I'm really not qualified to offer an opinion on that. For those of you who may have an interest in this, the letter begins
The
Center for Supply Chain Management at the John Cook School of Business,
St. Louis University, has been commissioned to advise and provide
guidance if transitioning to an industry-led, not for profit
association for the development and advancement of EDI Standards will
best benefit the inland waterway industry in the future. We are seeking
your input on this possibility.
As
background, the rail, trucking, grain, petroleum and other industries
have not-for-profit associations for the development and advancement of
EDI Standards. A vast majority of businesses within those industries
participate in the associations and take advantage of the savings
afforded by implementing EDI standards developed on a collective basis.
Most Industry associations have been formed by industry leaders who
understand the benefits in business process and cost savings through the
collective effort of EDI standard development, implementation and
active use.
Since
2006, Ingram, AEP River Operations and ACL have led the effort in the
development of EDI standards and collaboration in the inland waterway
industry. They invested in the creation of the BargeEx information
exchange and the formation of MarineNet, LLC to further advance these
goals.
MarineNet
is owned by the three companies, not the industry. In contrast, the
not-for-profit associations for transportation and adjacent industries
are collaborative organizations, who are led and promoted by the active
membership they serve. The current MarineNet owners have come to believe
the development and advancement of EDI Standards can be advanced more
rapidly by transitioning to an association model that provides even
greater openness and sharing of intellectual property and resources in
the inland waterway industry.
And there's a link at the end for people answer four questions and provide personal and company information.
If you want more information on BargeEx, click here.
For more on MarineNet, click here.
As I'm not familiar with these organizations, there's not a lot more I can add.
