EC Calls for New Freight Transport Services
March 27, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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The European Commission (EC) recently published the first call for proposals for the creation of new freight transport services under the second Marco Polo programme. Successful projects should fight congestion on European roads and improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system, two main objectives of the European Union (EU) transport policy.
The general aim of the Marco Polo programme is to help companies during the high-risk start-up phase of new services that shift freight off the road and on to short sea shipping, rail and inland waterways. The top-ranked projects in the competitive evaluation process will be offered grant contracts of up to six years.
However, only projects capable of demonstrating sustainable non-road freight transport services - that is, projects that can survive in the market even after they cease receiving EU financial support - have a chance at receiving a grant.
Companies across the EU and beyond are invited to submit proposals in this second Marco Polo programme. The call is open to applications for five types of actions, two of which are new to the programme:
- Motorways of the sea actions that shift freight from road to short sea shipping or a combination of short sea shipping and other modes of transport, offering a very large-volume, high-frequency intermodal maritime transport service.
- Traffic avoidance actions that integrate transport into production logistics in order to reduce freight transport demand by road.
The other three types of actions, which were also in the first Marco Polo programme, are:
- Modal shift actions that will shift freight from the road to short sea shipping, rail, inland waterways or a combination of modes of transport.
- Highly innovative catalyst actions that are aimed at overcoming structural barriers in the freight transport market in the EU, such as low-speed freight trains or technical interoperability problems of transport modes.
- Common learning actions that will improve cooperation and optimise working methods and procedures between actors in the freight transport chain.
In order to handle the two new actions and continue to address congestion problems and demand from the markets in an enlarged Europe, the budget for the 2007 call has been increased to €57 million compared to €35 million in 2006.
The full text of the call, including information on how to apply for a grant, is available on the Marco Polo II web site.
Source: European Commission.