In ISO 14083 a transport chain is a sequence of transport chain elements (TCEs): a TCE is a section in which the load is carried by a vehicle or passes through a hub, truck to the port, ship across, handling at the terminal. A TOC groups transport operations with similar characteristics over a period of time; a single vehicle on a single route can be a TOC, and so can a group of vehicles in a network.

  1. Break the chain into TCEs.
  2. Identify the transport or hub operation of each TCE.
  3. Group operations into TOCs, and hubs into HOCs.
  4. Calculate the emission intensity of each TOC.
  5. Get the emissions of each TCE from its own activity data and the intensity of the related TOC.
  6. Add up the TCE emissions and derive the intensity of the chain.

Hubs such as terminals and warehouses are treated separately as hub operation categories (HOCs). Activity data include refrigerant leakage alongside fuel and electricity use.

The reader of the report does not need to know the abbreviations. Name the groups in your own language, such as "urban distribution" or "refrigerated long haul", keep the TOC mapping in the working file and apply the same rule in the next period.