Directness as a key performance indicator for freight transport chains

Detours are divided into supply chain, logistics and freight transport detours respectively and most attention is paid to the last kind of detour. Freight transport detours are divided into physical, political, commercial, operational and non-planned causes for detours. The first two stipulate the system environment in which the focused actors, transport service providers, decide upon detours. Operational causes are subject to internal decision making whereas commercial and non-planned causes are both external and internal to transport service providers.