Fall 2003 Meeting Notes
Minutes of the Intermodal Freight Technology Working Group (IFTWG)
Fall Conference
Held at the Hyatt Regency 66, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
In conjunction with
Intermodal Association of North America (IANA)
November 13-15, 2003
The Fall Meeting of the Intermodal Freight Technology Working Group
(IFTWG) was held at the Hyatt Regency 66 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
in conjunction with the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA)
conference. The IFTWG met on November 13-15, 2003.
On Thursday, November 13, 2003, an informal reception was held for
attendees to get acquainted with each other. On Friday, November 14,
the meeting began with an enthusiastic opening remarks rendered by Richard
Biter, co-chair of the IFTWG Group from the Public Sector (Mr. Biter
is the Deputy Director of the Office of Intermodalism, DOT-DC). Mr.
Manohar Patwardhan is the co-chair from the private sector (Mr. Patwardham
is employed by MOL America in NJ). Mr. Patwardhan could not attend the
meeting due to another business commitment. Mr. Joe Beacom of Landstar
served as the co-chair on-site in the absence of Mr. Patwardhan.
Mr. Biter started the meeting with his opening remarks by welcoming
everyone to the meeting and by saying that he was pleased with the number
of people attending the meeting and that the private and public sectors
need to work together in producing the best products for the transportation
industry. He said at the meeting we wanted all to address the problems
collectively, look at the current technology and how we can best introduce
the best technologies to grow business in the World and for a safer
transportation. In addition, he said that the vision of IFTWG should
be a future where people and goods are transported without delay, injury,
and fatality and safely by integrating systems that are built and operated
to be safe, cost effective, efficient and secure. Also, to improve the
transportation by promoting research, deployment and operation of intelligent
transportation systems through leadership and partnership with public,
private, educational and consumer stakeholders. He further said that
everyone at the meeting should participate and provide input and at
the same time ask questions.
After Mr. Biter’s comments, Mr. Joe Beacom’s the acting
co-chair was introduced. Mr. Beacom also welcomed everyone and agreed
with Mr. Biter’s comments and added that everyone gain knowledge
from forums like this as we are able to share our knowledge and take
back additional knowledge that can be utilized in our work and thus
seeing a greater percentage to the bottom-line of our business.
Mr. Biter thanked Mr. Beacom for agreeing to co-chair at the meeting
and opened the floor for self-introduction. He also told attendees that
during self-introduction he wanted everyone to say their name, affiliation
and little bit of what they do.
In the morning there were several presentations by experts in the field
of technology. The presenters were as follows:
- Mr. Michael Onder, Office of Freight Management and Operations,
Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.
- Lee Jackson, Transportation Security Administration
- Bud Hunt, Chief, Maritime Cargo Branch, Maritime & Land Security,
Transportation Security Administration
- Mark Jensen, SAIC
- Bob Halliday, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Department
of Homeland Security
Copies of the presentations are posted on the web-site.
After various presentations, Paul Belella from Delcan, Inc., spoke
on the IFTWG charge to action groups. Three groups have been established
and they are (1) Relationships; (2) Process; and, (3) Technology. He
discussed the working session goals, expected results and schedule and
said that each action group has a specific focus. For example:
- Process Group – Process Group needs to focus on operational
concepts, technology implementation and use.
- Relationship Group – Relationship Group needs to focus on
cooperative arrangements/agreements. In addition, should concentrate
on partnerships, communication, group membership, project funding,
policy and regulatory coordination.
- Technology Group – This group need to address the functional
requirements, technology concept formulation, standards, evaluation
and systems integration.
He also stressed the fact that the work of the three groups is intended
to be complementary. Each action group had co-leaders and they are as
follows:
Process – Karl Ruoff, Transcentric and Bill Nolle, CBP
Relationship – John Mohler, PAR and Lee Jackson, TSA
Technology, Bob Holliday, CBP and Michael Onder, FHWA
Mr. Belella gave clear direction as to what the groups should be working
on. After lunch the groups will be focusing on their specific group
area and if additional time is needed, they could meet in the morning
until 10:00 a.m., and after that work session results will be reported
back to the larger group. Reports to include recent accomplishments,
work session objectives, work session results, AG action plan and AG
next steps.
The three groups met in the afternoon on November 14 and then again
on November 15 until 10:00 a.m. After that everyone joined in the general
session to hear reports of groups findings. Each area group reported
back to the entire IFTWG and the action items were noted on their reports.
Reports are posted on the web-site.
A reception was held on November 14, 2003, after the meeting as a social
hour. Everyone participated in the reception as it allowed additional
time to discuss the issues informally.
After hearing reports from the area groups (Process, Technology and
Relationship), Mr. Biter thanked everyone for attending the meeting.
He also said that the IFTWG will host three meetings next year and once
the dates and locations are confirmed, all will be notified. He also
said that the 2004 fall meeting would be held again in conjunction with
the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). Everyone in attendance
agreed that it was a good idea and should be pursued.
Since there were no additional matters to be brought up as old/new
business, the meeting adjourned at noon.
