Macrologistics instrumentation: Integrated national freight-flow and logistics cost measurement

The objective of this research is to aid macrologistics decision-making through the development and interpretation of national freight-flow and logistics cost measurements, i.e. macrologistics instrumentation. This provides the systemic view of the national freight logistics landscape that is required to address logistics challenges within the context of a country's socio-economic objectives. The results highlight that South Africa's macrologistics costs exceed that of trading partners, with road transport the dominant cost contributor. Investing in domestic intermodal solutions will reduce both transport and externality costs. This, in turn, will improve the competitiveness of domestic and international freight, and support economic and ecological development objectives. Rail branch line densification will improve market access for rural economies and reduce logistics costs while supporting social development objectives. These applications provide examples of data-driven policy development and infrastructure investments. The level of spatial and sectoral disaggregation in the South Africa's Freight Demand ModelTM, and the flow-level link with a logistics costs model, within the context of the national input-output model, is to the best of our knowledge unique. This link to economic aggregates in the South Africa's Freight Demand ModelTM input data bridges logistics' analytical gap to macroeconomic decision-making.