Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

merchandise, valued on a transaction basis, 
disaggregated by mode of transportation (air freight, sea 
freight, rail freight, road freight, inland waterways 
freight and pipeline freight). For these items:  
(a)  Credits include all freight transport services 
provided (for import, export, cabotage
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 or cross-trade) 
by resident transport enterprises to all non-residents;  
(b)  Debits include all freight transport services 
provided (for import, export, cabotage or cross-trade) to 
all residents by non-resident transportation enterprises. 
3.73.  The transaction basis of measurement is useful 
because it represents the actual market transactions as 
they occur, with no correction, adjustment, or 
imputation. The transport service is recorded if, and only 
if, a transaction in transport services occurs between a 
resident and a non-resident. The recording of the 
separate transport service depends on the delivery terms 
that are specified in the contract for the sale/purchase of 
the goods and realised in the market transaction.  
3.74. When the transportation contract is made 
between two residents of the same country, for transport 
services to be provided on an exported good, the 
transport service would be excluded in the transaction-
based measurement method. This occurs, for example, 
when the delivery terms specified in the contract for the 
sale/purchase of a good are franco domicile (“carriage 
paid”) and when the exporter has contracted with a 
resident of the exporting country to provide the 
transportation service.  
3.75.  The following cases would be included in the 
transaction-based measurement method: 
(a)  Where a contract to provide transport services is 
made between a resident and a non-resident and the 
delivery term is specified as ex-works, then the full 
transport service is recorded. This would include that 
                                                 
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Cabotage is the term used to describe transportation between 
points within a single economic territory; in this context, it 
refers to the services that are provided by residents to non-
residents or vice versa.