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This plan for the "Enhanced Goods and Freight Movement at Domestic and International Gateways" partnership centers on four outcome goals that will advance the Nation’s economic growth and the following core goal in DOT’s 1997-2002 Strategic Plan:

For each of these outcome goals, this section of the plan presents (1) an investment strategy; (2) anticipated impacts; (3) critical technology (or other) elements; and (4) case studies. The four outcome goals are:

OUTCOME GOAL 1: Throughput at Ports and Other Facilities

Investment Strategy: Partner with State, local, and private agencies; port authorities; and intermodal service providers to improve network capacity by deploying advanced technologies that increase gate throughput, expedite cargo and container clearance time, and enhance navigation efficiency and information transparency at ports and intermodal facilities.

This investment strategy involves cost-shared deployment of automated communications systems that help enhance capacity utilization and cargo-handling capability, provide real-time information on vehicle and cargo location, and improve overall transportation productivity. Application areas include computerized systems for load assignment and fleet management, expedited cargo dispatching to reduce cycle times, use of automated gate inspections to reduce gate delays and improve equipment utilization, and installation of automated warning systems at grade crossings.

Capacity and throughput improvements in general involve an array of infrastructure-based solutions that remove access bottlenecks, often involving regional corridor planning, and incorporate a mix of technological, infrastructure modernization, and institutional solutions. Given the diversity of the freight network, no single blueprint can be offered to suit all facilities. No cross-sectional or aggregate-level baseline measures are feasible for the complex network of ports in the country. Local facilities and private operators need to determine what the appropriate benchmarks are given their individual baseline performance. ¹²

Impacts: Advanced freight technologies enable us to expand capacity for our severely constrained intermodal terminals and freight infrastructure, and to enhance rail, trucking, and navigational safety. The benefits from enhanced capacity and facility throughput include improved speed and lower costs. Terminal delays account for roughly one-fourth of the cost of delivering a container door-to-door. Applications of automated technologies improve facility productivity; they reduce transaction delays and clearance times by increasing lift productivity and reducing gate delays, terminal dwell times, and clearance times for inspections. Many software systems are designed to improve equipment utilization by reducing empty truck and train miles ("deadheading"), the perennial problem of the intermodal industry captured in the truism that "the commodity most frequently shipped is air." Real-time terminal management systems allow shippers and carriers to track cargo shipments, making deliveries more predictable. By creating an end-to-end visibility of the cargo movement process, these technologies improve fleet utilization, and reduce transit times and operating costs, by optimizing the number of loads per vehicle.

Critical Elements: The array of communication technologies available for this investment strategy includes radio frequency identification devices (RFID), automated equipment identification (AEI) tags, and bar codes and reader systems used for remote identification of equipment and control of container and chassis inventory. Systems for electronic data interchange (EDI), shipment data transmission and cargo monitoring, asset management and dispatching, and optimizing loads and managing container backhaul loads are also among those relying on computerized data communication. Overall, these technologies provide real-time information, in-transit visibility, vehicle and cargo identification and location, and shipment tracking.

For position information, the Global Positioning System (GPS) and differential GPS (DGPS) receivers are used to determine the location of vehicles, vessels, trains, and equipment. Location information from GPS devices is transmitted back to control centers over the intermodal carrier’s communication networks. Intermodal facilities often employ mobile inventory vehicles (MIV), which deploy RFID devices in conjunction with GPS receivers for position identification, as part of a system for automated equipment inventory control; this creates an integrated equipment inventory and location identification system. At many marine ports, terminal operators also use vision enhancement technologies, including thermal imaging cameras mounted on board the vessel to enhance the ability to recognize objects during adverse weather conditions.

Advanced rail freight technologies for positive train separation (PTS) and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are also used in a variety of real-time information management applications. Positive train control (PTC) technologies involve the application of digital data communications, automatic positioning systems, track-side interface units and detectors, on-board and control center computers, and other advanced display, sensor, and control technologies to manage and control rail operations. PTC will reduce the probability of collisions between trains, collisions between trains and maintenance-of-way crews, and over-speed accidents by more than 90 percent. PTC systems will also improve the efficiency of railroad operations by reducing train running time, increasing running-time reliability, increasing track capacity, and improving asset utilization. By maintaining accurate, timely information about train locations, PTC systems will result in improved railroad service reliability, with higher revenue potential, and cost reductions resulting from improved asset management.

Railroads have also been deploying a number of ITS-type systems complementary to PTC for yard and terminal management. Rail applications of ITS-type technologies include AEI, crew scheduling, wayside and in-vehicle defect detectors, remote control applications, and grade-crossing safety monitoring. Since 1995, all railroad cars and locomotives have been equipped with radio frequency (RF) AEI tags that transmit the vehicles’ identifying initials and numbers to a wayside reader. This information is then brought together with information on car types, commodities, shippers, and consignees in the railroads’ databases.

Marine applications of advanced technologies comprise an array of navigational systems for dockside and waterways management, including nautical charts and short-range navigational aids such as Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS). The U.S. Coast Guard maintains approximately 50,000 Federal aids to navigation and another 50,000 private aids to navigation. The Coast Guard also operates eight Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) systems, with two additional private VTS-like services.

VTS is an interactive, shore-based waterways management and communications system that typically consists of remote surveillance sensors, such as radar or closed-circuit television, and a central data-gathering location. VTS helps to determine the presence of vessels in and around ports and provides information to vessels on such matters as traffic, tides, weather, and port emergencies. After receiving information on marine conditions, VTS personnel assess the information and pass it on to mariners and vessels by radio.

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems (PORTS) are Federal systems for real-time tide and current information. PORTS was initiated in 1994 by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in an attempt to build on the capabilities of the modernized National Water Level Observation Network (NWLON) to access real-time navigational information. To date, the Ports of New York/New Jersey and San Francisco have implemented the PORTS system. (See Appendix A for more details on PORTS and VTS.)

Case Studies: A vast array of best practices can be cited for successful application of advanced information systems for freight handling and terminal management. A demonstration of PTC systems in Washington and Oregon on some 600 miles of railroads, for instance, successfully tested the application of GPS and RFID devices to enhance highway - rail grade crossing safety and track capacity by integrating PTC into the existing traffic control systems for traveler advisory. Another pioneering technology program is the Maritime Administration’s Container Handling Cooperative Program (CHCP), which several years ago demonstrated an equipment location system (ELS) that integrated the use of an MIV featuring AEI tag readers, a DGPS receiver, an ultrasonic ranging device, a wireless local area network communications system, and an on-board computer in a container port environment. (See Appendix A for a description of the CHCP demonstration as well as other innovative systems, such as the shipyard planning system at the Port of Portland, the system for rail operations planning at the Port of Los Angeles, the drayage notification system used at the Norfolk International Terminal, and the real-time chassis management system used at the Maher Terminal.)

OUTCOME GOAL 2: Advanced Multi-Modal Terminals

Investment Strategy: Partner with State and local agencies and private carriers to leverage investment in multi-beneficiary intermodal terminals and freight corridors through mechanisms for cost-sharing and pooling resources. Increasingly, the private sector and local agencies are recognizing that meeting the funding needs of large-scale, highly complex automated freight facilities is feasible only through cost-sharing and public - private collaboration. Meeting these challenges is critical to the continued ability of the U.S. to compete in global trade.

Impacts: Investment in advanced freight terminals and multi-beneficiary facilities will generate economies of scale by allowing consolidation of large volumes of cargo in a single facility - reducing operating costs and benefiting users and the shipping public. By creating a more efficient freight transportation system, advanced freight terminals reduce shipping and inventory-holding costs and improve service quality and reliability. Through integrated use of communication and positioning systems, advanced freight terminals have the potential to make an intermodal terminal an integral part of the global supply chain. In the next millennium, this supply chain is likely to enjoy "virtual integration" of all components. This means seamless interfaces among the links in the supply chain, real-time information exchange, and minimum transaction costs. An integrated and efficient intermodal terminal also offers opportunities for economies of scope. The deployment of advanced technologies generates these scope economies by allowing - in long-haul freight corridors - more efficient freight modes, such as rail or barge systems. This can further reduce operating costs and gain greater market share by lowering the break-even distance for competition in short-haul corridors.

Advanced intermodal terminals improve equipment and labor productivity, as well as terminal capacity, by reducing delays due to gate inspection and manual inventory. Minimizing the number of handoffs and equipment interchanges involved in a typical container move reduces overall operating costs. Better terminal management also improves equipment utilization and container turns by reducing lengthy railyard dwell times. Ultimately, these productivity gains lead to greater profitability for freight operators. The gains to the economy as a whole include further savings in total logistics costs, benefits due to the development of new product markets, and the sustained growth of international trade.

Critical Elements: Real-time supply-chain management systems involving the virtual integration of cargo movement, coupled with innovative financing mechanisms, are the cornerstones of this strategy. Advanced intermodal terminal technologies are a critical link between the global supply chain and the domestic transportation network. Increasingly, with globalization and the domination of the service industry in the economy, information constitutes a larger share of total freight operations, resulting in further substitution of information for physical movement. Advanced information systems have allowed the momentum that began several decades ago with just-in-time (JIT) inventory control, moving to the next level of efficiency. Whereas JIT inventory management substituted transportation for inventory stockpiles, real-time freight automation systems substitute information for much of the physical goods movement process. The integrated technology components of advanced intermodal terminals include real-time information processing, satellite-based location and positioning, and facility and fleet management systems similar to those described under output goal 1.

Case Studies: The Los Angeles Global Gateway South, a $700 million state-of-the-art terminal, illustrates the functional and design attributes of automated intermodal terminals. The Global Gateway was built on the concept of "transparent end-to-end intermodalism" and designed to integrate intermodal interface and cargo-handling operations. This means that the terminal offers "a rapid and seamless interchange of containers between land, sea, and rail," all the way from Los Angeles to South Kearny, New Jersey. Port operations - marine container lifts, yard and rail operations - are fully integrated: every piece of equipment and every software system in the terminal is a piece of a puzzle that fits together, with no stand-alone operations within the port. ¹³

Successful public - private efforts to use innovative funding for multi-jurisdictional intermodal terminals include Washington’s FAST Corridor, the Alameda Corridor, the Alliance Terminal, the North Carolina Global TransPark, and the Southeastern Michigan Intermodal Terminal (SMIT). (See Appendix A for a description of these cases.)

OUTCOME GOAL 3: Next-Generation Freight Technologies

Investment Strategy: Accelerate the diffusion of marine, rail, and dual-use defense technologies through outreach and training that make the technologies readily available to a larger group of users; identify the economic impact of such technologies; develop a set of metrics to measure more accurately the costs and benefits of real-time freight transportation systems and integrated supply chains.

Impacts: Advanced freight technologies enhance freight transportation capacity and efficiency in a number of ways; they are enabling technologies that generate benefits far greater than the outlays needed for technology transfer. These technologies also tend to generate greater value-added and attract more R&D funding, thus better leveraging Federal resources. In the early 1990s, high-technology industries accounted for 20 percent of the Nation’s manufacturing output, 24 percent of manufacturing value-added, and nearly 60 percent of its private R&D expenditures. ¹⁴ Such advanced industries are agents of productivity and net economic growth in three ways: (1) they provide a higher return to factors of production than could be earned elsewhere in the economy; (2) they provide external benefits in the form of spillover income gains in other segments of the economy; and (3) because of higher productivity, they generate higher wages and hence contribute to greater income growth. Other benefits include enhanced safety and national security as a result of more efficient safety and control systems.

Critical Elements: Examples of next-generation freight technologies and container- handling systems include the "agile port" concept, a next-generation terminal that utilizes real-time data to manage container operations and simultaneously discharge and load a vessel. One element of the agile port is an Efficient Marine Terminal (EMT), a system that moves the majority of cargo storage and sorting away from the waterfront, thus reducing the need for acreage. Another is the Intermodal Interface Center (IIC), a rail marshalling corridor specifically designed to receive trains for container transfer from ship to rail or to drayage truck. An agile port terminal, designed to increase terminal throughput by up to 300 percent, is under development by the Center for Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies (CCDOTT), a consortium of the Department of Defense’s U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), the Maritime Administration, and a number of private sector partners. High-speed ships are another example of next-generation technologies that promise to improve the efficiency of container freight movement. (See Appendix A for descriptions of the agile port and FastShip Atlantic.)

Case Studies: The prime example of a highly successful Federal R&D effort in support of technology dissemination is the Internet. Today’s Internet is the result of research by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on packet-switching technologies that would enable undisrupted communications even if major switching centers were incapacitated. In 1977, DARPA developed two packet-switching protocols (where the message is broken into chunks or "packets"), which differed significantly from the existing circuit-switched system (based on a direct circuit from the message’s origin to its destination). Another key step in the evolution of the Internet was the establishment in 1986 of several supercomputer centers by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which funded a network to link the centers and allowed regional and university computer networks to link to this "backbone." In addition to using the network to remotely access the NSF supercomputers, the research community developed applications such as electronic mail, file-transfer protocols, and newsgroups to facilitate information sharing with colleagues.

Private sector examples of innovative intermodal freight technologies include bi-modal rail - truck container movement systems such as the Iron Highway, for which CSX Intermodal has already completed a commercial pilot test. The Iron Highway is a continuous platform for roll-on, roll-off loading and unloading of intermodal trailers - eliminating the need for lift equipment or mechanized terminals. (See Appendix A.) Another example of next-generation freight vehicles, still at the concept phase, is the Super Blimp, which could be explored for rapid transportation of high-value, high-urgency cargo and adapted for application during emergency response to remote or highly congested areas where freight-handling stations are not available. ¹⁵

OUTCOME GOAL 4: Standards, Information Sharing, and Joint-Use Facilities

Investment Strategy: Provide Federal leadership to develop standards for technology applications, remove institutional barriers to the joint use of defense technologies, and formulate interagency strategies to arrive at a globally optimal freight network. This strategy involves the removal of institutional barriers to the more efficient use of resources. One component is forging a stronger partnership to promote shared databases, particularly a "one-stop shopping" process to obtain clearance for vessels or international cargo. ¹⁶ Two other elements of this strategy are the development of standard protocols for technology applications and promotion of joint-use military facilities. The U.S. freight transportation network is replete with abundant excess capacity, while a small segment of the system is severely capacity-constrained. Of the 3,700 ports in the U.S., more than 90 percent are under-utilized. A strategy based on greater coordination of Federal resources would improve the overall capacity and efficiency of the system.

Impacts: Given the technology-intensive nature of many military freight facilities, joint use offers cost-cutting opportunities as well as net benefits to the economy through greater diffusion of defense technologies. Regulatory oversight of the use of communications systems and standards for technology applications will promote greater market penetration of advanced technologies. Federal leadership and interagency collaboration are needed to ensure a stable, viable, and efficient freight transportation system.

Critical Elements: The most critical technologies are shared information systems, such as Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks (CVISN); real-time navigational systems, such as PORTS; the Federal Railroad Administration/Coast Guard initiative to construct a nationwide DGPS to augment the existing marine navigation system; and the U.S. Customs Service’s International Trade Data System (ITDS) and Automated Export System. (See Appendix A for descriptions of these systems.)

Case Studies: One example of the joint use of military facilities is the Port of Oakland’s Joint Intermodal Terminal, which uses a Naval yard for civilian use while allowing for continued overseas military deployment. Other joint-use facilities include (1) the Pease International Tradeport, in Pease, New Hampshire, in which 1,700 acres of the Pease Air Force Base is used as a high-technology commercial park; and (2) the Rickenbacker Airport, a joint-use reliever airport in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in air cargo operations. (Appendix A describes these facilities in greater detail.)

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