It is very reassuring to hear that the objective of “improved multimodality” is increasingly shaping up discussions concerning the review of the Combined Transport Directive and is likely to be mirrored in the upcoming EU regulatory revision of the Reporting Formalities Directive.
This objective, if confirmed and built upon, will send a strong signal: time for “modal tailor-made legislation” does not make sense anymore. Regulators will seek to give priority to proposals aiming at simplifying and enhancing the interaction between modes and nodes and, above all, boosting multimodality.
The European Commission and DG MOVE’s strong involvement in TRA 2018 is excellent news for platforms such as ALICE and for many industries which have been able to show their proactivity
in terms of innovation, as well as their entrepreneurship and commitment towards the decarbonisation and digitalisation of supply chains and transport.
What strikes the eye when attending conferences such as TRA or the recent TEN-T days in Ljubljana1
is that cross sectoral engagement is needed, be it in terms of investment in new transport, mobility projects or for the success of digitalization.
In terms of decarbonization, FEPORT also believes that all actors of the logistics and transport chain must take proactive actions within reasonable timeframes. The role of the regulators, be it at EU or global level, is to make sure that the general interest is preserved and that future generations are not penalized by the temptation, be it for endogenous or exogenous reasons, to slow down “change
management processes”. The EU has certainly given a strong impetus with respect to the reduction of CO2 emissions.
What happened at IMO during the last MEPC meeting in April, shows that “one swallow does not make summer” and that everybody’s ambition and commitment is needed to create real momentum.
The reduction of green house emissions in ports is not possible without a significant effort from the shipping industry. The result of the last MEPC sends a clear message in this regard. Let us now hope that measures of support in favour of early movers and those who aim beyond minimum compliance will soon be available and will also guarantee a level playing for all actors working towards decarbonisation.
This is probably one the best definitions of what is smart and fair public intervention.
1 FEPORT strongly supports the call for an increase of the EU Budget for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) under the next MFF
Viewers can log herebelow and read the full Newsletter :FEPORT_External_Newsletter_April_2018
