The Spanish Public Entity Puertos del Estado, hosted on June 26th a Seminar on the scope of the Western Europe Sea Transport and Motorways of the Sea, WEST-MOS. The project aims to make progress with the preparation and implementation of Motorways of the sea corridors in the Western area of Europe (West and South West European sea areas) and to provide a platform for co-ordination for the development of the Western European and South-Western European corridors of the Motorways of the sea.

The Seminar took place at the Puertos del Estado HQ, in Madrid, where the President of Puertos del Estado, Mr. Mariano Navas Gutiérrez welcomed all the participants. In this occasion Mr. Marc Vanderhaegen, Principal Administrator of the DG TREN, at the European Commission, and Mr. Álvaro Rodríguez Dapena, Planning and Port Development Director from Puertos del Estado and Coordinator of the Programme, introduced the Seminar to the delegates.

In the series of presentations Mr. Jaroslaw Kotowski, DG TREN-EXT gave an overview of the organisation and activities of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency. The Agency, based in Brussels, has managed since 2006 Community funds available for the promotion of the trans-European transport network.

During the various sessions of the Seminar, representatives from 15 Port Authorities both form the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fronts, presented the studies acomplished under the Project highlighting the important advantages of this mode of transport for Port Authorities as well as operators involved in intermodal transport.

The discussions that took place, after the presentation of practical cases, provided the opportunity to exchange experiences and share best practices for this sector.

Motorways of the Sea

The “motorways of the sea (MOS)” concept aims at introducing new intermodal maritime-based logistics chains in Europe, which should bring about a structural change in our transport organisation within the next years to come. These chains will be more sustainable, and should be commercially more efficient, than road-only transport. Motorways of the sea will thus improve access to markets throughout Europe, and bring relief to our over-stretched European road system.

In its Transport White Paper of September 2001, the Commission proposed the development of “Motorways of the Sea” as a “real competitive alternative to land transport.” To help these lines develop, the White Paper states that European funds should be made available. These "motorways of the sea" should be part of the Trans-European network (TEN-T).

WEST-MOS Project

WEST-MOS name comes from "Western Europe Sea Transport & Motorways of the Sea". The project receives a european financial aid in the field of Trans-European infrastructure networks and in the framework of annual transport programming (TEN-T).

The Project was launched in 2005 after a joint request made by four Member States. This request received the support of the European Commission for France, Spain, Italy and Ireland.

The WEST-MOS Project is divided into three Work Packages:

• WP-1. French-Spanish motorways of the sea, has the objective to provide project manager assistance to Member States in order to ensure the selection of the best Motorways of the sea project(s), with the intention to submit the selected project(s) in a subsequent stage to the European Commission.
• WP-2. WEST-MOS Studies, involved the presentation of three detailed studies as a preparation for the consolidated report in Work Package 3: Market Studies, Technical Studies and Practical Studies.
• WP-3. Basis for a Master Plan, implies the basis for the preparation of the Master plans for the Motorways of the sea in the Western Europe and South-West Europe corridors of the Motorways of the sea.