Transport Sector Profile
Carole Coune, Secretary General, International Transport Forum at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Transport is a growth industry, and despite the financial crisis the trend for this sector is pointing upwards. Demand is mainly driven by global economic integration, a growing world population and rising incomes in emerging economies. As we head towards a global population of nine billion by 2050, the challenge of providing for everyone's daily needs, and providing access to education, jobs and other activities, is being addressed by our transport system.
In order to succeed, transport is becoming ever more efficient in moving people and goods. Access to mobility is becoming easier, and using transport services is an increasingly positive experience.
The vision that encapsulates much of this is the idea of 'Seamless Transport', which is nothing less than the physical expression of today's dominant megatrend: connectivity. In the 21st Century, increasing numbers of people connect seamlessly in cyberspace – transport, meanwhile, must strive for such connectivity on the ground, in the air and across oceans. Seamless Transport is about the convergence of traditional infrastructure and the new digital universe, as electronic information pushes the envelope for connectivity into a new dimension. For policymakers, operators and transport users, this creates exciting new options.
For all its promise, however, there are difficulties and pitfalls. Safety cannot be compromised, and efficiency may be put at risk by growing uncertainties and potential disruptions – such as extreme climate conditions, energy failures, social unrest, demand overload or the multiplication of transport operators, to name a few.
Therefore, when ministers from the 52 member countries of the International Transport Forum meet for their annual summit with business leaders, experts and NGOs in Leipzig, Germany, on 2nd to 4th May 2012, their mutual focus will be on 'Seamless Transport: Making Connections'. Under the presidency of Japan, a country at the forefront of transport innovation, the sector's key actors will test their new ideas and share their experiences, as part of a unique global opinion-forming exchange on the best ways to shape the future of transport.
It is my personal conviction that innovating for a globalised world in a sustainable way will remain at the top of transport's agenda for the long term. With well-calibrated policies, moreover, we can go beyond narrow carbon-cutting objectives and make the greening of the transport system a showcase for how to generate economic growth in the long term all over the world. Currently, transport is a growth industry; but we can make it a 'green growth' industry.