Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

- the 'Commission Communication concerning an action programme to promote the combined transport of goods`, and - the 'Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) concerning the granting of Community financial assistance for actions to promote combined goods transport` (97/C 379/10)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Commission Communication and the proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) [COM(96) 335 final - 96/0207 (SYN)] ();

having regard to the Commission's decision of 9 October 1996 to ask the Economic and Social Committee for an opinion on the aforementioned proposal;

having regard to its decision of 8 March 1996, in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 198c of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to deliver an opinion on the same subject and to entrust Commission 3 (Transport and Communications Networks) with the preparation of that opinion;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 136/97 rev.; rapporteur: Mr Dammeyer) adopted by Commission 3 on 19 June 1997;

having regard to Decision No 1692/96/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 23 July 1996 on common guidelines for the development of a trans-European transport network ();

having regard to the progress report of 15 March 1996 of the intermodal transport task force (SEC(96) 503);

having regard to the Council Resolution of 19 June 1995 on the development of rail transport and combined transport ();

having regard to the Commission Decision 93/45/EC of 22 December 1992 concerning the granting of financial assistance for pilot schemes to promote combined transport ();

having regard to the Council Decision 93/628/EEC of 29 October 1993 on the creation of a trans-European combined transport network ();

having regard to the legislative resolution of the European Parliament embodying its opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation concerning the granting of Community financial assistance for actions to promote combined goods transport ();

having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee of the European Communities of 29 January 1997 on the proposal for a Council Regulation (EC) concerning the granting of Community financial assistance for actions to promote combined goods transport ();

whereas the COR has already been able to highlight the problems facing combined transport in several opinions () without being able to consider these problems in their entirety,

adopted the following opinion at its 19th plenary session on 17 and 18 September 1997 (meeting of 17 September).

1. Introduction

1.1. Combined transport is described as the fifth mode of transport, after transport by road, rail, air and water. The Commission defines combined transport as 'the transport of goods on intermodal transport equipment through at least two different transport modes without unloading the goods during the journey; the road leg should be as short as possible`. It thinks that this mode could play a key role in an efficient intermodal system.

1.2. However, in practice, because of its lack of competitiveness (cost situation, quality of service, time losses, information systems, etc.) combined transport has so far not been able to play its desired role. Within Europe combined transport is still far from being integrated into a network stretching across the whole of the continent. Combined transport is concentrated in particular on transalpine routes, cross-border traffic to and from Germany and container traffic on the Rhine; traffic through the Channel tunnel is also gaining in importance. Transit traffic across the Alps and cross-border traffic to and from Germany account for 95 % of cross-border combined transport operations. Three organizations - the UIRR (International Road/Rail Combined Transport Union), the ICF (Intercontainer - Interfrigo) and the Rhine shipping companies - have a 95 % share of the market. Cross-border traffic accounts for two-thirds of the volume of goods carried by combined transport, with only one third going to domestic traffic.

1.3. Despite the high growth rates in combined transport, there has been no modal shift over the last ten years, i.e. as far as combined transport is concerned, there has been no shift in particular from road transport to rail and water. In 1990 combined transport carried only 5,2 % of total traffic. Therefore a special effort is needed if combined transport is to be developed as a serious new alternative to traditional modes (especially road transport).

2. Critical appraisal of the PACT initiative

2.1. The Commission started in 1992 by launching a programme of pilot actions for combined transport (PACT), which supported 65 projects on 22 routes between 1992 and 1996. The Commission is now proposing a Council Regulation for the period 1997-2001 with a budget of ECU 35 million. Funding is to be given in particular to investment in equipment, the commercial operation of new technologies, participation in the cost of access to infrastructure and all logistical and training measures.

2.2. The Committee supports the European Commission's efforts to promote combined transport at European level and considers the resources earmarked for this purpose at European level to be adequate.

2.3. The Committee notes that the funding of pilot actions in the field of combined transport adopts a broader approach towards operating costs than Regulation (EEC) No 1107/70 () (aid for road, rail and inland waterway transport) and the planned amendment thereof. Such an approach seems advisable in order to offset the commercial disadvantages suffered by combined transport due to the fact that insufficient consideration is given to social costs in transport tariffs. This is all part and parcel of the lengthy process which should see a return to the inclusion of the real costs of transport.

However, the Committee notes that financial assistance to offset the variable costs of access to rail and inland waterways infrastructure could have direct consequences for competition between European centres of business activity and traffic routes. It is particularly important with respect to covering operating losses during the initial phase of international container transport links to ensure that no distortion in competition arises between European sea ports. Financial assistance should not result in traffic being shifted from existing, free-market and environment-friendly routes to other routes.

2.4. The Committee agrees in particular with the objectives laid down in Article 1, which are to increase the competitiveness of combined transport, promote the use of advanced technology in combined transport and improve access to combined transport for undertakings.

2.5. Article 4 proposes assistance for feasibility studies on a specific pilot route (up to 50 % Community financing) and innovative measures, namely specific investments and certain variable operating costs with the exception of measures concerning staff costs, energy consumption and the covering of financial losses (up to 30 % financing). These actions are considered by the Committee to be sensible. The Committee also considers it reasonable to no longer provide 100 % financing for preliminary studies in future.

2.6. The COR also welcomes the European Commission's efforts to provide better monitoring and evaluation and better publicity than under the old PACT programme. However, it also trusts that the results of the pilot projects which have received assistance to date will be fully evaluated so that the projects for the new PACT programme can be properly selected on that basis.

However, the procedure for selecting projects does not require the Commission to give equal consideration to the regions and the Member States and to ensure that decisions do not provoke distortions of competition between the regions or Member States. The Committee of the Regions therefore endorses the European Parliament's decision of 12 June 1997 with regard to Article 6 (1) (a) (new) of the proposal for a regulation.

3. The role of the regional and local authorities

3.1. Combined transport has close ties with the trans-European networks, whose importance for regional economies and regional employment in Europe is not to be underestimated. However, in developing trans-European transport networks too little consideration has been given so far to the interests of the regions as the main parties affected. The Committee of the Regions therefore considers it particularly important to highlight this interface between the internationalization of traffic flows and regional (or even urban) distribution.

3.2. Combined goods transport normally has to be interregional and more often than not has to be international if it is to be profitable. Its physical dimension therefore extends far beyond the competencies of individual regions and necessitates measures at national and European level. However, Europe's regions remain a key player in European transport policy: it is the regions surrounding the main routes and their intersections that suffer first and foremost from environmental pollution, damage to the quality of life and reduced mobility. It is also the development plans of regional and local authorities which are the first to be affected - both positively and negatively - by physical planners' schemes for (international) traffic routes. Europe's regional and local authorities are therefore determined to develop strategies to promote the profitable use of combined transport within their spheres of responsibility and to use their planning powers to develop alternative forms of transport which are environmentally-compatible and tailored to human needs. The Committee of the Regions would urge in this context that the regions be involved in EU decision-making as equal partners.

3.3. The future of combined transport lies in long distance and therefore in particular in cross-border haulage. However, at the moment combined transport is only competitive at distances of more than 600 km, though this could be reduced to 400 km and less by modifying the framework conditions applicable to this form of transport. The Committee of the Regions therefore calls on the European Commission to give priority to promoting combined transport within the framework of cross-border cooperation and to modifying the requisite framework conditions.

3.4. The Committee would like the new PACT programme to further sustainable regional development more. It calls on the Commission to promote combined transport as a means of integrating peripheral areas. For long-haul operations in particular road transport could be combined with rail and water transport, the former being used to open up regions and the latter helping to link these regions to the main centres at the heart of the EU. The Committee is disappointed to note that in its latest Cohesion Report the European Commission has largely accepted the dominance of road transport in the haulage sector in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland.

3.5. The Committee is concerned about the extra traffic that is likely to appear on the EU's road network after eastward enlargement. It thinks that especially as far as the new candidate countries of central and eastern Europe are concerned, a forward-looking transport policy must grant absolute priority to intermodal transport in which preference is given to the railways and shipping. Intermodal transport is also ideally suited for haulage operations between the cohesion countries and the centre of the European Union on account of the long distances involved. These priorities should be taken into account when selecting and financing PACT projects.

3.6. The Committee of the Regions intends to give careful consideration to combined transport at the series of seminars it is planning to hold on the role played by Europe's regional and local authorities in contributing to an integrated, efficient and environmentally-friendly transport system in Europe. The seminar to be held in Athens on 23-24 October 1997 will be devoted exclusively to the subject of combined transport, focusing on the role of this mode in south-east Europe.

4. The inclusion of combined transport in an integrated blueprint for a European transport policy

4.1. The foreseeable developments in the EU's transport sector are likely to pose a lasting threat to the opportunities available for economic development, the health and safety of the population and the preservation of the environment. Therefore efforts must be made at all levels to guarantee the requisite mobility by helping safe, reliable and environmentally-compatible modes of transport to make a breakthrough and pushing through innovative solutions to the problems facing transport.

4.2. For this purpose it is necessary to include combined transport in a blueprint for European transport policy and in so doing to reconsider the role to be played here by regional and local authorities in the future. The Committee would reiterate its past opinions, which have called inter alia for:

- support to be given to intermodal transport, including the measures required to improve the transfer from one mode to another and greater use of new combined transport technology at European level;

- more to be done to develop a balanced network of regional trans-shipment centres and urban distribution centres where goods can be transferred efficiently from one mode to another without any great time losses or trans-shipment problems;

- the choice of the means of transport to be influenced by the imposition of costs and charges so as to reduce the problems caused by goods transport;

- EU research funding to be focused more on the development of modern approaches to intermodal transport.

4.3. The Committee supports the suggestion made in the European Commission's white paper on a strategy for revitalizing the Community's railways that rail freight freeways should be established as an alternative to the long-distance carriage of goods by road. It would welcome the granting of aid under the PACT for the initial work on these freeways.

5. Conclusions

5.1. The Committee of the Regions strongly supports the European Commission's efforts to develop combined transport at European level.

5.2. The Committee is convinced that it is not possible to increase combined transport's share of the market vis-à-vis the other modes unless changes are made to the general policymaking framework. This includes:

- the inclusion of combined transport in a transport policy blueprint which also takes spatial planning aspects into consideration;

- the harmonization of the conditions of competition;

- greater allowance for the true cost of transport;

- the liberalization and revitalization of Europe's railways;

- the greater involvement of short-distance sea transport;

- the development of flexible and efficient servicing centres for combined transport (so far too much prominence has been given to the question of terminals).

5.3. According to the Committee of the Regions, the question of new framework conditions also encompasses a thorough reappraisal of the players who are to be involved in policymaking at local, regional, national and European level. The Committee would emphasize that local and regional authorities are keen to help promote combined transport systems. At the same time it calls for the involvement of local and regional authorities in European decision-making whenever their interests are directly affected.

5.4. The Committee is prepared to support the European Commission in its efforts to solve tomorrow's challenges such as determining the role of state aid, coordinating the planned projects with R& D measures (cf. the work of the intermodal transport task force), tackling the problem of crossing mountain ranges and extending the promotion of combined transport to central and eastern Europe (with particular regard to links between these countries themselves).

5.5. The European Commission's efforts to promote combined transport will be followed by the Committee of the Regions with great interest. The Committee will peruse the report it is to receive two years after the Regulation enters into force, so as to highlight the concerns of regional and local authorities once again, if necessary.

Brussels, 17 September 1997.

The Chairman of the Committee of the Regions

Pasqual MARAGALL i MIRA

() OJ C 343, 15. 11. 1996, p. 4.

() OJ L 228, 9. 9. 1996, p. 1; OJ L 15, 17. 1. 1997, p. 1.

() OJ C 169, 5. 7. 1995, p. 1.

() OJ L 16, 25. 1. 1993, p. 55.

() OJ L 305, 10. 12. 1993, p. 1.

() OJ C 200, 30. 6. 1997, p. 139.

() OJ C 89, 19. 3. 1997, p. 18.

() OJ C 337, 11. 11. 1996, p. 13; OJ C 210, 14. 8. 1995, p. 34.

() OJ L 130, 15. 6. 1970, p. 1.