EC Selects 16 Freight Transport Projects for Marco Polo Awards
October 16, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The European Commission (EC) awarded financial support to the 16 best projects submitted under the third call of the Marco Polo programme. These projects will result in an important transfer of freight off heavily congested roads to more environmentally-friendly modes of transport, such as short-sea shipping, rail and inland waterways. The financial support awarded to the 16 selected projects amounts to €21.7 million.
EC vice president Jacques Barrot, who is in charge of transport, welcomed the EC's decision, stressing that "all supported projects will shift the balance between the transport modes, and thereby contribute to the sustainable development strategy of the European Union."
The awards followed an extensive evaluation and a formal procedure involving both the member states and the European Parliament, who fully endorsed the EC's shortlist of actions.
The EC listed the following facts about the awards:
- A total of 63 proposals were received, requesting €91.9 million of European Union (EU) support.
- The 16 actions are shifting 10.3 billion tonnes/kilometres of freight, the yearly equivalent of 134,100 trucks driving on the route from Rotterdam to Rome.
- These 16 actions will trigger private investments of about €350 million (without infrastructure).
- The 16 actions show good geographical distribution, with large, small, central and peripheral countries benefiting.
- Distribution by action type: 12 modal shift actions, 2 catalyst actions and 2 common learning actions.
A Marco Polo information conference will take place on November 30 and December 1, 2006 in Nantes, France, where the results of the third selection round will be presented to interested companies and all parties concerned. The event will also help potential applicants to prepare for the first call under the new Marco Polo II programme, which is scheduled for publication at the beginning of 2007.
In the mid-term review of the white paper on transport[1], the EC proposed to continue measures to promote environmentally friendly modes of transport. To achieve this objective, the Marco Polo programme supports actions in freight transport, logistics and other relevant markets. These actions should contribute to shifting the increase in international road freight traffic to short-sea shipping, rail and inland waterways, or to a combination of modes of transport in which road journeys are as short as possible.
Further details are available at the Marco Polo web site.
[1] Communication from the EC to the European Union Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, Keep Europe Moving – Sustainable Mobility for our Continent, Mid-term Review of the European Commission's 2001 Transport White Paper, COM(2006)314 of 22.6.2006. – IP/06/818.
Source: European Commission.