APEC Intermodal Task Force Report – Singapore; March 27-28, 2000

1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Mr. Gary Maring, Chair of the Intermodal Task Force, and Mr. Kevin Kavanaugh, Vice-Chair, welcomed the delegates present and asked for introductions and business cards. The attendees included 20 delegates representing 10 APEC member economies: Australia; Canada; People's Republic of China; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; Papa New Guinea, and the United States.

The Chair circulated the posted final draft of the minutes from the Hong Kong, China meeting for information and any final comment. None being received, they are considered final as previously posted.

The proposed agenda for the Singapore meeting was reviewed by the chair and he proposed the addition of a final item related to review of task force accomplishments and discussion of possible future work. The agenda was accepted as amended.

In his capacity as Vice-Chair of the ITF, Mr. Kevin Kavanaugh acknowledged that there were a number of new delegates to the ITF. Accordingly, Mr. Kavanaugh provided an historical overview of the Congestion Points Study, the subsequent formation of the Intermodal Task Force in 1997 and the development of High Priority Tasks.

Objective 1, Task 2: Task each economy to identify obstacles to intermodality and the major challenge to implementing those standards.

Kevin Kavanaugh, Canada, Vice Chair of the ITF, presented the final report of the Intermodal Task Force Seamless Passenger Flow Questionnaire. Thirteen economies responded to the survey. Mr. Kavanaugh explained that the report was broken down into physical, regulatory and institutional impediments. He summarized the impediments by category and identified recommended "best practices". The report was unanimously approved by the ITF.

Japan presented the final report of the Intermodal Freight Survey entitled "Common Recognition Intermodal Cargo Transport". Nine economies responded to the survey. Ms. Furusawa summarized the findings and best practices among member economies. The report was unanimously approved by the ITF.

Objective 2, Task 1: Establish an APEC intermodal pilot program.

Mr. Karl Westby gave a presentation on the final report of the TSHIPS project. The Transportation Shipping Harmonization and Integration Planning (TSHIPS) project was a demonstration project to quantify the importance of coordinated freight mobility infrastructure improvements. Project results were presented demonstrating the methodology to evaluate proposed intermodal freight system improvements on a systemwide basis. Three ports were evaluated using this methodology; the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma in the US and the Port of Kaohsiung in Chinese Taipei.

The results were well received and considerable discussion ensued regarding further development of the systems analysis approach and how to promote implementation. It was suggested that other economies test the methodology by applying it to proposed intermodal developments (Final methodology to be distributed in CD-ROM to each HOD). One area of needed future work identified was expansion of the benefit framework beyond traveltime savings to include factors such as environmental effects, safety, and regional and industry economic effects.

Dr. Jess Browning of the University of Washington presented a status report on development of the Intermodal Symposium. The symposium, originally proposed to be held in Seattle in July 2000, has been delayed because of TILF funding cycle. As funds are not available until May 2000, this does not leave sufficient time to complete planning and necessary logistics. The ITF members discussed alternate plans and recommended that the symposium be held in conjunction with TPTWG 18 in Japan in October assuming concurrence of Japan. The symposium would be scheduled for approximately 1 ?days. The benefits of holding the event in Asia are easier travel for most economies, meeting educational needs of developing economies, and improving attendance as a concurrent event with the TPTWG.

Mr. Kevin Kavanaugh, Vice Chair of the ITF, and members of the University of Denver team gave a power-point presentation on the status of the Intermodal Skills project currently underway. Two 1-day regional workshops were held in March (including one in conjunction with TPTWT 17) to seek input from government, industry, and academic representatives pertaining to the identification of required intermodal skills and available training programs. The project is scheduled to be completed in the Fall with a final report to be presented at the next ITF meeting in Japan. The interim report was well received by member economies.

Application of ITS Technology to Intermodal Freight- United States

Mr. Richard Biter gave an update on the applications of ITS technologies to intermodal freight in the United States. He discussed the activities of the Intermodal Freight Technology Working Group (IFTWG), a public-private initiative which is looking at the end to end process of container movements in order to identify technology opportunities. He also discussed two pilot tests; one using smart card technology for secure and efficient highway to air cargo movement and a second involving the use of electronic container seals for efficient clearance, security, and tracking of cargo through the Seattle region and across the border to Canada. The ITF then discussed the possibility of an end to end test of container tracking between two or more APEC economies. This was added to the list of considerations for future ITF work.

Mr. Kenneth Tiong of the International Multimodal Transportation Association (IMTA) provided a briefing on the scope and objectives of the IMTA. Their objectives are to be a catalyst of ideas for trade and transport logistics and a forum for exchange of information on multimodal transport. Member economies benefited from the exchange and endorsed future exchange of information.

Mr. Kevin Kavanaugh, Vice Chair of the ITF, summarized High Priority Task Force accomplishments of the ITF including completion of several reports at this meeting. Mr. Maring then asked member economies to comment on possible future work of the ITF. The following were among the items suggested:

• Harmonization of Multimodal regulations such as Liability, Hazardous Materials, Data Standards
• Passenger concerns including conflicts with freight movement and opportunities for technology applications such as smart cards
• Air Cargo issues
• Electronic Commerce
• Standardization of container sizes
• Demonstration project on end-to-end container tracing and tracking
• Sharing of best intermodal practices
• Further development of intermodal project benefit assessment tools
• Logistics and supply chain management initiatives
• Intermodal performance measurement and benchmarking in cooperation with the Ports Expert Group.

On Tuesday March 28, the ITF held a one day workshop on intermodal skills for the Asian economies. The workshop attendees were briefed by the Singapore Land Transport Authority on their comprehensive land use/ intermodal transportation plan for the Singapore region. The Intermodal Skills project team briefed the participants on the concepts of intermodalism and on the purpose of the workshop. Participants made numerous suggestions regarding intermodal skill needs.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

In summary, the following recommendations are made to the Steering Committee on More Competitive Transportation Industry for concurrence and referral to the Plenary.

1. Approve the final report of the Seamless Passenger Flow Survey Results and urge member economies to adopt best practices as appropriate to their economies.
2. Approve the final report of the Intermodal Freight Survey entitled "Common Recognition Concerning Intermodal Cargo Transport" and encourage use of best practices.

3. Approve the final report of the Transportation Shipping Harmonization and Integration Planning (TSHIPS) project and urge member economies to test the methodology and report back to ITF on the results of the application.
4. Note progress on the Intermodal Skills Project including the successful workshop help in conjunction with TPTWG 17 in Singapore.

5. Note postponement of the Intermodal Symposium (originally scheduled for July 2000 in Seattle). Approve proposed rescheduling of the Intermodal Symposium in conjunction with TPTWG 18 in October, subject to concurrence by HODs. The economies of Australia, Canada, Thailand, and United States will jointly develop the program for the Symposium.
6. Urge that comments and suggestions on the future work of the ITF be submitted to the United States or Canada by July 15, 2000. A subgroup consisting of Australia, Canada, Peoples Republic of China, and United States will then prepare a discussion paper for review at TPTWG 18 in Japan. This paper will include consideration of appropriate joint work with other APEC fora.