## Japan-South Korea Pilot Project for the Mutual Transit of Chassis

• Japan and South Korea agree on “mutual cooperation to implement a pilot project later in the year” at the Japan-China-South Korea Ministerial Conference on Logistics held July, 16 2012.

Overview of the Pilot Project]

• Transport automotive parts to Japan from South Korea to the manufacturing base of Nissan Motor Kyushu Co., Ltd., using the chassis of both countries via the Busan-Shimonoseki shipping route.

• On the basis that the laws and regulations of both nations will be applied, the two countries will extend cooperation based on applications from operators.

• The transit of Japanese chassis within South Korea will begin from October 10, 2012.

• The transit of South Korean chassis within Japan will begin from March 27, 2013.

Source) MLIT

Note 1 A towed vehicle without a powertrain

Note 2 An initiative to interconnect the port logistics information systems established by Japan, China, and South Korea so that the entry and departure of ships in the ports of Japan, China, and South Korea and container movement among other information covering a wide area can be centrally accessed from the Internet.

Note 3 A loading platform for packaged and aggregated cargo necessary to efficiently load and unload containers using a machine when handling cargo

Note 4 An overview of the joint statement can be found at the website below:

http://www.mlit.go.jp/common/000217815.pdf

Note 5 Cargo ships with built-in ramps that can load wheeled cargo such as chassis

## Column

## Contributing to the Success of the Transport Summit as Asia's First Chair Country - International Transport Forum (ITF) -

Every year at the ITF a “transport summit” is held where discussions are conducted regarding transport policy issues by the Transport Ministers of 54 member countries, business leaders, academic experts, and others. The transport summit is an exclusive place where Transport Ministers discuss onwide variety of transport related issues and serves as a place where experiences of various countries are shared to explore solutions on various issues. It also contributes greatly for establishing personal networks that transcend the boundaries of industry, government, and academia to establish new cooperative relationships. Each year’s theme is chosen from major issues related to global transport. In the past, “climate change issues,” “globalization,” “innovation,” and “society” were themes that were discussed to show new directions of transport policy.

At the summit held in 2012, under the theme of "seamless transport," Note Japan served an important role

as the first Asian country to chair the summit. Especially at the Minister's session, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism served as the Chairperson and contributed greatly for the adoption of the "seamless transport" policy declaration by Ministers of member countries. This declaration states that the Ministers will cooperate to solve the problem of seams such as connections between transport modes and lack of infrastructure.

The Senior Vice-Minister of MLIT held a presentation in the meeting addressing the current status on “Seamless Transportation” in Japan. The Senior Vice-Minister emphasized the need for the development of barrier-free public transportation.

Transport Ministers of Member Countries, etc.

Source) ITF

to attain “Seamless Transportation” in order to accommodate aging societies that many countries will face in the near future, as well as introducing the superior city transportation method of high speed railways, etc.