The European Commission has for some time indicated a desire to remove the remaining restrictions on cabotage. Such liberalization is expected to result in significant changes on some domestic road transport markets. The Scandinavian markets are among these and the local hauilers fear that the lower wages of Easter European hauliers will leave them out of business. In this thesis a scenario of full cabotage liberalization is assumed.

Representatives from associations with interest within the Scandinavian road transport markets has been approached with a qualitative survey on carrier selection criteria. Respondents are asked to determine the importance of the criteria, as well as the relevance to the competition between Scandinavian and Eastern European hauliers. Finally they are asked to assess whether the advantage of each criterion lies with Scandinavian or Eastern European hauliers. The qualitative orientation of the survey is achieved though justification and follow up questions.

Reliability of pickups and deliveries is still regarded the most important criteria. Also competitive prices received a high rating. It is concluded that the significant price difference between Scandinavian and Eastern European hauliers will benefit Eastern European hauliers considerably in the competition for the simple “from A to B” shipments. For more complicated shipments, entailing a higher level of service, communication and supply chain integration, the local hauliers are expected to stand their ground.