The European Commission published on December, 12th, in the Official Journal of the European Union, a Communication setting up the rules which will guide the complimentary aids granted by Member States for the launching of the motorways of the sea. Following them, if Community funding is available but not sufficient to fully support the projects, Member States may fill the funding gap.

The White Paper "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide" of 2001 introduced the concept of "motorways of the sea" as high quality transport services based on short sea shipping. Motorways of the sea are composed of infrastructure, facilities and services spanning at least two Member States. The motorways of the sea aim to shift significant shares of freight transport from road to sea.

The projects affected by the guidelines presented by the Commission aim at launching new Motorways of the Sea links, and are selected under the Marco Polo II Programme and the Trans-European Transport Networks Programme.

The Motorways of the Sea (MoS) are one of the main European transport policy initiatives. They are designed to move long-distance transport off the roads and onto the sea in an effort to fight growing congestion and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe.

Their successful implementation will help achieving two main objectives of the European transport policy, that is, reduction of congestion on the roads and a reduced environmental impact of freight transport. The mid-term review of the White Paper points to the increasing problem of road congestion, costing the Community about 1 % of GDP, and to the threat of greenhouse gasses emissions from transport with respect to Kyoto targets and reconfirms the importance of the motorways of the sea.

The European Union is providing financial support for the start-up of MoS projects and for investment in the infrastructure needed through the TEN-T programme and the Marco Polo programme. European funding is available for the development of port and hinterland infrastructure, for the start-up of new shipping services as well as for investment in dedicated ships and equipment.

The European Commission has been looking into how to ease the funding procedures for the further development of the MoS, including state aid. The Communication adopted supplements the state aid guidelines for maritime transport. It allows for State aid to operational costs of Marco Polo selected projects up to 35% over five years, and for State aid to start up investments in TEN-T MoS projects up to 30% for two years.

As a consequence, the MoS projects will attract more public support, with benefits for the environment and the economy alike.