Senator warns of year 2000 impact on transportation By Patrick Thibodeau
WASHINGTON -- The special Senate committee investigating the year 2000 problem sent out surveys to 32 of the nation's largest transportation companies to gauge their year 2000 readiness.
But only 16 companies responded -- despite repeated calls by congressional staffers urging them to participate -- and of those that did respond, only a third said that they had completed the first phase of the remediation project, the assessment.
The survey results, released at a hearing hosted today by the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Problem, prompted Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) to warn of "significant interruptions" in air, train and
shipping services due to the millennium bug.
While Bennett's voice was even, his anger over the lack of cooperation the Senate is getting from major industries on the year 2000 problem was clear. "I can only conclude that those who didn't respond are either unaware of the severity of the problem or are embarrassed over their lack of progress," Bennett said.
The lack of response to the survey also troubled Charles Feld, chief information officer of Delta Air Lines, Inc. in Atlanta.
"I didn't think when Congress asked something, that people had to vote -- that they could not respond," Feld said in an interview. "I think it's a little scary that people are not responding."
Underscoring this concern was thinly disguised skepticism by Bennett and committee co-chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) over the value the group's hearings. The companies that did provide insight today into their year 2000 efforts -- Delta Air Lines, trucking firm Schneider National, Inc. and Crowley Maritime Corp. -- were generally pleased with their progress on year 2000 work. However, the "picture we got today may not be the true picture," Bennett pointed out.
The survey, which provided anonymity to participants, found that just 62% had completed a year 2000 assessment. But 94% said they expect to finish their work on time. The Senate committee, in its report,
called that prediction "overoptimistic given that most of them have not yet completed the process of fully assessing the scope of the Y2K problem."
None of the companies had completed a contingency plan, and just over half said they were working on one. Half of the companies said they expected to be involved in year 2000-related litigation. |
