Tracking systems for trucks and freight trains exist only at the country or regional level. Lacking a global repository, these modes (road and rail) are not yet included in the new KPIs. However, corridor performance information is available from container tracking data to/from inland destinations.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 summarizes the data sources and presents the indicators. Section 3 presents the production process of the indicators. Appendices describe the datasets, their cleaning methodology and descriptive statistics.

# **2. Data sources**

Universal Postal Union (Postal data) The volume of e-commerce has surged in the past decade. According to McKinsey projections,<sup>8</sup> by 2030, cross-border e-commerce in goods will grow anywhere between $1 trillion and $2 trillion of merchandize value from its current $300 billion, resulting in significant changes in supply chains. The volume of e-commerce activities was equivalent to 30% of global GDP in 2019,<sup>9</sup> so its role in economic development cannot be overlooked.

Information on postal services, including data on postal infrastructure, processing volumes, and speed allows to assess the performance of logistics, customs, and delivery services at the country level. In many countries, postal networks constitute an essential infrastructure and play a key role in guaranteeing access to universal communication services and global value chains. This is particularly valuable for the youth, women, and small businesses in vulnerable, marginalized, and rural areas. According to research conducted by UPU in collaboration with UN Global Pulse, various characteristics of the international postal network are closely related to countries’ economic and social advancement, playing an important role in their trade development.<sup>10</sup> The extent to which international e-commerce is interconnected with postal services was pointed out by a McKinsey report<sup>11</sup> published in March 2022, specifying that the UPU is responsible for handling about two-thirds of all letter-parcel (up to 2 kilograms) deliveries across borders. The Universal Postal Union (UPU) also manages international express shipments, which account for about 5%-10% of international e-commerce volumes, and the rest is delivered by commercial operators. Therefore, information collected by UPU is a source of comprehensive data for over 190 member countries, and probably the best source of information on e-commerce trade.

UPU develops and maintains technical standards and Electronic Data Interchange message specifications used in exchange of electronic information between postal services. UPU’s databases of EDI messages contain detailed information on volumes, frequencies, key cross-border activities and other tracking data on postal items. This information is available via the EMSEVT (Express Mail Service

> 8 https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-logistics-and-infrastructure/our-insights/signed-sealed-and-delivered-unpacking-the-cross-border-parcel-markets-promise

> 9 https://unctad.org/news/global-e-commerce-jumps-267-trillion-covid-19-boosts-online-sales 10 Hristova et al. 2016

> 11 https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/travel%20logistics%20and%20infrastructure/our%20insights/the%20endgame%20for%20postal%20net-

> works%20how%20to%20win%20in%20the%20age%20of%20e%20commerce/the_endgame_for_postal_networks_how_to_win_in_the_age_of_e-commerce.pdf

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