Trends between 1995-2010

The analysis with the data shows that the energy efficiency of Finnish road freight transport has fluctuated between 1995-2010 from 2.97 to 3.14 tkm/kWh and no clear trend can be found. CO2 emissions, on the other hand showed an upward trend from 1995 to 2000, after which the emissions have fluctuated between 2.3 and 2.4 million tonnes. The emissions were at the highest 2.4 Mt in 2008, but decreased to 2.14 Mt the next year because of economic downturn, only to increase back to 2.3 Mt in 2010. (Figure 13).

Figure 13. The development of road freight energy efficiency and CO2 emissions in Finland

1995-2010.

The energy efficiency seems to have had an improving trend from 1995 to 2002, but a declining trend since. However, the energy efficiency in Finland is still on a quite high level compared to the energy efficiency of 3.46 tkm/kWh for Great Britain in 2007, 2.74 tkm/kWh for a sample of German companies in 2003 and 2.42 tkm/kWh for Spain in 2003 (author’s

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calculations based on figures in Piecyk 2010a; Leonardi & Baumgartner 2004; Perez-Martinez 2009). On the other hand, the vehicles’ energy intensity in Finland has been from 13 to 14 MJ/km, compared to approximately 11.8 MJ/km in Great Britain, 11.5 MJ/km in Germany and 10.9 MJ/km in Spain.

These differences are possibly mainly due to the extensive use of long (up to 25.25 meters) and heavy (up to 60 tons) vehicles in Finland, which is best illustrated by the average truck loading calculated by dividing the tonne-kilometres by vehicle-kilometers. The average payload in Finland has been from 15.3 to 13.3 tons whereas in Great Britain and Spain it was about 9.8 and 7.3 tons respectively. The average fuel intensity in Great Britain is close to that of Finland even though long and heavy vehicles are not used in Great Britain. However, tall and high capacity double deck vehicles are used in Great Britain, which may have an effect. Neither of these high capacity vehicles is used in Germany or Spain, which leads to better fuel intensity but worse energy efficiency in these countries than in Finland and Great Britain.

Another explanation for the high energy efficiency in Finland might be found in the product mix carried. Fairly high share of Finnish freight transport is heavy goods, such as wood, paper, metals and machinery. Heavy goods enable good vehicle utilization in terms of weight. The utilization rate on laden trips is 81-74% in Finland, compared to 80% in Spain, 57% in Great Britain and only 44% in the German sample. However, it is most likely that there are also other affecting factors and the data and calculation methods are different. It could also be that the liberation of road transport markets in different EU countries is still affecting also the energy efficiencies, for instance by adding empty runs. A European comparison of energy efficiency using similar data and calculation methods would be necessary to further analyze the reasons for differences between countries.

4.3.1. Transport intensity

Transport intensity is the ratio of road haulage and GDP (tkm/€), which is affected by four indicators: GDP, value density, modal split and average length of laden trips on road. Transport intensity remained at around 0.24 tkm/€ in Finland in 1995-2000, but decreased since to 0.18 tkm/€ in 2007 and is now 0.19 tkm/€. The modal split has been very stable during this time and it has not affected the transport intensity (Figure 14).

55 Figure 14. The changes of aggregates and indicators affecting transport intensity, with CO2

emissions, 1995-2010.

Transport intensity has been affected by the changes in value density and average length of laden trips which have had opposite effects. The increase in the value density has decreased the total tonnage and hence decreases the transport intensity. Increase in the average length of laden trips, on the other hand, increases the total haulage and thus also the transport intensity. Until year 2000 these two indicators increased at the same pace, so the transport intensity did not change. After that, value density has continued to increase, but average length of laden trips has stabilised, causing the transport intensity to decrease. Value density has increased at approximately the same pace with the GDP, so the road tonnage has remained at the 1995 level, except for the few years. Thus the increase in the road haulage in 1995-2002 has been due to lengthening trips.

4.3.2. Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is the ratio of road haulage and energy consumption (tkm/kWh), which is affected by three indicators: average load on laden trips, empty running and average fuel consumption. Energy efficiency increased in Finland 1995-2002, but has since decreased almost back to 1995 level (Figure 15).

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Figure 15. The changes of aggregates and indicators affecting energy efficiency 1995-2010. The values of all indicators affecting energy efficiency have decreased since 1995. However, decreasing indicator values change energy efficiency in opposite directions. Decrease in the average load on laden trips means that more laden mileage is needed to perform the same amount of road haulage, so more energy is consumed and the energy efficiency decreases. Decrease of empty running, on the other hand, decreases the total mileage if laden mileage remains stable and thus increases the energy efficiency. Decrease in the average fuel consumption means that less energy is needed to drive the same total mileage, so energy efficiency increases. The effects are not as straightforward, however. This is because vehicle loading also affects the fuel consumption, hence part of the decrease in energy efficiency caused by decrease in average load is offset by decrease in average fuel consumption. It has to be kept in mind also that fuel consumption is greatly affected by driver behaviour which is not taken into account here due to lack of data.

The increase in energy efficiency until year 2002 was caused mainly by the decrease in empty running seen in Figure 15. The empty running was actually at the lowest in 2003, but then also the average load was considerably lower than in 2002, so energy efficiency was also lower than in 2002. Since 2003 empty running has fluctuated but average load has continued to decrease, causing the energy efficiency to decrease. Average fuel consumption has also decreased slightly and this has restrained the decrease in energy efficiency caused by decreasing average loads.

The eight indicator, fuel CO2 content, was not considered here as it was assumed to be constant (2.66 kg/l for diesel) in 1995-2010.

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