Benchmarking Intermodal Freight Transport « What is efficient intermodal freight transport? How are "best practices" to be found? What measures Benchmarking Intermodal are being developed in OECD countries for assessing the relative efficiency of modes and modal combinations? What opportunities exist to improve complex intermodal transport chains? How are such opportunities identified and assessed? Freight Transport Today’s highly competitive global market calls for intermodal transport systems that meet industry’s expectations in efficiency and reliability as well as government’s sustainability expectations. While benchmarking is a tool for achieving such objectives, how are these benchmarking exercises best implemented? This report analyses illustrative benchmarking exercises to provide insights into these important questions. Benchmarking Intermodal Freight Transport Benchmarking Intermodal Freight OECD's books, periodicals and statistical databases are now available via www.SourceOECD.org, our online library. This book is available to subscribers to the following SourceOECD theme: Transport Ask your librarian for more details of how to access OECD books online, or write to us at [email protected] www.oecd.org ISBN 92-64-19742-7 77 2002 03 1 P -:HSTCQE=V^\YW]: Benchmarking Intermodal Freight Transport ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960, and which came into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shall promote policies designed: – to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment and a rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thus to contribute to the development of the world economy; – to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic development; and – to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations. The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The following countries became Members subsequently through accession at the dates indicated hereafter: Japan (28th April 1964), Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June 1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973), Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21st December 1995), Hungary (7th May 1996), Poland (22nd November 1996), Korea (12th December 1996) and the Slovak Republic (14th December 2000). The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention). Publié en français sous le titre : Transport intermodal de marchandises UNE ÉVALUATION COMPARATIVE © OECD 2002 Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for non-commercial purposes or classroom use should be obtained through the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC), 20, rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, France, tel. (33-1) 44 07 47 70, fax (33-1) 46 34 67 19, for every country except the United States. In the United States permission should be obtained through the Copyright Clearance Center, Customer Service, (508)750-8400, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 USA, or CCC Online: www.copyright.com. All other applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this book should be made to OECD Publications, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. FOREWORD The mission of the OECD Programme of Research on Road Transport and Intermodal Linkages (RTR) is to promote economic development in its Member countries by enhancing transport safety, efficiency and sustainability through a co-operative research programme on road and intermodal transport. To achieve this objective, the Programme recommends options for the development and implementation of effective transport policies for Members, and encourages outreach activities for non-member countries. All 30 Member countries participate in the Programme. The 1998-2000 Programme included a mandate for the establishment of an Intermodal Freight Transport Advisory Group. The Intermodal Freight Transport Advisory Group is examining key topics focusing on critical aspects of the role of governments in promoting intermodal transport including: • Institutional aspects. • Benchmarking intermodal freight transport performance. • Urban freight logistics. • International freight corridor development. These topics are being addressed in sequence. This report on Benchmarking Intermodal Freight Transport represents the second output of the Intermodal Freight Transport Advisory Group, following the 2001 report on Intermodal Freight Transport: Institutional Aspects. It is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. 3 ABSTRACT IRTD NUMBER: E112021 The global marketplace requires integrated, intermodal transport systems. An important issue in dealing with this challenge is to assess which mode or modal combination, including transfer points, offers the “best” overall level of performance. Benchmarking is an instrument which can help answer this question. It aims to improve performance by identifying best practices, analysing the reasons for differences in performance and suggesting potential changes that could be introduced by decision makers. The issue of identifying appropriate benchmarks that could be applied to assess the relative efficiency of transport chains was investigated by the Intermodal Freight Transport Advisory Group, which was established by the Steering Committee for the Programme of Research on Road Transport and Intermodal Linkages (RTR) in 1998. This is the second report prepared by the Group, following its 2001 report Intermodal Freight Transport: Institutional Aspects. The report summarises the outcomes of the analysis of benchmarks studied and used in OECD Member countries, and provides recommendations to policy makers for conducting effective benchmarking exercises to improve system performance. Field classification Economic and administration; environment; traffic and transport planning. Field codes 10; 72. Keywords Decision process; economic efficiency; economics of transport; evaluation (assessment); freight transport; intermodal transport (freight); logistics; OECD. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary....................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2. Issues in Benchmarking............................................................................................. 21 Chapter 3. Benchmarks to Assess the Performance of the Transport Chain............................... 29 Chapter 4. Development of Benchmarking Methods for Comparisons of the Relative Efficiency of Modes.......................................................................... 43 Annex 1. Intermodal Freight Transportation Advisory Group..................................................... 75 Annex 2. Glossary of Abbreviations and Terms.......................................................................... 77 Annex 3. Performance Indicators in Canada................................................................................ 79 Annex 4. Performance Indicators in the Czech Republic ............................................................ 91 Annex 5. Transport in Central and Eastern European Countries ............................................... 103 Annex 6. Performance Indicators in Finland ............................................................................. 107 Annex 7. Performance Indicators in Japan................................................................................. 123 Annex 8. Performance Indicators in the Netherlands................................................................. 127 Annex 9. Performance Indicators in the United Kingdom......................................................... 133 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has an ongoing commitment to freight-related transport research. The Programme of Research on Road Transport and Intermodal Linkages (RTR) for the 1998-2000 period had three key elements: • Multimodal transport strategies. • Economic performance, transport infrastructure and management. • Sustainable development. The RTR Steering Committee established the Intermodal Freight Transport Advisory Group to investigate four topics: • Institutional aspects of intermodal transport. • Benchmarking and system performance measures. • Economic and fiscal instruments. • International freight corridor development. Each of the above topics is being addressed in sequence. Work on the subject of institutional aspects has been completed, and the conclusions have been published in OECD (2001), Intermodal Freight Transport: Institutional Aspects. The overall focus of the work on “benchmarking” is centred on comparing the relative efficiency of modes, modal combinations and modal interfaces. Government policy makers (along with transport industry and logistics service providers) have an interest in the efficiency (including