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The field of freight transport is a direct reflection of changes in the
industrial structure and national way of life. The tendency is to move towards
lighter, smaller products. There has been a definite separation between the
growth of GNP and growth in domestic freight transport volume, and further changes
are becoming clearly apparent in the formation of transport requirements for
each commodity concerned.
A glance at the relationship between the volume of domestic freight transport
and actual GNP reveals that in comparison to the similarity shown in growth
during the first half of the 1970's, no further relationship could be observed
between GNP and freight transport volume after the Oil Crisis in 1973 (Fig.
5).
This is attributed to ① a reduction in the unit volume transported (the traffic
volume per unit manufactured value) for overall the manufacturing industries,
② changes in industrial structure whereby after 1975, the processing industries
which are responsible for an increasingly larger share of total national production
require only a small unit transport volume.
(1) Development of freight distribution for industries
Under such circumstances, the further improvement of transport efficiency
for enterprises concerned with the distribution of freight, the improvement
of value added freight distribution services outsides of those services related
to transport, and the development of intermodal transport systems as well as
other measures, are becoming necessary.
In the area of administration, an innovative change in the heretofore divisional
approach practiced by transport modes, with an eye on the flow of freight transport,
should establish freight distribution policies appropriate for the development
of Japanses economy and society.
(2) Progress in freight distribution for consumers
Parcel delivery services by trucks have experienced phenomenal growth in
the past 4 to 5 years and by fiscal 1983 the total number of packages handled
by these services reached 278 million pieces, which is double the volume of
parcel post (Fig. 6).
Similar to the parcel delivery serices is the rapid growth in the use of moving
services by trucks and trunk room storage services by general consumers.
The Ministry of Transport is studying the implementation of policies designed
to forecast and eliminate potential problems arising in the area of freight
distribution for consumers.
(3) Development of information systems for freight distribution
We are entering the era of information-intensive society. In the freight
distribution field, the establishment of a system utilizing computerization
and the entry of trucking firms into VAN (Value Added Network) enterprises,
etc., indicates the aggressive adoption of new information systems by large
enterprises.
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