A time-period choice model for road freight transport in Flanders based on stated preference data

•Possibly the first freight transport forecasting model explaining time-period choice.•Studies shifts of trucks from the peaks to earlier and later periods to reduce congestion.•Based on a new stated preference survey among receivers of goods in Flanders.•Survey focuses on trade-off between transport cost, transport time and delivery time windows.•Contains effects of peak pricing policies on trucks. This paper presents one of the first models explaining the choice of time-period in road freight transport. Policies that would shift some fraction of the trucks from peak to earlier and later periods will contribute to the reduction of congestion. Therefore there is an increasing interest in modelling the time-period sensitivity of road freight transport to changes in travel time and cost by period. The model developed here is based on a stated preference survey amongst receivers of goods in Flanders and was implemented in the strategic freight transport model of the Flemish authorities.