11.3.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 117/17 Tuesday 14 September 2021
iii) making the funding of research and innovation programmes for green shipbuilding a priority; 53.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to carefully monitor investments from non-EU countries in European ports, given their role in Europe’s strategic infrastructure as multimodal hubs, key energy nodes and clusters of industry; Passenger transport, urban mobility, waterborne city logistics and tourism 54.
Welcomes the recent Commission evaluation of the 2013 Urban Mobility Package (18); highlights, in this regard, that the expected results of the Urban Mobility Package, namely a reduction in CO2 and air pollutant emissions, less congestion and fewer road casualties in urban areas, have not consistently materialised across the EU; calls on the Commission, therefore, to encourage Member States and cities to include, where possible, waterborne public transport, city logistics and local freight distribution as a safe, sustainable and effective mode of transport in their sustainable urban mobility planning and to enhance their urban mobility data collection; stresses the need, furthermore, to include waterborne public transport means in digital mobility platforms such as mobility as a service, as well as in freight delivery apps; 55.
Highlights the untapped potential of inland waterways in urban areas, as illustrated in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy; stresses that urban areas are becoming more and more congested and that building new road infrastructure is not always cost efficient; calls on the Commission to include waterborne transport in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy goal of making better use of inland waterways in cities and to come up with concrete proposals that aim to boost logistics over our inland waterways and take into account end delivery via cargo bikes, boosting the modal shift; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to enhance its collection of urban mobility data for waterborne passenger transport and freight and highlights the potential of inland waterway transport for the last mile in urban sustainable logistics; 56.
Highlights the fact that the 2019 figures for passenger transport demand revealed that the European river cruise sector, including day trip vessels and ferry services, was in a healthy state before the COVID-19 pandemic; notes, however, that the sector came to an almost complete standstill in the first half of 2020 due to the ongoing sanitary situation, which has had a negative economic impact and caused financial difficulties for companies, and that it remains uncertain whether passenger traffic will return to normal in 2021 (19); calls on the Commission, therefore, to include inland waterway tourism in its upcoming European Agenda for Tourism 2050 in order to promote a business case for a sustainable, innovative and resilient recovery of river tourism, taking into account the economic benefits of river tourism in port regions in terms of added value, employment creation and port revenues; 57.
Stresses the need to further explore the potential of inland waterways for recreational navigation and other waterfront activities, which would boost growth, create new job opportunities and enhance tourism in the regions concerned; 58.
Calls on the Member States to endorse the International Certificate for Operators of Pleasure Craft by adopting resolution No 40 of the UN Economic Commission for Europe Inland Transport Committee in order to allow the cross-border recognition of licences and facilitate recreational navigation in Europe; o o 59.
(18) (19)
o
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.
Commission staff working document of 24 February 2021 (SWD(2021)0047).
Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, Market observation report 2020: inland navigation in Europe, September 2020.