Potential demand for coastal shipping in Queensland: a behavioural econometric analysis

Road freight transport presently dominates in Queensland due to the current restrictive coastal freight transport regulations. This study presents a discrete choice experiment administered to a sample of shippers and freight forwarders to elicit their preferences for road, rail, and sea transport. The results reveal that about 30% of the choices of 64 company representatives were for the coastal shipping option. Model estimates suggest a willingness to pay about 20 AUD/hour for saving one hour of transit time in the corridor, a higher direct elasticity for road transport with respect to cost, a higher direct elasticity for sea transport with respect to time, and an effect of road user charge on shifting from road transport. The results also show the tendency of half of the sample to ignore either transport time or cost (if not both) in their mode choice decisions, and in this case, the willingness to pay increased to about 30 to 44 AUD/hour for decision-makers not ignoring time and cost in their decisions. Findings also suggest that freight decision-makers evaluate cost and delay attributes of modes in correspondence with risk factors.