Press release No. 096 of 14 March 2019
COLOGNE/WIESBADEN – Economic activity generates and requires transport services – hence there is a close connection between the economic development and the freight traffic by trucks on German roads. As part of toll collection, digital process data is generated, among other things, on the mileage of trucks subject to toll in Germany. The Federal Office for Goods Transport has used this data to develop a truck-toll-mileage index, which indicates the evolvement of freight traffic on German roads. The truck-toll-mileage index is able to provide early indications for the economic development. Due to its quick availability and economic meaningfulness, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) has included this index as a seasonally adjusted economic indicator in its publication programme since December 2018. The truck-toll-mileage index is published as a monthly time series, which starts in January 2005 and is regularly updated about 15 days after the end of a reporting month. Today the data is extended for the reporting month of February 2019.
The release dates for the year 2019 are presented in the table below.
| Reporting Month | Publication |
|---|---|
| February 2019 | 14 March 2019 |
| March 2019 | 16 April 2019 |
| April2019 | 16 May 2019 |
| May 2019 | 14 June 2019 |
| June 2019 | 16 July 2019 |
| July 2019 | 15 August 2019 |
| August 2019 | 16 September 2019 |
| September 2019 | 16 October 2019 |
| October 2019 | 14 November 2019 |
| November 2019 | 16 December 2019 |
In the context of the collaboration between the two federal authorities, it is currently being examined whether and to which extent the period between the end of the reporting month and the publication date can be shortened from the year 2020.
Since January 2008 the Federal Office for Goods Transport evaluates the toll data in context of the ‘Toll Statistics’. Both the size of the toll road network and the total weight of vehicles and vehicle combinations underlying the toll have changed over time. The truck-toll-mileage index excludes structural changes due to toll extensions as far as possible to better assess current developments.
Release notes
Presentations of the truck-toll-mileage index in the context of the economic development in Germany can be found in the data base GENESIS-Online in table 42191-0001, in the areas short-term indicators and Business Cycle Monitor of the Federal Statistical Office. Further information can be found in the article ‘Digital process data from truck toll collection as new building block of official short-term statistics’, jointly drafted by the Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Office for Goods Transport in the WISTA magazine issue 6/2018 of the Federal Statistical Office. The English version of the article mentioned above can be obtained via request. Parts of the work of the Federal Statistical Office on which these publications are based were co-financed by the European Union.
More results of the Toll Statistics are available on the existing publication program of the Federal Office for Goods Transport with differentiation of the tolled mileage, for example by country of origin or emission class. Due to the offer of a variety of data and the resulting high evaluation effort, the monthly Toll Statistics are generally released after the truck-toll-mileage index and do not include the adjustment for seasonal effects or structural changes in the toll collection through index calculation.
Federal Office for Goods Transport:
Michael Cox,
tel: +49 (0) 221 / 5776-21 06
www.bag.bund.de
Federal Statistical Office:
Julia Völker,
tel: +49 (0) 611 / 75 27 30
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