Editorial:
Maritime transports in focus

Public support to new maritime links is a positive measure, if this can be done without prejudice.

The move of cargo transports from a strained land infrastructure to the sea has been on the political agenda for many years. The reasons are obvious and the enlargement of EU has made the question acute. An increased demand for transportation is a natural consequence of growth, as well as a prerequisite for the development of a modern society. Using the sea to cater for the growing transport need is necessary to ensure a sustainable development – economical, environmentally and socially.
Until now, much has been said and written, little has been done. In its new proposal, amending the guidelines for the development of the transeuropean transport network, TEN, the EU Commission now highlights the “motorway of the seas” concept and identifies four sea areas where new shipping services are to be supported. One of those is the Baltic Sea, connecting member states in the area with member states in Central and Western Europe.
According to the Commission, the aim is to make new transnational maritime links as important as motorways and railways. Based on the report from a highlevel group the Commission wants to see the development of new maritime links in those areas by supporting or subsidising measures, such as simplifying customs and administration, providing port facilities and direct access to ports and to ensure navigability throughout the year, especially in the Baltic Sea in wintertime. New liner services could also be granted start-up aid for up to two years.
The proposal is a hot potato, especially for port operators. The high-level group has concluded that new services could be developed rapidly if freight is consolidated on a few maritime routes between a limited number of ports.
Although the increased focus on the importance and potential of maritime transport on the political arena should be applauded, it must be stressed that actions and decisions should be taken with consideration and cautiousness.
If the ambition is to facilitate new liner services at sea to relieve the pressure on the landbased transport infrastructure, extreme care has to be taken when granting funds to projects. Development of new cargo liner routes should be based on market conditions.
Granting start-up aid to a shipping project identified as being of common interest will also be a delicate decision. If this distort free competition by giving a new service significantly lower operating costs than existing services, the consequence could be closure of established maritime links which of course would be contradictory to the ambitions described in the Commission’s proposal. Public funding of port projects where facilities are developed exclusively for certain operators could also be a market distortion.
Public support to new maritime links is a positive measure, if this can be done without prejudice. More important for shipping in general is however a market situation, where conditions are competition neutral between shipping operators and between shipping and land-based cargo transport modes.

//Rolf P. Nisson,

Editor-in-Chief

Back to SSG 20, 31 October