TRUCK DRIVER DECISIONS IN PERISHABLE CARGO TRANSPORT: THE CASE OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD TRADE IN EAST AFRICA

Abstract

he Northern Corridor (NC) is the main route connecting the land-locked countries of East Africa with the port of Mombasa and is heavily used for shipping goods, including perishable cargo. This paper examines how factors pertaining to truck features, job conditions, and truck driver characteristics influence the decision to accept perishable cargo and the size of an accepted perishable product shipment. The decision equation and the volume shipped equation are estimated using survey data collected from truck drivers interviewed at the border crossing between Uganda and Kenya in September and October 2018. Results show that independent truck drivers and drivers who are Kenyan citizens are more likely to accept perishable cargo and ship larger volumes than drivers working for trucking companies. The opposite influence is associated with drivers operating at set schedules and in response to the increasing truck age, possibly due to the risk of malfunction during a trip.

Keywords

• agricultural trade
• agricultural commodity
• survey data
• logit
• Tobit model
• Kenya