Locations of Logistics Service Providers in Germany - The basis for a new freight transport generation model

Integrating the decisions and the behavior of Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) into freight transport models is essential to be capable of accurately describing future developments in freight transport systems. Knowledge on the spatial distribution patterns of LSP locations, e.g. to represent network routing of shipments more accurately, is of paramount importance. Moreover, attributes characterizing the LSP locations are helpful to relate them to traffic generation. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present intermediate results of an empirical study on LSP locations in Germany. Drawing on these findings, the freight generated by German less than truckload networks is estimated on an aggregate level. These findings shed some light on the spatial and structural patterns of the locations allocable to the German logistics sector and the freight transport it generates. These insights are highly relevant for freight transport and land use planning policies.