Ahead of the European Commission High-Level Conference on European Multimodal Freight Transport in Sofia on 20th March, UIP, along with 11 road and waterborne associations under the IAM Alliance, co-signed a position paper on the proposed revision of the Combined Transport Directive.
Thus, the organisations call upon the European Parliament and Council to adopt the proposed revision, subject to clarification on the above raised points.
The organisations believe that the new proposal to revise the Combined Transport Directive offers good grounds to encourage the use of combined transport in order to achieve a more resource efficient transport and logistics network. “We support a multimodal transport where a major part of the journey is carried out by rail, inland waterways or sea, and the initial and final part is carried out by freight road transport. The revised Combined Transport Directive shall pave the way for efficient intermodal and multimodal freight services offering a level playing field for all modes of transport,” the organisations said in a joint position paper.
The proposal of the Combined Transport Directive offers a good basis to encourage the increased use of multimodal transport. In order to achieve the modal shift objectives however, other challenges need to be equally addressed. Reducing the regulatory competitive disadvantages experienced by rail, short sea shipping and inland waterways, as well as improving cross-border connections, will further strengthen multimodal, and with that combined, transport. In addition to the proposal’s national incentives, multimodality should also be strongly supported by the next Connecting Europe Facility.
“It is of utmost importance that the new proposal reflects the market requirements and the needs of European multimodal operations. The new Combined Transport Directive must be inclusive of the ambitions set out by all actors involved in intermodal transport, including road, rail, short sea shipping and inland waterways. It is essential that each mode can rely on this legal text to deliver appropriate services to optimise combined transport of goods,” the oeganisations said.
The associations are: CLECAT, European Boatmen’s Association, European Barge Union (EBU), European Community Association of Ship Brokers and Agents (ECASBA), European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP), European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO), Federation of European Private Port Operators (FEPORT), Road Transportation in Europe (IRU), Unistock Europe, International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) and UIRR – International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport (UIRR).
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