European barge union — 2023-11-15
News from Brussels
Inland waterway transport (IWT) is one of the modes designated and able to absorb higher shares of freight volumes on the European waterways. It is part of the solution to meet the sustainability goals and to keep Europe moving. EBU therefore welcomes the Commission’s new endeavour to revise the CTD which is considered instrumental to meet the sustainability goals of transport in Europe.
We welcome the new approach in the Commission proposal which aims at refocusing support on operations that reduce by at least 40% the negative externalities compared to road-only operations. In particular, the competitiveness target set on Member States to reduce by at least 10 % the average door-to-door cost of combined transport operations within 7 years, is considered paramount in the modal shift endeavour. Member States are expected to support the modal shift in their national framework by regulatory or economic support. For this purpose, each Member State shall adopt a national policy framework for facilitating the uptake of intermodal transport and, in particular, combined transport operations.
“The Commission recognised the shortcomings of the current Directive which is mainly perceived as a combination of road/rail. Consequently, this does not contribute to a shift towards IWT. The new proposal sets ambitious goals for the Member States. To make modal shift finally happen we call upon the colegislators to keep the ambition level high and underpin this approach by adopting appropriate national support programs for intermodal transport”, EBU’s Secretary General Theresia Hacksteiner emphasises.