A review of Short Sea Shipping policy in the European Union

Marie Douet and Jean François Cappuccilli

Journal of Transport Geography, 2011, vol. 19, issue 4, 968-976

Abstract: Short Sea Shipping (SSS) has attracted a lot of attention in the European Union in the last 15years. It is considered as a mode favoured to alleviate road congestion. Alas, promises have not been met and cargo transfers have not reached their objectives yet, despite strong financial will and a programme for modal shift implemented by the European Union (EU). The hypothesis raised by this paper is that Short Sea Shipping has not been well defined in the EU and market potential for modal shift from land to sea has been overestimated. Therefore, this has a great impact for policy-making. Studies have covered many topics such as its implementation using case studies, cost-benefit analysis compared to land-transport modes, general European shipping policy and its environmental contribution. Therefore, little has been written on the role of public institutions in its implementation and no critical assessment of the success of supporting public programme in the EU has been done. This paper explains how the lack of a final definition has led to misadapted public policies favouring modal transfer in the EU and how misknowledge of SSS markets has led to the overestimation of the modal shift potential.

Keywords: Europe; Transport policy; Short sea shipping; Ro–ro market; Modal shift; Motorways of the seas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:19:y:2011:i:4:p:968-976

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2011.03.001

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