~~DRAFT MINUTES~~

MARINE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

INLAND WATERWAYS-Intermodal TEAM MEETING

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2002

DOT HEADQUARTERS - ROOM 8126

11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

ATTENDEES

* Participated via telephone

NAME REPRESENTING

Jim McCarville IRPT/Port of Pittsburgh

Robert Portiss * Port of Catoosa

Royce Wilken * ADM

Chris Brescia * MARC 2000

Dave Updegraff * NITL

Don Tieken * U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Diana Long * Marshall University

Worth Hager National Waterways Conference

Bob Nelson BOAT U.S.

Michael Kidby U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Les Sutton Kirby Corp

Chris Holdgreve National Grain & Feed Assoc.

Barry Palmer DINAMO

John Doyle Waterways Work

Doug Scheffler American Waterways Operators

Rajiv Khandpur U.S. Coast Guard

Pat Donovan * W.V. Dept. of Transportation

Joedy Cambridge * National Academies of Science

John Carnes * MARAD - New Orleans

Richard Walker MARAD - Washington, D.C.

Doris Bautch * MARAD - Chicago

Richard Lolich MARAD - Washington, D.C.

At the November 14, 2002 meeting in New York City, just prior to MTSNAC meeting, the comments were reviewed with additional elaboration. Attendees: Jim McCarville, Harry Cook, Don Tieken, Bob Nelson, Carl Sieberlich, Steve Pfeiffer, James Cook and Keith Lesnick. Note comments from the Novevember meeting were limited to reviewing the October meeting and adding comments. They are combined for simplicity here.

The Chair, Jim McCarville, opened the meeting and asked all in attendance to introduce themselves. Ten participants were attending via phone. Jim noted that the full MTS National Advisory Council (MTSNAC) had requested an MTS User Needs Study and that as a first task this new subcommittee should pull from all segments of the inland waterway transportation system and identify those needs, which the IWTS stakeholders feel, should be included. He said that this presented an opportunity to bring together all segments of our industry in order to present a case to the administration.

A discussion of the various sectors of the Inland Waterways community began. The following needs/issues for the study were articulated:

1. Review and dissemination of Existing Studies

Jim McCarville indicated that a group from Waterway Works and the National Waterways Conference had already met with Captain Schubert, Marad Administrator and had requested that an inventory of studies related to the Inland Waterway Transportation System (IWTS) be prepared. That would be the first element in our needs survey request. In addition, he was asking the group present to help highlight and identify current and other needs.

Bob Portiss stressed the excellent work that had been done in the original MTS reports, that they should be reviewed in detail for recommendations and that much of that wheel had already been invented.

Harry Cook indicated that about 100 economic-type studies or study sponsors had already been identified and that the Marad Administrator was considering a website to disseminate the data that would be collected. It was suggested that the summary on the website include, at the minimum the title, table of contents and at least a line describing the study.

Joedy Cambridge indicated she would contribute a TRIS search on IWTS studies, but also noted that TRB’s annual January meeting would feature sessions on MTS Research, Maritime Freight Data Gaps, Freight Capacity Building and the Federal Role in MTS Policy (both capital and operating issues).

Yet to be started is the cataloguing of environmental, technological or other studies.

2. LATTS/GRIP and Meeting Demand Forecasts

John Carnes: The LATTS (Latin American Trade and Transportation Study) indicated that a doubling or tripling of cargo would be coming in the Gulf gateway in the next 20 years and that the road network is unprepared to deal with this. The GRIP (Gulf/ Rivers Intermodal Partnership) study indicated that the Waterway-Intermodal system was also unprepared to deal with the projected increase in trade and that it could play a particularly crucial role in relieving roadway congestion, if it were prepared. Specifically, it stated that it lacked

“Domestic Affordable Vessel Engineering” (DAVE)

“Consensus for Building Intermodal Network Efficiency” (CONBINE)

Overarching intermodal leadership

Cooperative mechanisms for parties to cut across state and modal lines and

Innovative financing to prepare the IWTS for the future.

3. IWICP and Making the System More Intermodal Competitive

Jim McCarville referred to another group, the Inland Waterway Intermodal Cooperative Program, (IWICP) which has been meeting informally with Richard Walker of Marad to try to define priorities to better operate intermodally on the IWTS:

(a) Intermodal freight transportation data;

(b) One-stop marketing information clearinghouse and

Dave Updegraff and Royce Wilken noted that Chicago would remain inaccessible to Container on Barge (COB) unless a critical bridge on the Illinois River was raised and that a mechanism to study bridge clearances was needed.

As first steps, which will need to be developed further, the group is starting by:

(a) Working with DOT to extract better freight data along corridors adjacent to the inland waterways;

(b) Working with the Port of Pittsburgh to extend the benefits of its SmartBarge electronic marketing platform for all inland ports; and

Other comments:

Chris Brescia said that working with DOT data sources it would be important to get a better understanding of how IWTS transportation improvements (or lack thereof) impacts other parts of the transportation system and how water-compelled rates help to reduce rail rates for customers throughout system. Les Sutton noted how, simply having the option to do barging, has kept the rail rates for plastic pellets low for years.

We need to document the organizational structure and incentive programs that

Europe uses to encourage Container on Barge (COB) and why they do so.

The TEA-21 of T-3 bill will be re-authorized next year and the freight industry expects a greater emphasis on freight, especially intermodal connectors from highways to ports and railroads.

MARAD has initiated a survey of intermodal connectors to inland ports and terminals.

We need to quantify importance and benefits of the inland system.

Bob Portiss stressed that organizationally, to do COB, we need to involve all parties to IWTS transportation, including brokers and forwarders.

4. Research and Technology

McCarville noted that there had been a maritime technology and research conference held a year ago that documented some of the needs to improve the performance of segments of the river system that should be reviewed.

McCarville also noted that an industry group (under funding from DOT’s Borders and Corridors program) has been meeting with the Port of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University to document technologies that could improve IWTS corridor-wide performance by one mile per hour, which on a system-wide basis would be a 20% efficiency improvement per day. He said a separate detailed report would be prepared but that the issues they were examining, which will require additional research were:

(a) Improved barge lashing techniques to save time and reduce injuries (a major cause of workmen’s comp claims come from current lashing techniques);

(b) Instrumented locking systems for tows (similar to instrumented landing systems for airplanes);

(c) Electronic navigation charts (ENC)

(d) Integrated displays for ENC, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPS) and Automated Identification Systems (AIS).

Mike Kirby, Les Sutton and Royce Wilken noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on ENC to improve navigation system and that some charts were already available, but that AWO expects that about $10M/year would be needed to implement the AIS system over the next four years.

McCarville reported that the conference actually identified one more lashing study, this one related to the ability to flexibly loosen the lashings, while in the lock chamber to speed the flow of water in and out of the chamber, and then tighten them again before exiting the chamber.

McCarville indicated that the Port of Pittsburgh Commission would continue to pursue these projects and expected to be able to produce tangible results in a relatively short period of time. He said the important point was not the specific projects, but that there be an inland waterway research program to continuously identify and resolve these problems.

5. Lock and Dam Infrastructure

Barry Palmer presented a binder and a CD on the lock and dam infrastructure needs on the Ohio River. He said about $2 billion had been spent in the last 10 years, but that we needed to spend down the $400M surplus in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund for the

$3B-$4B would be needed to upgrade its remaining locks and dams on the Ohio River, many of which are nearing 100 years old.

Chris Brescia indicated that:

The range of funding for locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi are variously put at $1.5B, $6B or $9B, depending upon the program to be approved.

6. Security

· We need to consult with the Coast Guard to identify the results of the study grants given to the IRPT and the Port of Huntington, W.V.

· Carl Sieberlich suggested that we coordinate with the MTS Security and R&D committees regarding national and international developments paralleling developments on the inland waterway system.

7. Workforce Needs

Diana Long indicated that the workforce and the workforce skill requirements were changing and that we needed to address the role of captains and pilots as more managerial. We need to identify the core competencies for the next 20 years, improve the literacy of the crewmembers and perhaps have an Inland Waterway Institute.

Long indicated that Marshall University had recently been named a Maritime Institute and that they were ready to assist in this effort. Royce Wilken noted that the Seamen’s Church Institute was also a resource that should not be overlooked for training.

8. Environment and Public Education

There is a need for more public outreach and funds for more education.

We need to identify from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers studies the issues environmentalists raise and the research that has been done to address them, such as the dredging study on the Allegheny River. We also need to address:

Non-indigenous species

Resource allocation on the Missouri River to protect wildlife and allow for efficient cargo movement.

We need to update Marad’s environmental advantages of waterway transportation and to study.

We need to do a better job of letting the public know the advantages of moving empty containers on barges vs. on trucks.

We need to study what lessons can be learned by why the Europeans look at IWTS as environmentally friendly but the US does not.

Steve Pfeiffer noted we need better quality data on environmental impacts and new research on fuel efficiencies and fuel cells.

McCarville said that he understood IANA would be doing a fully allocated cost study comparing movements by truck and train over specific routes and that the same needed to be done comparing movements over the inland waterway. The study would need to examine all private and public costs and to document the impacts that we believe accrue to the waterways choice.

Don Tieken said that if there are private advantages to ship on the waterways, then there should be an intense public outreach effort to let business decision-makers know why they should so ship and if it can be documented that there are public advantages, then the government should consider inducements, such as tax advantages for shippers who choose to use the inland waterways as the “green alternative”.

Bob Nelson said that idle time was a big factor in environmental costs and that technological improvements such as electronic navigation charts and differential global positioning systems could help improve traffic in the fog.

Other Issues/Comments

· Rajiv Khandpur of Coast Guard briefed group on status of Federal agency MTS needs study. Study will review federal investment, projection of future maritime plans, MTS maintenance and likely impact on MTS over next 20 years. He said the MTS awareness video should be available within a week. Further, there will be a Coastal Zone Conference to be held in early 2003 in Baltimore. We need to determine how to provide input on policy issues

Meeting adjourned at 12:55 PM on October 22, 2002.