Transport mode choice for freight plays an important role in the logistics process. Mode choice for freight transport is influenced by company’s transportation demand, logistical actives, as well as supply chain characteristics. Due to the great heterogeneity of companies and due to questions of confidentiality and reliability of data, considerably less research have been done on modelling freight transport demand in New Zealand. Freight transport demand characteristics, such as the attributes of the shipper or consigner, the attributes of the commodities to be transported, and the spatial attributes of shipments, strongly influence mode choice. In this paper, we use a revealed preference (RP) experiment to explore the relative importance of six transport mode choice attributes based on a sample of nearly 200 companies across a range of industries in New Zealand. The results show several distinct types of transport mode choice behaviour, and that the preferences for timeliness, cost, accessibility, restitution, customer service, and suitability vary greatly between industry groups and business types. We also tested seven factors that may hinder the use of rail or shipping by companies in New Zealand as transport mode for domestic and international shipments. The practical importance of this research is that we provide a logical starting point for modelling freight transport mode choice in New Zealand
