Minutes from the Marine Transportation National Advisory Council Meeting
of the Information, Technology, Research & Development Team.
May 3, 2001
Kings Point Academy, New York
Bernie Grosesclose and Hank Marcus co-chairs

Meeting called to order at 10:03 AM

Co-chairman Grosesclose said that the last meeting in Charleston was a good start at coordinating the committee's work with the Federal ICMTS Committee's R & D activities.

Introductions were made.

A discussion of the meeting agenda, resolutions and unfinished business took place, along with a further discussion of the upcoming R&D Conference (November 14-16, National Academy of Sciences) and call for specific research projects.

It was announced that the ICMTS is considering a user needs study on R&D

Draft resolution #1 was discussed, (Bruce Parker of NOAA) requesting the Secretary instruct the ICMTS to undertake, in cooperation with MTSNAC, a user need study. ICMTS would seek inter-agency funding sources for this undertaking (50K has been pledged to begin the study). Need to hire a contractor. Plans to set up a web site to collect data.

Action steps suggested:

       1.   Begin the study as the first step

       2.   Seek additional funding

       3.   Contractor begins work

Discussion of the R&T Coordination Conference at the National Academy of Sciences (see attached notice). A process has begun to recruit MTSNAC subcommittee members for topics and speakers. The agenda is being completed at the present time. Question: what does the Conference need in the way of help?

There is a place on the agenda at the Conference for anyone on the R&D subcommittee who might chose to make a presentation.

Topic suggestion: What does a safer, less polluting environment mean for the allocation of transportation funds (quantify the savings).

What are the consequences if you don’t respond to these issues – put a capital value on freight diversion, pollution, and congestion. These are cross cutting issues regarding quality of life issues. In the past, market concerns have always driven the decision process. But what are the public benefits to future planning decisions.

Request for the names of speakers was made:

• Larry Bray (TVA) has done work on the issue of quantifiable measures.

• I-95 Mid-Atlantic coalition – Wilbur Smith Associates was hired to do initial study of some of the benefits. Les Sutton in Texas is doing an air-quality study to quantify the issue. What do we need to have EPA accept these findings?

• Minnesota did a study on the benefits of barge usage.

• High visibility speakers are needed the first day of the conference. Looking for suggestions – the Corp of Engineers on the Upper Mississippi. The Corp is hosting the meeting.

• Is there a visionary shipper who might brief the Conference on what type of system they might need for the future? Ed Emmett as speaker?? Someone with multi-modal experience would fit into the agenda.
  

A discussion of possible research paper topics took place. It is assumed that the invited speaker will provide the subject.

Suggested topics:

• Underutilized equipment and the problems it creates.

• Storage space, lag time out of the system, wrong location. How do we solve these problems?

• Gas tax money is highway money only. What about freight factor? A barge can alleviate X

• ITS technologies on the maritime side are lacking. The business case has not been made for ITS technology on the waterside. Quantification of business benefits, safety and environmental. Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Other comments:

• Jay Spaulding Coast Guard: Research projects that impact navigation– intelligent waterway systems. Presented at an institute of navigation meeting. Maritime Information Hub (one stop shopping). Coast Guard spends dollars a year on their research money and staff. Focus on Coast Guard interests, navigation safety and customs process.

• NOAA topics: Minimize oceanographic affects on shipping. Advanced navigation charts and docking charts to provide shipping efficiency and port throughput.

• Tina of IANNA: Researching and developing a reporting system to track how freight is moving in and out of our port facilities -- a state traffic control information, tying all surface transportation information into the Ports. An off- the-shelf system that can assist any port. What will this information be used for and how is it disseminated.

• Bernie Grosesclose -- Many ports have numerous private interests and businesses involved, and they all have their own reporting systems. They are also "protective" of their own technologies, and while there may be similarities, they are not readily shared. What entity will develop common reporting standards and how will they be einforced?

• Spaulding -- ITS was intended to be intermodal in nature. But, it is not. How do we change that?

 

The common theme from this meeting was three fold:

• What research can be done to provide the best tools for MTS development?

• How do we fund these projects,

• And, how do we disseminate the information
  

A discussion of resources/funding resumed. Can we really pool our resources??

In the next thirty-six hours we will hear about the money aspects of this process. In November 1999 sat down to discuss how we were going to spend the money, now we are after the money.

Another meeting prior to the next MTS meeting was suggested. No date was set.