ACTA U N IVERSITATIS LODZIENSIS FOLIA OECONOMICA 157, 2002
M a It i Ylösjoki
TEDIM - A TOOL FOR EDI-EC COOPERATION IN THE
BALTIC SEA
TEDIM (Telematics in foreign trade logistics and delivery management) programme was launched to promote international transport o f goods between the EU, Poland, the Russian Federation and the Baltic Sea countries with tlie help o f modern technology like EDI-EC. It forms a framework fo r several individual projects aiming to develop the requirements fo r international trade; projects involving border crossing processes , information management in railroad transportation, Information management in sea transportation, logistics service networks and harmonization o f the preconditions fo r business. It also serves as a co-ordination and discussion forum fo r its member countries Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland and Russia with Lithuania and Denmark as observers. The programme is developed in close co-operation with private companies and it strongly supports the public-private partnership concept.
In every period o f history, there have been different factors leading to success and prosperity. The Roman achieved prosperity by m eans o f m odem art o f w ar and adm inistrative methods. The M ongols conquered the world on horseback. Britain and the N etherlands utilised advanced seafaring. In to d ay ’s world, success is gained through international co-operation and efficient electronic data processing and transfer (ICT), nam ely through the m atters, w hich are prom oted in this conference.
M odern production needs transport. Raw m aterials and sem i-m anufactured products betw een factories need to be transported by utilising available resources, favourable w orking pow er and concentrations o f know -how . T his has increased the significance o f the co-operation and ICT. F urther on close co operation within the Baltic Sea area is a good sign o f continuous and reliable operation conditions for enterprises.
T ED lM -eoordinator hitp://www.tcdnn.com
It is far the sam e regularities that hold true also for transit transport operations. Any successful transport operation requires good co-operation to be carried out between several countries.
Why IĽ T (EÜ I-E C ) is needed?
In Finland, a research on electronic businesses carried out betw een enterprises was done in 2001. It resulted in an extensive survey o f the EDI use from its different sides. In the course o f years, EDI has proved to be a well- operating data transfer method facilitating the transfer o f big data am ounts. E D I’s greatest benefits have been correctness, increased efficiency o f operation and im proved services. The XM L technology is expected to draw m ore small and m edium sized enterprises into the sphere o f electronic business. Its use in business operations is currently being standardised internationally. Standards related to transport operations are already far advanced. A ccording to the interview ed enterprises, XM L will not, at least during the next five years, weaken the position o f EDI in electronic data transfer between enterprises; this is, especially, the opinion o f big enterprises.
In inform ation flows between enterprises, offers and invoices will first change to paperless, being transferred electronically by tw o thirds of enterprises. As to the operations o f enterprises, banking and financing sectors are the most autom ated: according to the enquiry about 90 per cent o f operations was made electronically. In addition to this, the greater part of data transfer of other operations is carried out electronically, namely 75 per cent o f custom s clearance and 60 per cent of transport and forw arding operations.
The aim o f TEDIM is to make these figures of Finland a reality in the whole Baltic Sea region not forgetting even more effective m ethods that are currently under developm ent process.
TED IM adm inistration
The objective of the T E D IM -program m e is to sm oothen in the Baltic Sea region the logistics chain in international trade by using m odern inform ation technology. TEDIM acts as an um brella for several projects involving international transport and logistics operations.
During its six active years the TEDIM program m e has proved to be a profitable developm ent and discussion forum for its m em ber countries. Finnish, Russian and Germ an M inistries o f Transport together with the R ussian
M inistry o f Railways and the City of St. Petersburg launched the program m e in 1995. Estonia jo in ed the program m e already in 1996, in 2000 Latvia and Poland becam e a m em ber o f the TEDIM family in 2001. G row ing interest in the program m e’s results and its cooperative work can also be seen in Denmark, Lithuania and Sweden, which have already participated in som e o f the program m e meetings.
TEDIM is adm inistrated in three layers. The highest adm inistrative level is the International C oordinating C om m ittee (IC C ). T he chairing country and the chairm an o f the C om m ittee are elected for one year and the duty circulates am ong the m em bership countries. The chairing country in 2001 is Finland. The C om m ittee meets once a year. The latest m eeting was held in Helsinki in Septem ber 2001. T he m eeting elected Russia for the chairing country for the year 2002 with Mr. VUulimir I. Yakunin, Vice M inister from the M inistry of Transport o f Russian Federation, as the chairm an.
TC(J, T echnical C oordinating G roup, has representatives from each m em ber country. It meets basically once a year, but also m ore often if needed. TCG prepares topics for the ICC m eeting and offers a discussion forum for the m em ber countries. Each m em ber country also has national b oarding groups. The Finnish boarding group for instance consists o f representatives of participating com panies and authorities.
The T ED IM secretariat takes care of the general coordination, m arketing and inform ation o f the program m e as well as for instance technical preparations for the m eetings.
TEDIM is financed on public-private basis, which has proved to be the most effective way to ensure that the work undertaken is relevant for the business life and will lead to real life solutions without delays.
The num ber o f private com panies participating in the program m e is quite substantial. The private sector finances the individual projects to a large extent. For TEDIM projects, som e funds have been received from the EU budget
TEDIM projects
Areas o f D evelopm ent
During the period o f operation o f the TED IM program , the entire perspective o f developm ent has significantly changed due to the fast developm ent of technology and social conditions. Instead o f telem atics, today we m ore and m ore often talk about the concept o f the ICT, the scope o f services
o f the logistics moves further and further away from m erely transportation and w arehousing. Instead o f two separate m arkets? dom estic and export? we more often talk about the Baltic Sea or the EU m arket area which is also supported by the decrease in num ber o f the national currencies. The perspective of the TEDIM program has also been expanded by all this developm ent, and at the present time the program concentrates mostly on five logistics-based areas of developm ent described below. P articular im portant is given to the wide geographical coverage as well as the public-private m ethod o f cooperation that have been m ade possible by TEDIM .
1. B order crossing processes
2. Inform ation m anagem ent in railroad transportation 3. Inform ation m anagem ent in sea transportation 4. Logistics service networks
5. H arm onization o f the preconditions for business
B order crossing processes
O ne of the typical features o f the N orthern Europe is the border betw een the EU and Russia, which is going to continue in the B altic’s after the expansion o f the EU. To make the border crossing processes quicker, electronic custom s clearance m ethods have been developed in cooperation with the officials from R ussia and Finland as well as with the exporting com panies. The electronic transfer o f inform ation related to the transit procedure has also been developed and experim ented in many different versions. At the present tim e there are ready technical solutions for the transit procedure inform ation transfer from the inform ation system o f an exporting com pany directly to the custom s officials on the both sides o f the border (CustCom I and II). Introduction o f the ready-m ade solutions only requires adm inistrative decisions. At the sam e tim e we already consider further geographical expansion o f the new transit procedure.
Plans for developing the custom s declaration have been m ade. The transit procedure inform ation will be used in the custom s declaration procedure at the place o f destination (C ustCom Ш, EurCust 1 and 2).
In future:
> Taking care o f introduction o f the developed m ethods as well as o f the required equipm ent and training related investm ents.
> C ontinuation o f further developm ent of the border crossing processes using the possibilities offered by the modern IC technology at the entire spectrum of the custom s and inspection processes.
> Reduction o f the inspections made on the border, sim plification o f the m ethods o f certification of goods.
> T raining o f the enterprises as required by the introduction o f the new m ethods o f operation.
> T ransfer o f the developed know -how to the entire length o f the border betw een the EU and Russia that is going to becom e longer in the future.
Inform ation m anagem ent in railroad transportation
Due to the sim ilar gage o f the both countries' railroad netw orks, the railroad transportation across the border betw een Russia and Finland has been flexible and continuous. For this reason the interest of the railroad operators tow ard the electronic transfer of the freighting docum ents from one operator to another has also been quite significant. The inform ation contents as well as the form o f the railway waybill have been jointly agreed upon, and the inform ation system s have been developed for the technical im plem entation o f the data transfer. The technical know-how necessary for the data transfer both ways already exists, and the practical data transfer experim ents have also been quite successful (R ailC om ). Introduction of the ready-m ade solutions and im plem entation o f the required procedures only requires adm inistrative decisions.
Use of the railw ay waybill inform ation has been extended to cover the tracing o f shipm ents (R ailTrace). This developm ent activity has not been limited to the shipm ents betw een Finland in Russia; instead the idea has been to create a system covering the entire Europe.
In future:
> Expansion o f application o f the developed systems.
> Continuation of shipment tracing and tracking feature developm ent as a broad European cooperation.
> T ransfer o f the developed know-how to other international railroad connections (e.g. R ussia-B altics, R ussia-B elarus-Poland-G erm any).
Inform ation m anagem ent in sea transportation
The Baltic Sea offers a ready international highw ay in the N orthern Europe (e.g. the sea m otorway of the Baltic Sea) which capacity is far from being used to the full extent. The m otorway is going to be very significant from the point o f view o f the energy and raw m aterial supply to the entire Europe. Increase in the volum e and speed o f the traffic as well as utilization o f the grow th potential nevertheless require some input first o f all into the sea transport and safety at
sea inform ation system s that must be absolutely com patible across the national borders. The activity at this sector has been going on through the entire duration o f the TEDIM program.
In future:
r- Developm ent of cooperation forum s (LIM N E Netw ork) bearing in m ind the idea o f determ ination of jo in t developm ent objects and com m on preconditions.
> Launch o f national and international developm ent projects for system im plem entation e.g. in the follow ing areas: safety at sea and environm ental impact, open port com m unity system s, term inal telem atics and training. > Shipm ent inform ation m anagem ent, tracing o f shipm ents in the m ultim ode
transportation chains (e.g. the sea m otorw ay o f the Baltic Sea).
Logistics service networks
Due to the form ation of the trade connections and increasingly fast developm ent o f international unification, all sorts o f traditional enterprises have been extending their activity across the geographical borders. D evelopm ent of the inform ation and com m unication technology has been crucially im portant in the process o f integration of individual transportation and logistics services into a single w ide-range service network. In the fram ew ork o f the TEDIM program , this developm ent has been supported by many different projects dealing with various planning and tracing systems or the basic rules o f the jo in t activity (e.g. PO BCom , LQIM, LogCom). The characteristic feature o f these projects has been the fact of their objects being widely applicable concepts and solutions. In this connection also the broad geographical coverage and regional variety have been utilized enabling e.g. transfer of the experience from the EU m em ber states to the countries in the m iddle of the m em bership negotiations.
In future:
> C oncentration on w ider and geographically more com prehensive projects creating netw orks betw een different actors (e.g. NeLoC).
> Revision o f the developm ent needs for instance by the branche o f industry with concentration e.g. on special issues o f the high-tech, chem ical or printing industry.
^ C reation of business preconditions for small and m edium -sized enterprises by netw orking them as parts of the international service netw orks and developing new service concepts with the ICT solutions (e.g. EuroPol).
H arm onization of the preconditions for business
The eastern regions of integrating Europe form an interesting potential that is som etim es yet hard to utilize in term s o f the production activity. Harm onization o f the business preconditions that still vary due to certain social differences as well as providing the possibilities for com m ercially profitable and secure investm ents have particularly been the goal of the E uroR ussia developm ent program in the TED IM fram ew ork. T his project in accordance with the TED IM 's principle o f public & private cooperation has been concentrated on creation of the above-m entioned preconditions in the city of St. Petersburg and Leningrad oblast. Although the geographical focus o f the EuroR ussia program has been relatively narrow, it constitutes otherw ise a very large scope of things covering am ong other things the custom s clearance issues, the bonded w arehouse principle, creation o f subcontractor netw orks and industrial parks, training of labour, developm ent o f the innovative environm ent as well as the logistics and data connections necessary for the business activity.
The EuroR ussia program based on the specific needs o f the enterprises has been developed within a limited territory in order to m ake the business preconditions in Russia correspond to the situation valid in the EU. Through this experience, application of the m ethods o f operation learned in this program is later going to be possible, if necessary, to im plem ent in other territories, and therefore the program strongly supports the entire idea o f harm onization. Significantly large international corporations have been involved in the program . The presidents and prime m inisters o f Finland and R ussia have noted during their m eetings the im portance of EuroR ussia as a developm ent program .
This scope o f issues also includes the e-trade w here som e prelim inary studies have been made concerning the Baltics (Farm net) with some connections concerning Russia.
N orthern Dim ension and TF.DIM
What TEDIM could give?
For the Northern Dim ension program m e TEDIM is offering a forum o f the telem atics and logistics developm ent covering the entire Baltic Sea region offering the following:
> Well functioning open cooperation network as a result o f many years o f developm ent.
> Proven public & private operation model with its own political dim ension. > E xperience and ready-m ade technical solutions for electronic custom s
clearance and transfer o f freighting docum ents.
У Experience in piloting new m odels of operation in cooperation with the public adm inistration and enterprises.
> E xperience in joint developm ent projects with participation o f the EU m em ber states and third countries.
> Well functioning channels o f data transm ission to the partners (w w w .tedim .com . w w w .eurorussia.fi. E uroR ussia Support C entres, sem inars, publications, etc.)
What we expect fr o m the EU
F urther developm ent o f TEDIM requires unconditional com m itm ent o f the participating countries as well as use o f the national resources in the interests of the com m on goals. G iving this program a status o f one o f the strategic tools of the Northern Dim ension would also require the follow ing tangible m easures on the EU part:
> N om ination o f clear and specific responsible entities for the entire program o f the N orthern Dim ension and TEDIM in particular in the EU com m ission. > The political leaders o f the countries taking part in the cooperation must be
able to meet on a regular basis in order to deepen the TEDIM activity as well.
> A separate financing should be earm arked for the N orthern D im ension program s to enable the financing o f the projects covering the entire region The TED IM 's share should be from € 5 million increasing up to € 25 million a year.
> A share o f the finance (10 to 20 p e r cent) should be delegated directly to the local decision m aking m echanism s for quick and flexible satisfaction o f the operative needs.
Ladies and G entlem en
I’m am very pleased, that Poland is now an active and inventive m em ber o f the TED IM family. Especially, it gives me great pleasure to see such persons being involved in our program as Mr. Andrzej G dula from the M inistry of Infrastructure and Mr. Ludwik K ondratow icz from the M arine institute in Gdansk.
My purpose was to outline the main reasons why we all need good cooperation in the Baltic Sea area in the field o f ITC (EDI -E C ) and what are the developm ent areas of the TED IM -program m e. The TED IM fam ily is starting several interesting projects. I warmly welcom e you to join o ur developm ent efforts.
