Six different transport corridors were examined in the study, including the Milano-Lübeck corridor, which partly leads through Austria. In addition, 4 different scenarios were prepared, all of which with a different charge structure. The result: transport costs would rise, depending on the transport corridor, between 1.8 and 5.2 %. An increase of 3.1 % was calculated with regard to the transport corridor Milano-Lübeck.

A welfare gain of Euro 1.8 billion was calculated for the main EU transport routes. According to the study, CO2 emissions will be reduced by 8 %. A favourite argument of the corporate lobbyists “it would be up to the consumers to pay any higher costs” was also examined in the study. Converted to a lorry load of Jeans for example, the additional transport costs would just amount to 0.05 % per pair of Jeans. This is obviously so insignificant that it is very unlikely that any additional costs will be passed on: the authors, however, expect that the hauliers will concentrate on increasing their transport efficiency, i.e. try to avoid empty runs. Another aim is to make competition with regard to other transport services such as rail or sea fairer by integrating external costs in the HGV toll.