European Parliament resolution on the promotion of inland waterway transport: Naiades, an integrated European Action Programme for inland waterway transport (2006/2085(INI))
Date: 2006-10-26
Institutions: Committee on Transport and Tourism, European Parliament
Subjects: action programme, corporate finance, crew, inland waterway transport, pollution control measures, transport policy, transport safety

20.12.2006

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 313 E/443

Thursday 26 October 2006

P6_TA(2006)0461

Inland waterway transport

European Parliament resolution on the promotion of inland waterway transport: Naiades, an inte-
grated European Action Programme for inland waterway transport (2006/2085(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the communication from the Commission on the promotion of inland waterway

transport: Naiades (COM(2006)0006),

— having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 718/1999 of 29 March 1999 on a Community-fleet

capacity policy to promote inland waterway transport (1),

— having regard to the Commission white paper ‘European transport policy for 2010: time to decide’

(COM(2001)0370),

— having regard to the findings of the inland navigation high level meeting held in Vienna from 13 to

15 February 2006,

— having regard the Lisbon agenda for jobs and growth,

— having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6-0299/2006),

A. whereas transport flows are expected to increase and inland waterways still offer a lot of free capacity
and can contribute to competitive transport solutions using a combination of modes of transport,

B. whereas greater ambition is needed in Europe in order to fully exploit more of the free capacity on
inland waterways and the market potential of inland navigation in isolation and as a part of multi-
modal transport chains across Europe, including by involving public and private parties at national and
Community level, and in order to raise the volume of transport on inland waterways, incurring rela-
tively low infrastructure costs,

C. whereas close cooperation among the Commission, the River Commissions, the Member States and all
interested private parties is of essential importance to improving competitiveness and developing water-
way transport,

The Naiades action programme

1.
Recognises that the European transport system is increasingly confronted with capacity problems,
leading to congestion and delays, and that inland waterway transport (IWT) can help reduce congestion,
improve freight transport safety, contribute to better energy efficiency and protect the environment;

2.
Supports, therefore, the initiative of the Commission to establish an integrated European action pro-
gramme for inland waterway transport: Naiades (Navigation and inland waterway action and development
in Europe);

3.
Invites the Member States to further develop national policies to stimulate IWT, taking into account
the European Action Programme, and to encourage regional, local and port authorities and industries to do
likewise;

(1) OJ L 90, 2.4.1999, p. 1.

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Markets

Emphasizes that existing markets should be consolidated, in particular by making infrastructure more

4.
reliable and better integrated across the whole supply chain;

5.
Stresses that links with the new Member States in Eastern and Central Europe and also with Romania
and Bulgaria must be developed and brought into line with current technology, which means that additional
infrastructure measures must be considered and measures relating to intermodality and interoperability
taken;

6.
Stresses the need to develop opportunities for innovative multi-modal services in order to build new
markets in which cooperation among IWT operators and users and national and regional authorities will be
essential;

7.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States, in view of the fact that the sector consists mainly of
small businesses, to improve access to finance, and especially risk capital, for start-ups, fully taking into
account, when planning and carrying out relevant measures, the specific structure of the sector;

8.
Fully supports in this regard the Commission's initiative to provide sources of information on the
subject of financing, for example a funding handbook containing a list of European, national and regional
aid instruments for IWT, covering, if appropriate, funding from the European Investment Fund;

Asks the Commission to publish as soon as possible State aid guidelines for IWT support schemes and

9.
to adopt de minimis rules that take due account of the needs of the inland navigation sector;

10. Welcomes the Commission's plan to screen existing bottlenecks at national and European level that
hamper the development of IWT; calls for all public and private parties involved to contribute to this
screening, to examine potential solutions and look for best practices, with the results of the screening
being taken into account when drafting future legislation or taking new measures;

11.
Stresses that administrative bottlenecks should be removed and procedures simplified, in particular
by making optimal use of e-communication and by establishing one-stop-shops; believes that specific atten-
tion should be paid to procedures in sea and inland ports as well as to legislation on the environment,
waste and food safety that leads to the disruption of logistics processes;

Infrastructure

Points out that the reliability of the waterway network and the availability of multi-functional (inland)
12.
ports are the most important conditions for the further development of IWT, above all as a part of multi-
modal freight transport chains, and for the sector in technical and economic respects and emphasizes the
particular responsibility of Member States to increase their efforts to ensure adequate and reliable infrastruc-
ture, whilst taking into account environmental risks and aspects;

13.
Stresses that particular attention should be paid to the development of waterways in the new Mem-
ber States and the acceding countries, as more attention needs to be paid to waterways in these countries
than in other Member States;

14.
Points to the importance of River Information Services (RIS) to contributing to a more efficient and
safer use of the inland waterway network and its links with other modes of transport; calls upon the
Commission and the Member States to include RIS as part of the multi-annual indicative programme of
TEN-T and fully to tap the potential of RIS for achieving sustainable logistics;

Points to the need to integrate the waterway system with maritime navigation by developing access
improving interfaces between inland waterway and maritime systems, and investing in new

15.
to the sea,
combined inland waterway and seagoing vessels, including vessels of innovative design;

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16.
Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with Member States and any third countries involved, to
draw up a European Development Plan which should contain an up-to-date inventory of the infrastructure
on European inland waterways and to provide more information on waterways in need of maintenance and
other improvements to infrastructure; calls also on the Commission, in doing so, to make use of the exist-
ing findings of scientific studies and expert reports in the Member States;

17.
Calls upon the Commission to designate as soon as possible, and by the end of 2006 at the latest, a
European TEN-T coordinator for IWT to support the implementation of the IWT TEN-T priority projects,
drawing on experience with existing coordinators;

18.
Calls on the Member States and the Commission to give a higher preferential rate of at least 20 % to
all inland waterway projects of common interest and to give greater priority to inland waterways projects of
common interest in the multi-annual TEN-T program;

19.
Calls upon Member States to consider the IWT potential in land use planning and in economic
levels so as to actively encourage the development of waterside
policies at federal, regional and local
commercial and logistic sites, taking into account sustainable transport and job creation in industry and
distribution, and to pay special attention to small waterways which have an unexploited potential to
enhance freight mobility;

Fleet

20.
Recalls the need to lay down in 2007 stricter Community limits for SOX, PM, NOX and CO2 emis-
sions, in particular by promoting low-sulphur fuel; calls on the Commission and the Member States to
provide incentives to accelerate the introduction and use of fuel efficient and environmentally friendly
engines in IWT in order to improve its energy efficiency;

21.
Acknowledging that emissions are closely linked to the quality of the fuel available on the market,
invites the Commission to submit as soon as possible a proposal setting stricter standards for inland ship-
ping fuels;

22.
Invites the Commission to submit in 2007 a proposal for a European Waterway Transport Innova-
tion Fund for the financing of new demand-based investments and innovative concepts of European interest
in the area of logistics, technology and the environment requiring cross-border cooperation and interoper-
ability; is of the opinion that this fund, as a key instrument of the Naiades Action Programme, should be
financed as to one third by the sector (the existing Inland Waterway [reserve] Fund, created under Regula-
tion (EC) No 718/1999), as a means of co-financing, as to another third by the EU and as to the remaining
third by the Member States; calls, further, on the Commission to draw up, in close cooperation with the
sector, the conditions under which this fund should be established; points out that support for information
offices should be considered as an option;

23.
Stresses the need to encourage the development of clean and efficient vessels under the Seventh
Framework Programme on research and development; points, in this respect, to developments in vessel
construction for use on different kinds of waters, including limited draught, which can promote IWT even
on waters with low or variable water levels, without harming the natural environment; considers, in this
connection, that there should be a particular focus on information and communication technologies and the
design, eco-efficiency and equipment of vessels;

Jobs, skills and image

Recognises that the shortage of entrepreneurs and staff is becoming a problem for the IWT sector,

24.
given the aging of current personnel and a lack of appeal to newcomers;

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25.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to continue their efforts to harmonise manning
requirements and boat masters' certificates, and to promote the mutual recognition of qualifications, e.g. via
the European Qualifications Framework;

26.
Calls on the Commission, the River Commissions and the Member States to develop, in cooperation
with the sector, modern and market-oriented training programmes for the sector, using where possible
common training standards and cooperating with maritime training programmes such as ‘Leadership’, in
order to attract newcomers to work in an international environment and to offer attractive career prospects;

27.

Stresses the importance of enforcing existing social legislation to safeguard good working conditions;

Notes there is still a lack of awareness of the possibilities of carriage of goods by IWT, in particular

28.
as regards the potential for flexibility and sustainability of IWT;

Recognises that, in order for it to be fully utilised and successful, the economic value of and possi-
29.
bilities for IWT need to be explained and advertised; calls therefore for support for existing IWT promotion
offices and the creation of new ones in Member States with IWT potential which can advise and encourage
transport users to use inland shipping, and for support for authorities in the identification of problems and
definition of policies;

30.
Proposes that this European network for promoting IWT should be integrated into a European net-
work for promoting intermodality, using existing structures and experience gained in promoting other
modes of transport, in particular in relation to the promotion of short sea shipping at European level;

Calls on the Member States and stakeholders concerned, in the absence of dedicated Community

31.
funding, to undertake to ensure the financial sustainability of this network;

32.
Notes the importance of a European Market Observation System involving all actors and providing
comparable market information, notably to allow timely and responsible investment decisions, to identify
strong and weak points and to discover possible new markets;

The institutional framework

33.
Points out that the growth and prosperity of IWT must be the focal point for future discussions on
the institutional framework; stresses, in this connection, that it is important to take account of the existing
competences of all relevant parties, to make use of the expertise of international organisations and to avoid
additional bureaucracy;

Calls for intensified and enhanced cooperation between the River Commissions and the Community,

34.
to be laid down in a Memorandum of Understanding covering at least the following:

— implementation of the Naiades Action Programme;

— better exchange of acquired knowledge and human resources in the field of

IWT between the

Community, the Member States and the River Commissions;

*

*

*

35.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.