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This Electronic Intermodal Supply Chain Manifest Field Operational Test Evaluation Draft Final Report presents the results of a 2.5 year freight ITS evaluation of an air cargo security and logistics system which was deployed at O'Hare and JFK international airports. In September 1999, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) jointly funded a field operational test to develop an electronic supply chain manifest system for air cargo. The primary objectives of this test were to increase the security of air cargo operations, while providing shippers and carriers with improved efficiencies in their operations.

Several key conclusions of this evaluation report are summarized as follows:

  • This field operational test (FOT) successfully demonstrated the use of technology to create a secure intermodal electronic manifest system. The secure electronic supply chain manifest (ESCM) was designed to be a standalone system that provided the secure transfer of information from manufacturer to motor carrier to airline. This was accomplished for multiple supply chains at two separate geographic locations.
  • The time savings estimates developed in this report show the potential for substantial industry time savings by the implementation of this system. These comparisons estimated that there are in fact operational time savings with the ESCM system. Many of these savings were estimated to come from replacement of manual processes with system generated processes, like automatic notification of load pickup or acceptance.
  • Participants have reported overall satisfaction with the ESCM system. Some participants felt the ESCM system would be significantly more useful with wider deployment to more of their supply chain partners.