We know that short sea shipping is an integral part of the European transport system. However, as the Commission report and the report of the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism point out, short sea shipping is suffering from a poor public image in terms of its cost, slowness and inefficiency. Nevertheless, this image no longer corresponds to the real situation and this mode of transport can provide solutions to global problems which are prevalent in this area in Europe. I am thinking about traffic congestion problems, and high infrastructure and environmental costs. During the last few years, progress has also been made and there has been a real increase in short sea shipping: from 1990 to 1997, a 17% increase in the tonnage transported and a 23% increase in the number of tonnes per kilometre. While there is no doubt about its success, this mode of transport has not yet reached its full potential and maximised its hidden advantages: advantages in terms of cost since it is the most economical mode of transport; advantages in terms of the amount of energy consumed per tonne/kilometre; advantages in terms of efficiency since it is the most efficient mode of transport from the point of view of the amount of investment required in relation to transport capacity; advantages in terms of regional cohesion since it is the most suitable mode for servicing the peripheral regions of Europe; advantages in terms of the environment since it causes less pollution than mainland traffic; and advantages in terms of intermodal transport since it is an ideal way of developing multimodal transport. We must therefore act quickly in order to contribute to its development. In particular, we will have to develop joint investment programmes. One of the priorities will have to be to increase the efficiency of port operations and reduce waiting times in ports. I would stress the fact that the public authorities have a major role to play at regional level, as well as national and European level. However, two points in my fellow Member’s report pose a problem for me. They concern the proposal which seeks to draw up a list of ports which are particularly suitable for short sea shipping. Drawing up such a list seems unnecessary to me and, in particular, runs the risk of penalising those ports which are not yet entirely suitable, but which are being converted for this purpose. Moreover, a ‘one­stop­shop’ approach to the transport logistics services offered to end users is proposed. While I am in favour of the idea that we need to find the means to set up an information system, I am against the service being centralised by a large port, which is already in a dominant market position. Finally, I would have liked the report to have included the proposal made by the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy, according to which short sea shipping must be considered neither as an alternative to road transport nor as a competitive system. The European Commission should therefore develop an intermodal strategy to achieve complementarity between the modes of transport. In this context and with this in mind, the Member States should harmonise current legislation in order to prevent it from representing an obstacle to continuity between short sea shipping and mainland traffic, particularly as regards the total weight of rolling stock. The proposal which is being put forward to us today therefore represents an important step in the right direction in the area of short sea shipping. However, we still have a long way to go.

Political group: PSE