As a consequence of both liberalization of maritime transport and corporate restructuring in the shipping industry, international freight rates have significantly decreased in real terms over the last 10 years, often by more than 40%.72
In Japan, there are frequently, large numbers of trucks on roads and highways during daytime business hours that slow traffic to a crawl in major urban centers.73 There are problems with the distribution of base cargo in the hinterlands of each port.74 Bottlenecks exist is many places. In Yokohama, a new road is being built to reduce congestion and toll roads have already been built between piers.75
In the Kyushu region, the MOT is trying to promote an intermodal shift while giving consideration to: 1. the environment; 2. trucking (shortage of labor) ; 3. and traffic congestion.76 The island of Kyusyu is dependent upon local trucks and the de-regulation of transportation is moving towards private sector activities and in the improvement of infrastructure. While rail is mostly for passengers, Japan Rail (JR) has train one of its services devoted to cargo. It was established in 1986. They operate at night leasing the tracks.77 For the most part, in Japan, it is thought that truck transportation is more convenient and less costly than rail. Regarding break-even distance of truck versus rail, data is available nation-wide. They do a survey every 5 years on Origin-Destination cargo over a three-day period. Last survey was in 1995.78
Intermodal transportation plays a big part in repositioning containers. There are now many empties and numbers are increasing with the imports of primary goods down and manufactured goods up. In Tokyo, the promotion of intermodal transportation is described in the Second District Port Construction Bureau's document “Basic Concept for Port Planning in the Tokyo Bay Area: Formation of High-Quality Bay Area and it Inheritance to Future Generations.79
Fundamental changes are needed. The WAVE Iecture introduced the agile port concept from the U.S. which may have merit. There is a need to construct new terminals to meet the demand of the larger ships. Building terminals is not enough, however. Cargo needs to be processed at a faster speed.80
In the U.S., international trade will continue to be critical to the countries economic well-being over the next 20 years. To keep pace it must continuously improve its ability to move imports off the docks for distribution throughout the U.S. and to export its products worldwide by improving its intermodal transportation system.81
EDI and the Internet
In Japan, the rate of adoption of EDI procedures by each port management body is different. MOT and others are tying to integrate the systems. In Yokohama, the EDI system is working on the marine side and is in place by the PMB in some terminals.82 In Tokyo, the Port Authority in about 20% of the cases is using EDI. Much more is needed.83
Customs uses the system of SEANACCS in most areas, however, efficient operations by Customs has been the key to fast customs service rather than computers in some locations. There is in process coordination with SEANACCS and EDIFACTS that was started in November 1999. EDI can help ports be more user friendly, less expensive, more efficient.84
