ECSA presented its new brochure on the merits of short sea shipping with the aim to revitalise the EU’s short sea policy. Short sea shipping is currently facing a host of legislative and administrative issues that curtail its effectiveness, limit its popularity and restrict its role in today’s EU transport system
ECSA says that intra-EU shipping is still unjustifiably disadvantaged when compared to the road or rail sector, which move goods and people with minimal administrative burden.
“Short Sea Shipping has been on the EU’s agenda for a long time” said Niels Smedegaard, ECSA President. “Despite many good initiatives, a number of long-standing problems have not been resolved, the market share of short sea shipping has stagnated, and worse still, declined in recent years. We believe the EU and the short sea industry alike stand to benefit from the launch of a so-called Short Sea 2.0 policy. Moving goods and people by sea around Europe instead of using other modes will decongest land-based transport networks, ease pressure on logistics chains, and dramatically reduce air emissions. Short sea shipping is the EU’s circulatory system.”
“Short sea shipping is an often overlooked segment of the EU transport system, one that has huge potential, which could be unleashed if the many legislative and administrative impediments weighing it down were tackled in a holistic manner” commented Patrick Verhoeven, ECSA Secretary-General. “There are many low-hanging fruits and we are ready to work closely with EU policy makers to find the best way forward.”
Click below to view ECSA’s brochure on Short Sea Shipping
Source: ECSA
