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Remarks

Dr. Ashish Sen, Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Marine Transportation System Research and Technology Conference
Washington, DC
November 15, 2001

I am delighted to be here with the people who make our vital maritime transportation system work.

My acknowledgments to Admiral Paul Pluta, the chairman of the Interagency Committee for the Marine Transportation System, Chuck Raymond of CSX, who chairs the MTS National Advisory Council, General Robert Griffin and the Corps of Engineers, our hosts for this event, and Bruce Parker of NOAA, the chair of the Research and Technology Subcommittee.

I applaud the work that these people and many others are doing to increase awareness of the importance of our marine transportation system and to improve its performance.

All of us have long recognized the vital role of the marine transportation system to our nation's security. But the events of September 11 gave new meaning to the need for decision-makers to know as much as possible about the system as they review and improve security.

Maritime security is part of the new world that was created on September 11. President Bush said we are in a two-front war and one front is the home front.

As Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta said, "We have entered a new era in transportation." He called for us to re-think the basic approach with which we provide for the safety and security of America's transportation systems.

Timely, accurate and reliable data are critical for decisions on maritime security, just as they are for all other aspects of the transportation system.

BTS is charged with improving the quality of transportation data, both within DOT and throughout the entire transportation community. It is our strong belief that making better data available to decision-makers will lead to more informed decisions.

We are actively pursuing BTS' mission of becoming the knowledge base for the marine transportation system. We intend to work as partners with the entire maritime community—port operators and maritime agencies at all levels of government, as well as the transporters and shippers in the private sector—to identify the data needs of the 21st century.

And we intend, in partnership, to identify data gaps, to collect the essential data that are not being collected today and to disseminate them widely.

BTS engages in a wide-range of transportation data activities.

We publish yearly updates of statistics, such as the Transportation Statistics Annual Report. The latest volume, to be released later this month, for example, tells about the movement of goods in Container Trade. This publication is widely read on Capitol Hill, so people there can learn that in 1997, for the first time, China displaced the U.S. as the world's leader in container traffic.

We publish the annual National Transportation Statistics, a compilation that allows cross-modal comparisons. In the current issue, you would find that more than one-fourth of the crude oil and petroleum products transported in the U.S. moves on water with comparisons to other modes.

We also operate the National Transportation Library, which has transportation documents from many sources. If you want to find An Assessment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 or a report on Estimated Costs and Effects of Cargo Preference Laws, NTL is the place to look.

BTS also performs surveys on transportation issues. Earlier this year, we joined with the Maritime Administration to conduct a Mariner Survey on the readiness of merchant mariners to serve on large ocean-going vessels. I am happy to report that two-thirds of the mariners—many of whom are in ashore jobs now— would be willing to take an afloat position in the event of a National Defense Emergency.

Every month, we release Transportation Indicators, an update of more than 90 transportation trends. In October, we reported that the cost to industry of providing water transportation services increased 11 percent in September from the previous year.

In 10 years, BTS has accomplished a great deal. Even during my three years as director, we have moved forward on many initiatives. And many of these have been to improve the quality of data for our marine transportation system.

One of our most exciting advances took place in May when we unveiled one-stop shopping for transportation data through the Intermodal Transportation Data Base. In the near future, we will have close to 100 data bases available for downloading—whether directly from the BTS site or through links to other sites.

Today, you can go to the ITDB site and download data from the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard. You could find information on vessel casualties, and vessel entrances and clearances. And you will find links to maritime-related web sites. You will also be able to find comparable data from other modes for cross-modal comparisons.

There will be more in the near future, such as the ferry database and the U.S. domestic and international vessel data and trade data with easier ways to analyze the data.

Our goal is to make the data easy to get and easy to use. If more people can analyze them, good things will happen. Like our other products, you can find ITDB on our website.

The ITDB typifies BTS' role of cutting across modal distinctions to improve data quality, comparability and dissemination.

We know that there is more to do to improve the quality of our maritime data. With better information, decision-makers will be able to focus their efforts on solutions that have the best chance of being successful.

We want to improve the data as partners with everyone involved in the marine transportation system. With apologies to Robert Maynard Hutchins—even if BTS could do it by ourselves, we should not. We need to do this together.

BTS is moving to upgrade existing data quality, fill gaps and develop methods to make better use of data.

We sponsor the Maritime Data Group where BTS joins five other federal agencies to review and coordinate maritime data-related activities. This group is updating Maritime Trade and Transportation ‘99, a comprehensive analytical work on maritime trade and transportation in the U.S. The update will include new sections on the St. Lawrence Seaway and on maritime transportation and the environment.

We are also expanding the maritime use of our Geographical Information Systems capability. We are working with MARAD to develop a program to analyze the maritime trade patterns of Honduras and Nicaragua. We plan to begin using the system in Central America in December and to have it ready for use in this country in the spring.

Our mapping capability will give us a better analysis tool to improve the understanding of maritime cargo trade patterns. By matching capacity with utilization, this tool can help with future investment decisions.

BTS is engaged in a major effort to identify data gaps and we would like your help. We are collecting information on gaps in transportation data that keep the transportation community from making the best informed decisions. For example:

We have had no data gaps reported regarding the maritime workforce but we are sure that they exist. The expertise of the maritime community could help in this area.

You can join us in the project through the Data Gaps link on our website, www.bts.gov. Tell us about other data gaps. But our goal is not only to identify the problems, but also to identify some solutions. How should we fill the gaps? Is it worth the effort? Why? What would the solutions cost, and who should implement them?

The final report, due in the spring, will cover all the data gaps that we collect. It is essential to make sure that maritime issues are covered.

I also ask you to consider how BTS can join with the maritime community to support maritime-related Intelligent Transportation Systems research. ITS holds great promise for the transportation systems of the 21st century. But there is a need for standard measures for investment decisions.

Because of BTS' unique data role in the transportation community, we can help with the creation of ITS data standard. We bring a national perspective to the table along with our expertise in data. I hope in the coming days and weeks to discuss BTS' role in ITS data and research with the maritime community.

But, as in all our efforts, it must be a partnership. By working together, we will produce higher quality data that can lead to a safer, more secure and more productive transportation system.

Data is the light in enlightened policy. As we fulfill this mission, we are affecting our transportation policies and making transportation better — improving our lives and those of future generations.

This is an ambitious undertaking, but, as Daniel Burnham said, "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans: aim high in hope and work." We are aiming high. Let's see how far we can take this idea.