Maritime, Intermodal Transport: the future of Europeam Transport

One of the steps in this direction was the adoption of my report on the “European Maritime Transport Policy until 2018” in the European Parliament in March 2010. In this report I underlined the importance of maritime and intermodal transport as the very heart of the European transport system. Although road and railway connections get congested, there is still a lot of transport capacity on the European seas and inland waterways.

However, as all other modes of transport, the maritime transport sector needs to invest in decarbonisation. I fully support this aim and therefore I introduced in my report the concept of the Green Port. In a Green Port, environmentally friendly ships pay reduced harbour dues and are dealt with more quickly than more polluting ships. I am convinced this measure will improve the environmental performance of the maritime sector. And this will improve the competitive position of maritime and intermodal transport. Because the environmental performance of a transport mode determines more and more whether the EU will promote the use of the transport mode or not.

The fact that environmental performances of a transport mode are very important for EU transport policy makers has been clearly demonstrated in the Future of Transport, the EU’s transport policy document for the next decades (published last March). The first and most important objective of the EU is to decarbonise the EU transport sector while recognising at the same time that reducing mobility and consequently the growth of transport is not an option. I’m convinced that this objective cannot be reached without fully recognising the use of maritime, intermodal transport. Because this is the only mode of transport with current available capacity and maritime transport, especially inland waterways, is the most safe, clean and reliable mode of transport. The European Commission and the European Parliament are more and more willing to recognise this position of maritime transport, provided its environmental efforts are state of the art.

I am glad to see that the European Commission tends to support more and more the use of maritime, intermodal transport. The best example of this (new) Commission’s view is found in their proposals for the revision of the Trans European Network-Transport (TEN-T). The TEN-T is a European transport fund which co-finances infrastructure projects in the European member states. The fund was set up in 1996 and in the first decade it supported several road and rail projects. Some of these projects were quite successful (like the Betuwelijn in The Netherlands). But quite a lot of the projects were infinite transport projects with little European added value and turned into headache dossiers. Last October the European Commission came up with proposals to revise the TEN-T legislation. The EU will focus more on a European transport core network instead of financing several individual transport projects in all member states. This is a good step forward by the European Commission, but I am most happy as well that the European Commission proposes to consider all European inland waterways as part of the European transport core network. With these proposals the European Commission recognises the vital role maritime, intermodal transport plays in the European transport system.

However, this is not only good news for intermodal transport. I would like to highlight two more issues which cause a challenge to the European maritime, intermodal transport sector. The first issue is the realisation of a real European internal market for maritime transport. One of the main objectives of the EU is to achieve a well functioning internal market; an internal market where all parts of the economy can benefit from open borders, mutual recognition and whatsoever. Most parts of the European economy reached an advanced phase of the internal market, but the European maritime transport sector has not yet. This is a severe disadvantage for maritime and intermodal transport. Where road, rail and air transport can benefit from the European internal market, the maritime sector is still tackled with unnecessary controls from customs and inspection services. I understand the practical problems (how can an inspectorate in a Member State check whether a ship loaded goods in third country ports or from third country ships while navigating from a EU port to another EU port), but I think there is a solution. When there is more exchange of information between several national customs and inspection services, it must be possible to reduce the administrative burdens for the European maritime sector. If the EU really wants to promote the maritime, intermodal transport sector, the EU should remove this competition disadvantage as soon as possible.

The second issue concerns the sulphur content of maritime fuels. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), where all member states of the EU are represented, agreed to decrease the percentage of sulphur in marine fuels drastically, especially in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Channel. I support ambitious environment targets. The European transport sector has to improve its environmental performance. All member states agreed with the IMO proposal, so I do not think we should adjust the targets. But the EU needs to avoid that goods are transferred from intermodal transport to road transport. If all EU transport policy documents stimulate the use of intermodal transport, the EU will lose credibility if it supports measures which disadvantage the use of intermodal transport. So if these new IMO standards discourage the use of intermodal transport, the EU should take accompanying measures to stimulate that transport at the same time. Some colleagues in the European Parliament are in favour to extend the 0,1% limit so as to cover a fixed distance (12 miles) from the EU coastline. Before voting in favour or against such a extension I want the EU to come up with a serious impact assessment on the several legislative options. I want to know exactly what the consequences are of extending the 0,1% limit to other European waters. Because, as I already said, the EU should refrain from decisions which lead to a reverse modal shift from water to road. The EU should support intermodal transport instead of creating barriers.

In my work in the European Parliament I will try to change these challenges into new opportunities for maritime, intermodal transport. Because this mode of transport deserves the support of the European Union.

By Peter van Dalen, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-president of the Committee on Transport and Tourism