The International Road Transport Union is quite a remarkable organization. Based in Geneva, the IRU represents the entire road transport industry world-wide. It speaks for the operators of coaches, taxis and trucks, from large transport fleets to driver-owners. By pushing for standards and working with various inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, the IRU is able to have a positive impact on vehicle safety and efficiency and, through congestion and pollution reduction, on the environment. The IRU also knows how to organize a near flawless international event.
The 29th IRU World Congress opening ceremony rivaled those held by the Olympic Games. The conference took place at the historic Port of Yokohama, 18 miles south of Tokyo. The InterContinental Grand Yokohama Hotel was quite impressive on it’s own but the National Convention Hall, Pacifico Yokohama next door was awesome. With over 5,000 seats, this is one of the world’s largest convention halls. It is constructed in the shape of a giant shell, and has outstanding audiovisual, lighting and simultaneous interpreting facilities. This latter feature was important because the 1,450 attendees came from five continents and 58 countries. Speeches were simultaneously translated into English, French, German, Russian, Farsi, Turkish, Spanish, and Japanese. When the conferenceis held again in two years, Chinese will certainly be added to the list.
The ceremony began with three men performing on ancient Japanese drums — a tradition that is nearly two thousand years old. Taikos, as the drums are commonly called, range from one to 6 feet in diameter. With differing thickness of wood and tightness of the skin covering the drum, each one has a different sound. The physical stamina exhibited by the drummers was impressive. It is hard to describe this in words. Here are some pictures.
The theme of the congress was "Transport and Technology of Tomorrow" and the objective was to exchange views on the role of modern technology in the future of road transport and logistics systems. (See the document “Adoption of the IRU Yokohama Declaration” for more on this). Each speaker focused their comments on the objective. It started out with a welcome address by Paul Laeremans, IRU President, and Takao Takahashi, President of the Japanese Transportation Association. After very relevant comments from His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan, Prince Akishino, the speakers began to drill down into more and more detail.
Nobuteru Ishshara, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for Japan, talked about "The Role of Road Transport and Technology in Society". Shinya Izumi, Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry for Japan spoke about "The Role of Technology in Driving Japanese Trade, Tourism, and Transport". Next was Shigefumi Matsuzawa, Governor, Kanagawa Perfecture, one of the 51 prefectures of Japan, spoke about "Public-Private Partnerships to Reach Our Common Objectives". A fellow member of the IEEE, Tsuneo Nakahara, Vice President, ITS Japan, talked about "State of the Art Technologies for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)". His was the most technical talk of all and focused on specific technologies such as RFID and GPS. Dr. Nakahara was the only Japanese speaker to give his speech in English and it was nearly perfect.

Then it was my turn. I wasn’t sure if there would be anyone left in the audience since I was to stand between them and an evening gala. I was honored that the audience remained and they seemed to be quite interested in what I had to say about "The Future Of The Internet". Naturally, I did my best to focus my comments on transport-related issues. I asserted that without the arteries of our bodies providing efficient transport of our blood, we cannot survive as people. Similarly, without the arteries of the road systems of the world providing efficient transportation of people and goods, neither our bodies nor our businesses can survive. Roads have been central to civilization for thousands of years. However, a biggger force has taken hold — the Internet. The more people buy things on the Net, the more trucks and vans appear on streets and highways. How does a company dependent on roads survive and prosper? In a word, integration. With customers. With suppliers. With business partners. With the data that can help plan efficient routes. Just as the Internet is empowering consumers, it can also emmpower the road transport companies of rhe world. Road transport will continue to play a major role but only those companies which become "on demand" companies will survive.
After my twenty-five minute speech, John Defterios, former Editor/Anchor of "Street Sweep" and "Moneyweek" at CNN Financial News and congress master of ceremonies, returned to the stage to moderate the audience Q&A. There were three questions and I I did my best to answer them. IBM has a transportation group that focuses on telematics and I had asked their consultants to help me prepare with some possible Q&A.