A Concept for a National Freight Data Program Special Report 276 (2003) / Chapter Skim
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1 The Need for Freight Transportation Data
1 The Need for Freight Transportation Data
Pages 21-35
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From page 21... ...
. The effective and efficient movement of freight is critical to the nation's economy and must be assured in the face of changing circumstances, such as an increased emphasis on global markets, shifts in domestic economic activity to the suburbs and suburban malls, new transportation patterns for improved logistics efficiency, growing congestion on the nation's roads, heightened concerns about transportation security and capacity, and increased maintenance requirements associated with the aging U.S.
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From page 22... ...
may attract more attention than problems affecting freight because "parcels cannot talk." One consequence of the focus on passenger needs -- and complaints -- is a lack of widely available data to inform decisions about freight transportation issues. For example, analysis of the effectiveness and costs of alternative options for mitigating congestion in urban areas requires better data on patterns of freight movements.
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From page 23... ...
convened a conference in Saratoga Springs, New York, to address data needs in the changing world of logistics and freight transportation. The main conference objective was to provide transportation officials concerned about the economic competitiveness of their regions with a broader understanding of data issues associated with the changing focus of the global competitive market and accompanying implications for the existing transportation infrastructure, trade corridors, and markets (Meyburg and Mbwana 2002)
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From page 24... ...
. Reliable, high-quality freight transportation data are also needed by the private sector to inform a range of strategic investment decisions relating to topics such as equipment utilization, new market opportunities, and business relocation.
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Within the broad context of policy making and investment decisions, the committee identified 11 major reasons for needing freight data (Box 1-1)
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. For example, if a cargo plane misses its landing slot and the associated distribution bank of flights, the operator may need to charter another aircraft in an effort to deliver goods on time.2 Aggregate data from national freight data sets may not be sufficiently detailed to reveal such local capacity constraints.
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From page 27... ...
Improve Regional and Global Economic Competitiveness Accurate freight data are needed to support investment decisions aimed at improving regional and global economic competitiveness. The example of the Northeast North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
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From page 28... ...
For example, better freight data could reveal the effect of improved information technology on the location of production in the United States. Measuring which commodities have been affected most strongly by changes in information technology and observing how commodity flows have changed for these commodities would yield an understanding of the effects.
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From page 29... ...
to understand the role of the MontrealBostonNew YorkWashington corridor vis-à-vis competing routings. At the national level, such data would help inform national transportation policies on NAFTA corridors and allow an objective assessment of related funding requirements.
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From page 30... ...
More detailed geographic and commodity data would help transportation planners and marketing experts conduct better analyses to identify promising opportunities for modal diversion. The example of the I-81 corridor in Virginia is presented in Box 1-5.3 Enhance Transportation Safety and Security Information on vehicle weight is important for many transportation planning applications and is even more useful if it can be linked to route data.
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From page 31... ...
Norfolk Southern Corporation proposed to the state of Virginia that it consider public investment in improvements to the company's Shenandoah rail corridor as an alternative to widening I-81. As a result, the Virginia state legislature instructed the Virginia De partment of Transportation to study the feasibility of shifting traffic in the I-81 corridor from highway to rail.
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From page 32... ...
Identify Transportation Marketing Opportunities Freight transportation providers seeking to develop and market their services to meet evolving customer requirements need freight transportation data for logistics modeling. Data on origin and destination, commodities moved, and the stage of completion of manufactured products help identify opportunities for expediting the efficient flow of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from supplier to customer.
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From page 33... ...
Though trucking partners may share some information on a case-by-case basis, capacity and service planning requires accurate freight data on an aggregated basis, by commodity and by market. Primary data at this level are not available today.
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From page 34... ...
. The resulting demands on the nation's transportation infrastructure, coupled with greatly heightened concerns about transportation security, have resulted in an urgent need for better data on freight movements to inform public-sector policy and investment decisions.
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From page 35... ...
In Con ference Proceedings 25: Global Intermodal Freight: State of Readiness for the 21st Century, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., pp.
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