Quarterly Motor Carriers of Freight Survey

Detailed information for second quarter 2005

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

Quarterly

Record number:

2748

The principal objective of this survey is to provide information about the size, structure and economic performance of Canada's for-hire trucking industry.

Data release - September 8, 2005 (top carriers); November 3, 2005 (all carriers)

Description

The principal objective of this survey is to provide information about the size, structure and economic performance of Canada's for-hire trucking industry. Financial data are used as inputs to the Canadian System of National Accounts. Federal and provincial governments use the data to formulate policies and to monitor the trucking industry in Canada. Trucking companies and associations use the published statistics for benchmarking purposes.

Statistical activity

This statistical activity is part of a set of surveys measuring various aspects of activities related to the movement of people and goods. These surveys are grouped as follows:

Transportation by air includes records related to the movement of aircraft, passengers and cargo by air for both Canadian and foreign air carriers operating in Canada as well as the financial and operating characteristics of Canadian air carriers. These data are produced by the Aviation Statistics Centre.

Transportation by rail includes records relating to rail transportation in Canada, and between the United States and Canada.

Transportation by road includes records relating to all road transport in Canada. In addition to surveying carriers and owners of registered motor vehicles, certain programs rely on aggregation of provincial and territorial administrative records.

Reference period: January to March, April to June, July to September, October to December

Collection period: 2 weeks following the end of the quarter, for a period of 5 weeks.

Subjects

  • Transportation
  • Transportation by road

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population includes all Canadian domiciled for-hire motor carriers (companies) of freight with annual operating revenues of $1 million or more.

Instrument design

The questionnaire for this survey has remained stable over the years, although the format and wording has been modified to maintain its relevance based on feedback from survey respondents and data users.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

The survey population consists of all companies on Statistics Canada's business register, the Central Frame Data Base (CFDB), classified as for-hire trucking with an annual gross business income value of $1 million or more.

A sample of carriers is selected from the survey population for the first quarter of the reference year. Sample rotation, except among carriers that have a substantial impact on the survey estimates, was implemented for the 2000 reference year in order to reduce response burden. Rather than selecting an independent sample in the first quarter of every reference year, the previous year's fourth quarter sample is rotated to minimize the sample overlap from one year to the next. This sample is then updated each quarter so that it remains representative of the survey population. Each segment of the industry and each province and territory of Canada is represented in the sample.

The carriers on the first quarter survey frame are first grouped (stratified) according to their province of domicile and type of activity. Since 1997, the type of activity is defined according to the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). Then, within each province/type of activity combination, the carriers are divided into three size groups (strata). The size is measured by annual gross business income. For reasons of efficiency, carriers in the largest size stratum within each province/type of activity combination are included in the sample with certainty. Carriers in the remaining size strata are sampled according to a probability mechanism called simple random sampling, which gives every carrier within the same stratum an equal chance of selection. The quarterly sample size is about 800 units. For each of the second, third and fourth quarters of the reference year, the previous quarter sample is updated so that it remains representative of the updated survey population for that quarter. Units in the previous quarter sample no longer in the survey population are removed, and a sample of the units new to the survey population for that quarter (births) is added.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

At the end of each quarter, a questionnaire is sent to each sampled carrier. The data are collected by mail-back, facsimile or through computer assisted telephone interviews. The survey data are captured and checked for errors and inconsistencies. If required, some inconsistent, questionable or missing data are referred back to the carrier for clarification or revision.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Error detection

The survey data are captured and checked for errors and inconsistencies. If required, some inconsistent, questionable or missing data are referred back to the carrier for clarification or revision. Problems or missing data that cannot be resolved with the carrier are then replaced with consistent values (are imputed).

Imputation

Problems or missing data, which cannot be resolved with the carrier, are replaced with consistent values (are imputed) using Statistics Canada's Generalized Edit and Imputation System. The system imputes the data using different imputation rules depending on the type of carrier and the type of data to be imputed.

Estimation

Since only a sample of carriers is contacted, the individual values are weighted to represent the whole industry within the scope of the survey. The sampling weights of the respondents are adjusted to compensate for non response. The value for each carrier in the sample is multiplied by the sampling weight for that carrier, and then the weighted data from all sampled carriers belonging to a given estimation domain (e.g. general freight in Ontario) are summed to obtain the estimate. Variance estimates are obtained using the Taylor linearization method.

Quality evaluation

The survey results are analyzed before dissemination. In general this includes a detailed review of the individual responses (especially for the largest enterprises), a review of general economic conditions as well as historic trends and comparisons with industry averages and ratios.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential.

If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data. Data for a specific industry or variable may be suppressed (along with that of a second industry or variable) if the number of enterprises in the population is too low.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Quarterly estimates are provided for the most current quarter available. The data for the previous quarter are revised if necessary. Seasonal adjustments are not made to the data.

Data accuracy

As a measure of the sampling error, estimated coefficients of variation (CV) are calculated. They are available from Transportation Division upon request. The CV and the relative imputation rate, also available, should be considered simultaneously to make an assessment of the reliability of an estimate.

Coefficients of variation (CV) of the final estimates are computed. The quality of the estimates are classified as follows:

* Excellent CV is 0.01% to 4.99%
* Very good CV is 5.00% to 9.99%
* Good CV is 10.00% to 14.99%
* Acceptable CV is 15.00% to 24.99%
* Caution CV is 25.00% to 34.99%
* Unreliable CV is larger than 35.00%

Based on these ratings, the total revenue estimates for the whole industry were judged to be excellent at the national level and good to excellent at the provincial/territorial level.

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