APEC transport ministers seek to ride growth

APEC transport ministers seek to ride growth

VICTORIA, British Columbia (Reuter): Anticipating a boom in
passenger and freight traffic, transportation ministers and
industry experts from Asia-Pacific countries met on Monday to
discuss how to ensure transport links keep pace with economic and
trade growth.

The session was the first part of two-day meeting in Victoria
of ministers from the 18 members of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum, which includes the United States, China and
Japan.

They were joined by 400 delegates from the private sector
including officials from Boeing Co., United Parcel Service of
America Inc., shipping lines and the International Air Transport
Association.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for half the
world's economic growth over the next decade and APEC countries
have set a goal of achieving free trade among themselves in the
next century. But recent growth was already taxing the
transportation network, officials said.

"Even now, increased freight and passenger traffic, combined
with changing routing patterns and larger vessels, are straining
capacity and causing congestion," Canadian Transport Minister
David Collenette told the meeting.

One of APEC's main drives is to free trade among member
economies starting in 2010 for developed countries, and efficient
transportation links were seen as an important way to underpin
that effort, officials said.

"The objective is trade growth. The means are the improvement
in capacity and efficiency of the transportation systems," said
Graham Day, a Canadian shipping executive who was formerly
chairman of Cadbury Schweppes Plc and British Aerospace Plc.

Several speakers raised concern about congestion, the need to
expand transport facilities such as air and seaports and
potential benefits from harmonizing customs and transport
regulations among APEC countries.

For example, the International Air Transportation Association,
which represents the world's airlines, said international air
traffic in the Asia-Pacific region was expected to grow 7.4
percent a year until 2010 compared to a 4.4 percent growth rate
in the rest of the world. Air cargo traffic was also expected to
grow rapidly.

To meet that demand, airlines would probably need to double
the number of flights within in the next 10 years, IATA official
John Meredith said.

That would require huge investments in new airplanes, airport
capacity and air traffic control systems as well as efforts to
alleviate regulatory bottlenecks such as immigration and customs
delays, he said.

"We regard the expansion of infrastructure in the Asia/Pacific
area of utmost importance," Meredith said in a text of his
remarks to the APEC meeting.

Officials also highlighted a need for investment in improved
road networks, urban transit, intermodal freight facilities and
sea ports.

The ministers were scheduled to meet on their own on Tuesday
and discuss priorities for further work in the run-up to a summit
of APEC leaders in Vancouver in November.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand
and the United States.