Transport connectivity for efficient and resilient supply chains.

One of the Key development purposes of transport connectivity is to redress the fragmented value-adding processes of international supply chains, by enabling the continuous movement of goods across borders. 

The Availability of transport infrastructure is a necessary but insufficient condition for achieving the end goal of providing reliable and cost-effective transport services to supply chain participants. It needs to be complemented by performant operational connectivity and, notably, the efficiency of cross-border freight operations. Approaching the issue of transport connectivity from a supply chain perspective encourages multimodality as a cost-optimizing strategy and, owing to the possibility of cascading negative effects along the supply chain, stimulates greater collaboration among participants, greater use of technology and stronger private-public cooperation in tackling the causes of inefficiencies.

 Supply chain performance depends on the relationship between economic efficiency and resilience.

 Leaner supply chains, while often more cost-effective, tend to have fewer buffers against external disruptions. The tradeoffs between efficiency and resilience can be mitigated using information and communications technology (ICT) and data-sharing throughout a given supply chain. Governments can also help to manage risks by building a certain degree of redundancy into transport infrastructure and networks, guaranteeing emergency services, promoting intermodality and efficiently regulating crossborder freight. 

 Most aspects of the supply chain approach to transport connectivity are reflected in the work of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and thePacific (ESCAP) (see ESCAP/CTR/2020/1). The transport infrastructure connectivity work carried out under regional infrastructure agreements goes hand in hand with efforts to increase operational connectivity by means of transport facilitation, the use of technologies, and private-public dialogue and capacity-building on logistics efficiency. The promotion of intermodal transport corridors and the improvement of the international regulatory framework for multimodal freight contracts strengthen multimodality. 

At the same time, progress on transport connectivity in Asia and thePacific remains insufficient. Costs and delays in the movement of goods are driven up by missing links and inadequate infrastructure quality in the regional transport network and exacerbated by factors including divergent technical standards, insufficient use of electronic information exchange and lack ofliberalization of transport services. Progress in intermodal integration is hampered by the lack of coordinated policies that target infrastructure, transport and logistics. Overall, transport connectivity remains uneven across the region, with a widening gap between high-performing countries and those that are lagging behind, often countries with special needs. The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has brought transport connectivity to the forefront, positioning it as a key component of pandemic response efforts and recovery strategies. It is therefore critical that efforts in this area go beyond restoring the pre-pandemic level of transport connectivity and pursue greater resilience to future disruptions. 

The present document contains an analysis of the main issues pertainingto regional transport connectivity for supply chain performance in Asia and thePacific, including the impact of the ongoing pandemic on freight transportconnectivity and the ways forward to enhance connectivity along the land transport networks and better link the region in its entirety to global supplychains. It also serves to highlight the challenge of transitioning to a more resilient and sustainable freight sector as part of the efforts to build back better following the pandemic.