordination of transport statistics have also covered all the specific aims set out above, in particular the improvement of inter-institutional cooperation amongst the National Institutes of Statistics and the Ministries of Transport or the organisms of each sector, the harmonisation of the data produced with European and international norms, the sharing of data with Eurostat and a greater transparency of the results achieved and the data produced via the creation of diverse publications. These results are shown in detail below. Taking into account the specific nature of transport statistics, the main issues for this sector lay in the implementation of improved cooperation amongst the National Institutes of Statistics and the Ministries of Transport, the harmonisation of statistics produced with international methods, concepts and classifications, support for the development of new fields of transport statistics, in particular statistics relating to the flow of road transportation of goods and indicators for economic, technical and environmental performance, and, finally, better visibility of the results. 13

16 4.1. Institutional and inter-institutional strengthening The implementation of the programme provided an opportunity to develop coordination and cooperation amongst the National Institutes of Statistics and the Ministries of Transport. In all the partner countries, the National Institutes of Statistics and the transport ministries also worked together very closely in all the actions undertaken and took part in all the events organised within the framework of the programme. In particular, they were systematically involved with the different technical assistance missions that were carried out as well as with all the workshops and all the study visits organised within the framework of the project. On an organisational level, in nearly every partner country the national coordinator of transport statistics clearly identified a principal contact person within the transport ministry. In one case, that of Algeria, the national coordinator for the sector himself belonged to this ministry and at the same time worked very closely in the implementation of the actions of the programme with the National Statistics Office and, more particularly, with the coordinator appointed by him for transport statistics. It is important to stress that all workshops organised in the sector of transport statistics were systematically open to two representatives from each partner country, one from the National Institute of Statistics, and the other from the Ministry of Transport. These workshops also allowed for the joint preparation of contributions for the workshops by the National Institute of Statistics and the Ministry of Transport as well as for sharing and discussion of the outcomes of the event and its practical consequences for the country concerned. The numerous technical assistance missions carried out during the three years of implementation of the programme, particularly in the area of statistics relating to the flow of air and maritime transportation of passengers and freight, and statistics relating to the flow of road transportation of goods, were also systematically organised jointly by the National Institute of Statistics and the Ministry of Transport and broadly relied upon close cooperation between these two institutions Harmonisation The harmonisation of methods and generated data with European and international norms, concepts and classifications of transport statistics constituted a continuous concern in the work conducted within the framework of the MEDSTAT II programme. Very specific concepts and norms exist at the international level for the elaboration of transport statistics on a harmonised database. They are summarised in the Glossary of Transport Statistics, published under the aegis of the United Nations for the Economic Commission for Europe, Eurostat and the European Conference of Transport Ministries. Although this glossary had been generally known in the Mediterranean partner countries, it would appear that it was not always used in the past. Moreover, only the second edition of this glossary has been translated into Arabic and not the third edition, which is currently in force, and this may pose difficulty for one or two partner countries 2. The concepts and definitions included in the glossary have been systematically emphasized and used as points of reference in the work conducted within the framework of the programme on statistics relating to infrastructure, materials and the flow of road, maritime, air 2 It should be noted that a fourth edition of the glossary is currently in the process of preparation. 14

17 and rail transport. Using the concepts and definitions of the glossary in practice during these concrete activities should help to make them more familiar and ease their integration in the processes of generating data for transport statistics. Specific references for methodology likewise exist at the European level, particularly for the compilation of statistics relating to infrastructure, materials and the flow of air, maritime and rail transport. In this area as well, these methodological references were emphasized systematically in the work carried out on the sector. This was particularly the case with the methodology for generating statistics about the flow of road transportation of goods according to a survey known as TRM, several technical assistance missions on the statistics relating to flow having had the objective of transferring this methodology for use by the partner countries. Finally, there also exist lists and classifications harmonised to European and international blueprints for the elaboration of transport statistics. This is particularly the case with classifications of infrastructure and transport materials by method, and these classifications are linked in turn to the definition of certain concepts in the glossary of transport statistics or to the NST 2007 list of goods transported in accordance with certain methods of transport. In this case once more, this list, previously unfamiliar to the partner countries, has been widely distributed and used as a point of reference in the elaboration of statistics relating to freight Sharing and validation of data The activity carried out within the framework of the programme has been very important in this area. Three general collections have been carried out with a view to creating the chapter entitled Transports in the Euro-Mediterranean bulletin. In addition, the final collection conducted focused not only on the data published in the Bulletin but also upon a broader ensemble of data distributed via the Eurostat website. Furthermore, two specialised collections were conducted with a view to creating two publications in the series Statistics in Brief, one about transport equipment, the other on the subject of the flow of air and maritime transport. In reciprocal fashion, all partner countries received equivalent data concerning all the Mediterranean countries along with the countries of the European Union and the AELE. It is important to stress that the variables and characteristics that were the subject of the collection were defined in consultation with the partner countries during the coordination meetings of the sector. More often than not, they were based upon prior exercises of specific data collection related to the publications mentioned above. Three essential aspects of the collections of data conducted within the framework of this programme will be discussed in detail below: the coverage in these collections, the methodology used for these collections and the validation of the data collected, and finally, the assessment of these collections and the visibility of their results Coverage of the general collection The number of variables collected within the framework of the general collections for the purpose of producing the Euro-Mediterranean Bulletin increased considerably between the start and the end of the programme. Altogether, 111 additional characteristics 3 were gathered during the third collection conducted beginning in the autumn of 2008, their distribution by mode of transport and by theme being as follows: - Road transport: 33 additional characteristics about equipment, one on the subject of traffic; 3 Including diverse disaggregation of the same variable. 15

18 - Rail transport: 28 additional characteristics about equipment, two on the subject of traffic; - Air transport: three additional characteristics about infrastructure, twelve about equipment, one on the subject of traffic; - Maritime transport: four additional characteristics about infrastructure, 25 about equipment, two on the subject of traffic. As this rapid summary illustrates, the majority of the new variables introduced relate to equipment and this collection reflects the work previously conducted with a view to the production of a publication on this theme within the framework of the series Statistics in Brief. The detailed list of these variables is presented in Appendix 4. The aim of broadening this list of variables was to consolidate the collection and the sharing of data amongst the Mediterranean partner countries and Eurostat on the basis of the results obtained via the different activities carried out within the framework of the programme, to enrich the chapter devoted to transport statistics in the Euro-Med bulletin and to give the greatest possible visibility for the results obtained. This list should thus constitute the basis for the collection and the sharing of data between the Mediterranean countries and Eurostat in the future, thus guaranteeing the continuity of these results. It is fitting to note that this expansion of the data collection has likewise given rise to important methodological work at the level of the concepts and the definitions used on the one hand and in the area of validation tests on the other. This aspect will be developed in the next section Coverage of the two specific collections As has been mentioned, two specific collections were also carried out with a view to the production of two publications in the series Statistics in Brief, the first relating to transport materials and the second regarding the flow of air and maritime transport. The variables that became the subject of a collection with a view to the production of a publication in the series Statistics in Brief about transport materials covered the four main methods of transport, air, maritime, road and rail, and applied to both equipment for the transportation of passengers and the equipment for the transportation of goods. Altogether, 21 variables were collected for each of these modes of transport with the aim of analysing the quantity of equipment in the country according to categories of road or rail vehicle, ship or aeroplane, and the evolution of their total and average capacities, in numbers of passengers or cargo capacity. The same method was applied in specialized data collection directed towards creating of a publication in the series Statistics in Brief about transport flow. In this case, three modes of transport were included in the collection of data: road transport, air transport and maritime transport. Realising that there was little data collected about the flow of road transport, the publication was redirected toward the analysis of the evolution of the flow of air and maritime transportation of goods and passengers. Altogether, 13 variables relating to the flow of air transport were covered by this specific data collection, each variable being collected for three statistical units: all the national airports, all the main airports and the main national airport, the objective being to collect information that would enable us to analyse the evolution of the flow of air traffic and the flow of air 16

19 transportation of goods and passengers according to the type of aircraft, the type of flight, the company, the place of origin of arriving flights and the destination of departing flights. With regard to the analysis of the flow of maritime transport, 17 variables were collected, each one of them being collected again for three statistical units: all of the national ports, all of the main ports and the main national port, with the aim being to collect information to enable us to analyse the evolution of the flow of maritime traffic and the flow of the maritime transportation of goods and passengers with respect to the type of ship, its nationality and its flag, the place of origin of arriving ships and the destination of departing ships Methodology of the general collection and validation of the data The general collection was organised by means of sending a questionnaire for each mode of transport covered: air, maritime, road and rail transport. Each questionnaire consisted of four distinct sections: - A section devoted specifically to the collection of data; - A Validation section enabling us to immediately identify any data supplied presenting problems of internal consistency that required a review by the supplier of the information; - A Methodology section containing the title, the precise definition, the unit and the scale for each indicator and also enabling us to collect information from partner countries regarding availability of information, the national definition possibly applied and other observations relating to this indicator; - A General Information section enabling us to collect information regarding communication of similar data to other international bodies and about any specific difficulties posed by responding to this questionnaire. As has been mentioned previously, a significant methodological task was completed in developing the questionnaire with a view to the third general collection of data. The large number of variables introduced at the time of this third collection, both regarding infrastructure and equipment and the flow of transport, have in fact led us to include complete and precise definitions of all these indicators in the questionnaires in English and in French. A complete review, often with corrections, of all the definitions of the indicators already collected during previous years was carried out on this occasion. It should be noted that responses to the questionnaires at the time of the third data collection were returned using the edamis system, a new system of communication designed to facilitate the transfer of data amongst various national, European and Eurostat institutions. Validation of the data relied on a dual approach: on the one hand, the elaboration of test battery that could be automated and integrated in the questionnaires themselves, so as to enable the partner countries to independently verify the coherence of the data supplied before even returning the questionnaire and to provide, where necessary, explanations for understanding of them in instances where the original data had been kept. In addition, a visual examination of the data received permitted detection of surprising or even aberrant values, or potentially incongruous changes. In all these situations, precise questions were addressed to the partner country concerned, requesting a specific explanation or a modification of the data in question. The respective data were only published on the Eurostat website and in the Euro-Med bulletin once they were modified or when explanations deemed to be satisfactory were provided by the country. 17