Global experience essential for next generation of transportation leaders

The Intermodal Transportation Institute (ITI) at the University of Denver announced that it has concluded its 5th annual Intermodal Travel Seminar, one of the key components of the Master of Science in Intermodal Transportation Management degree. The ITI Intermodal Travel Seminar enables students, all of whom hold senior management positions in the transportation industry, to build upon their ITI coursework by providing them with the opportunity to better understand the practical challenges of creating and sustaining intermodal operations in today's dynamic global economy.

In previous years the ITI students have visited Vancouver, Europe, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. This year the location was again Europe, specifically Amsterdam, Brussels, and Rotterdam. The recently concluded three-day international travel seminar that each cohort group takes at the end of their five-quarter program serves as the capstone for the graduate program and helps the ITI students better understand the practical challenges of creating and sustaining intermodal transportation systems ' both freight and passenger ' by providing opportunities for discussion with government and industry leaders engaged in managing, operating, and maintaining these systems. Students also learn about international security systems and are able to observe new and developing technologies in action; and they are encouraged to use the public transit system whenever possible.

While in Europe this year, students met with, among others, Klaus Ebeling, Secretary General, European Intermodal Association; Ben Van Houtte and Wolfgang Elsner, Heads of Units at the European Commission's Directorate General ' Transport and Energy; J. G. Kroon, CEO of GVB, Amsterdam's public transit company; and Eric Peetermans, Head of International Affairs, B-Cargo, SNCB. Maersk, APM Terminals, and the Holland International Distribution Council also hosted the group and made presentations to the ITI students. Highlights of the trip included a luncheon and boat tour of the Port of Rotterdam, hosted by the Rotterdam Port Promotion Council and followed by a discussion with Jan Barendregt, Senior Business Manager ' Logistics, Port of Rotterdam Authority; and a presentation by Manfred Michel, senior executive with DUSS, who flew to Amsterdam from Germany especially to meet with the ITI students.

Accompanying the students this year were ITI faculty members Dr. Michael D. Meyer, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Ted Prince, President, Consolidated Chassis Management, LLC, and Chair, Research and Policy Committee, ITI Board of Directors; Dr. Carol Nappholz, Educational Programs Director, ITI; and Stephen D. Van Beek, PhD, President and CEO, ENO Foundation, Washington DC, and Vice Chairman, ITI Board Education Committee, ITI Board of Directors.

Said Chad Thomas, Director of Intermodal Business Development for JB Hunt and one of the students participating in the ITI Intermodal Travel Seminar: 'This academic collaboration provided an excellent forum for dialogue that could help create new intermodal solutions both in the US and abroad. The presentations, site visits and interaction with the transport leaders in the European marketplace have provided significant insight into the challenges and obstacles that must be confronted worldwide in order to fully achieve intermodalism on an intercontinental basis. The ITI Intermodal Travel Seminar experience provided an extraordinary complement to the classroom modules. After reviewing the European infrastructure, I am now better equipped to help my company focus its service offerings to meet the connectivity required in global supply chain management.'

'The ITI Intermodal Travel Seminar is an essential component of the MS in Intermodal Transportation Management,' said Ted Prince. 'Thi