A study on behaviours of inter-city freight transport within province (A case study: The freight transport in south sulawesi province-Indonesia)

Infrastructure development of freight transport system is vital in Master Plan for Acceleration and Expansion on Indonesia’s Economic Development (Masterplan Percepatan dan Perluasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Indonesia/MP3EI). Based on this context, this study aims to analyse one of freight transport main characteristics namely transport cost between cities in South Sulawesi Province. Survey using questionnaire interviews with the freight transport operators was carried out in order to gather information on characteristics of the freight transport including operator characteristic, vehicles characteristic, trip characteristic, and commodity characteristic. Interviews with the freight transport operators travelling across Parepare - Makassar, one of freight transport main routes in South Sulawesi Province, was carried out for one week. The survey data was analysed using descriptive statistic approach to understand the existing freight transport characteristic phenomenon. Furthermore, the transport cost analysis was conducted by developing relationship model between cost and distance travelled by freight transport using regression model approach. The result of the analysis shows that the transport cost of the freight transport is significantly determined by the operator salary cost, fuel cost, and vehicle maintenance cost. The freight transport operational cost model gives decent significance level in aspect of the transport modes used as well as the commodities transported. These results provide basis and expectation toward more advanced analysis on developing more comprehensive model of freight transport modes choice for freight transport trip in South Sulawesi Province in further studies.