The association of the European ports suggests the priorities of European politics for transport



Today to Athens, in the course of before the two days of the conference anniversary of the association, the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has introduced own opinion on the intermediate review of White Paper on the transports with the objective to contribute to the recently started process of review within the EU commission that would have to carry to an adaptation or a review of the strategic document of 2011 ( on 28 March 2011).

If the scope of the EU commission is of knowing if the challenges characterized in the 2011 are still valid, the association of the European ports answers that the current challenges are the increasing traffic volumes, that more and more they are concentrated, are represented by steady increase of the dimensions of the ships and the consequent cost of adaptation of the ports and of retroportuali infrastructures, they are constituted by the increase of the market power of the shipowning companies determined from their alliances, from the national constraints budgetary that limit the possibilities to distribute financings for infrastructure transport publics, from the volatility of the prices of the energy, from the new energetic scene and the passage to alternative fuel, from the effectiveness of the norm that imposes a more rigorous limitation of the sulfur tenor in fuel used from the ships that operate in the Emission Control Area (ECA), from an increasing social and environmental pressure, from the potential changes of the routes of marine transport, from the geopolitical situation, the ulterior globalization of the activity and the society and from the residual obstacles at the market internal of the marine transport.

Against these challenging challenges, however the association has specified that ESPO considers that the main vision of White Paper of 2011, that it recognizes the increase of mobility and the transports, is more than ever valid and coherent with the objective ambitious to reduce of 60% the gas emissions greenhouse. According to ESPO, but, politics of modal transfer are not having happened and therefore politics of the transports must do so as that all the transport modalities stretch towards efficient mobility, sustainable and intelligent.

In this picture ESPO it has identified a series of proposals and priority for the next European politics on the transports. In the first instance the association wishes harbour politics that upgrade the European ports and it puts them in a position to facing the future challenges. In particular - he has explained the association - "the ESPO associates can accept a legislative picture that you respect the diversity of the European ports and that he recognizes the autonomy of a Harbour Authority in determining own rates and defining the minimal level of quality for own suppliers of services. Such picture, for how much it concerns to the freedom to organize and to supply services - second the association - must hold account of the characteristics and the specific conditions of the ports". For ESPO, European politics for the ports it must also "guarantee the transparency financial institution if the ports receive financings publics for their infrastructures and/or activity".

Specifically regarding the aids of State to the ports, according to ESPO "the political responsibles of the EU would have to give to the Harbour Authorities a pragmatic, stable and expectable picture. Moreover - it has found the association - the EU would have to adopt a coherent approach in the appraisal of the communitarian financings and the national or regional financings of transport infrastructures".

ESPO considers moreover that the new relative guidelines to the trans-European nets of transport TRY and the plan of investments Mechanism in order To connect Europe constitutes "the obtained more important result up to now from White Paper". In 2013, in fact, new lines are adopted guide for TRY that they preview them mainly the location of "Core Network" and of a "comprehensive Network" of the trans-European nets ( on 17 October 2013): "the picture TRIES adopted in 2013 - it has observed the association - would have to remain the cornerstone of politics of infrastructures of transport in Europe for the next decades and this transport infrastructure ambitious slowly and its equipment financial institution would have to be ulteriorly defended". ESPO has but specified that it would want to obtain ulterior ulterior clarifications "regarding the added value consisting in "the comprehensive" being a port in the net IT TRY".

For ESPO, also the moment has reached to develop the home market of the marine transport: the association has denounced that the performance of the directive on the formalities of declaration of the ships is meeting numerous obstacles and in order to exceed them ESPO proposes to follow a concrete approach centralized on the standardization of the way in which given similar they are introduced in the computer science systems, on the appraisal of the added value and the necessity of the current formalities of declaration, on the good operation of the Port Community System, on a better cooperation between the marine and customs authorities of the Member States and on the cooperation between the customs DG TAXUD and national authorities to the aim to develop a solution in order to give to the status EU to the goods transported by sea.

The association of the European ports has exhorted also the EU commission to encourage those investments in the marine ports that value the role of alternative fuel and the energy alternative, but also has evidenced that the political initiatives in environmental matters would not have to determine a distortion of the competition between the ports. In environmental field ESPO in particular it has been declared contrary to the intention of the EU commission of internalizzare the costs of the pollution and the noise in the ports: "the internalizzazione of the external costs in the ports - it has explained the association - would mean that the ports would have to unjustly support the external costs of the industries that operate in harbour within, costs that often are already at the expense of the single enterprises through their sector legislations and the fiscal regimes".

At last, according to ESPO, "the European field of the transports it would have to seriously estimate the potential one not taken advantage of an ulterior digitalisation. The wait increase of the traffic volumes goods - it has observed the association - is of such a order of magnitude that the single creation of other harbour infrastructures and transport will not be sufficient. The best one is necessary uses of the existing ability. ESPO - it has emphasized the association - is convinced that a more efficient use of the data and the technology in confronts of the traffic will improve the efficiency of the harbour system and the transports European". For ESPO, "the European ports can carry out a fundamental role in this process" and - it has evidenced the association - "for the European politicians this evolution must be considered as an absolute priority and, where possible, be encouraged and facilitated".