Christophe Mathieu, CEO of Brittany Ferries and Interferry Board member, emphasized the need for a pan-European eco-bonus system for short sea shipping, aiming to shift more goods from road to short sea services for improved efficiency and resilience.
As Christophe Mathieu explained during European Shipping Summit, by incentivising hauliers to use short sea shipping routes that are directly competing with the road network, the market can choose the more viable economic and environmental shipping solution, while the congested road network gets relieved and competition stays intact.
What is an eco-bonus concept?
The eco-bonus concept financially rewards hauliers for every kilometer worth of heavy duty transport they remove from road and shift to sea. According to Christophe Mathieu, in some states like Italy and Spain, the eco-bonus system has been proven a successful means to increase the share of volumes at sea.
Therefore, we call for a pan-European eco-bonus system for short sea shipping, to fulfill our joint ambition of shifting more transports from road to sea in the EU as a whole
… said Christophe Mathieu
