Searching for policy priorities in the formulation of a freight transport strategy: a canonical correlation analysis of freight industry attitudes

An efficient and effective freight transport strategy can be aided by early professional contributions from key stakeholders. One broad group who have historically been given limited opportunity to influence the drafting of a freight strategy, are commercial road users and shippers who manufacture a nd distribute goods. Utilising a data set collected in Australia in 1996 fr om a sample of organisations involved directly and indirectly in road freig ht transportation, views were sought on road infrastructure changes, new ro ad infrastructure, non-road infrastructure needs and transport policies. An optimal scaling approach using non-linear canonical correlation is impleme nted to search for structural relationships between the under-lying policy and infrastructure dimensions and the various industry categories. This fra mework provides a powerful mechanism for identifying differences among stak eholders in terms of their support for or opposition to specific policies. Results reveal the considerable differences in attitudes associated with th e component parts of the freight industry. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. A ll rights reserved.