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The maritime transport system in the Adriatic region has been developed thanks to the individual activities of ports, as well as specific strategies for the development of the countries that gravitate towards that region. Regarding its potential, this system is not sufficiently developed and there are no clear criteria for evaluating the potential for success of the future Motorways of the Sea systems and services. The solution to this problem is in the scientific point of view that should contribute to the development of the Motorways of the Sea with its systematic approach and clearly defined criteria of implementation of specific models and common activities. With this scientific article and conducted research, we tried to cover the greater part of the whole transport chain (from the departure point to the destination) which is present in the Adriatic region. It is crucial that we take into consideration the fact that it wasn’t possible to gather and analyze the data for every land direction (highways and railways) because we analyzed the infrastructure of the whole region. Thus, the research in this article is directed to the ports and their entries, where the success factor of the port is determined by the success of the direction and the Motorways of the Sea service. In order to accurately determine each of the defined success factors, it was necessary to identify all the subelements which comprise them. The research results point out the complexity of developing new or improving the existing MoS services at higher levels (administrative, infrastructural, organizational, etc.).

Motorways of the Sea present a practical example of combined and sustainable transport. With respect to the present model of functionality of the transport system in the Republic of Croatia, where the development of the port and of the gravitational transport system is left to each individual port (six independent ports), and where there is no systematic approach to specialization of each port or route, the results of the analysis are not promising. The goal of this research is to explain why the current Motorways of the Sea implementation model is inefficient and unsustainable. The analysis shows that a scientific approach to multicriteria analysis, which includes the identification of all relevant factors, the analysis of the transport infrastructure, as well as the identification of criteria which could potentially affect the Motorways of the Sea system, can correctly define the optimal model for the implementation of a sustainable Motorways of the Sea system.

En el presente trabajo, enmarcado en el contexto histórico de la Política Común de Transporte de la Unión Europea, se analiza el concepto de Transporte Marítimo de Corta Distancia como eslabón de unión en la cadena de transporte de mercancías en Europa, identificando y evaluando todos aquellos parámetros favorables y contraproducentes resultantes de la utilización e implementación de este sistema de transporte alternativo al terrestre, como pieza fundamental para contribuir a una Europa eficiente, segura y respetuosa con el medio ambiente, en lo que a transporte se refiere.

En la Unión Europea, existe un desequilibrio entre los modos de transporte y se produce en el continente una saturación continua de las infraestructuras terrestres. Por ello, desde hace años, se intentan llevar a cabo alternativas que permitan un transporte más sostenible, capaces también de traspasar gran parte de la copiosa carga que sobrelleva el transporte por carretera. De esa base, surge el Transporte Marítimo de Corta Distancia: un transporte alternativo que logra complementar al terrestre, ofreciendo ventajas atractivas para los clientes y contribuyendo enormemente al desarrollo económico de la Unión.

Motorways of the sea (MoS) came into being in order to offer a competitive alternative to the transport of goods by road, with the aim of relieving the congestion of land routes and promoting sustainable mobility. However, the numbers of passengers who use them for leisure purposes to move from one destination to another highlights their potential use for tourism. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate the economic importance of this transport mode in terms of tourism development. To that end, discrete choice models are estimated with censored data, allowing identification of the factors that positively or negatively affect the total expenditure of tourists using the MoS. Finally, through an input–output model, the economic impact generated in a region is estimated. The results show a total economic impact in the region of Asturias equal to 50 % of the government subsidies received in Spain for the MoS project in 2013.

The implementation of Motorways of the Sea (MoS) within the framework of European Union aid programs experiences a period of relative stagnation. This article analyzes the suitability of current short-term nonrepayable subsidy policy and develops a decision support system (DSS) that allows a medium- and long-term feasibility analysis of MoS proposals. One significant conclusion drawn from the application of the proposed DSS to a prototypical high-frequency MoS provides that the period of initial losses prior to achievement of both modal shift and accounting profits might last 10 years. Moreover, the entire duration of the period that includes prior objectives as well as the recovering of initial losses might reach 25 years. Therefore, existing schemes of public–private collaboration should be redefined. To this end, the proposed DSS also contributes to envisioning a spectrum of possibilities for private–public collaborations schemes, as opposed to public–private dichotomy of partnerships.

Traded volumes – from raw materials to final consumer goods through intermediary products – are projected to continue growing in the foreseeable future: sheer domestic European Union (EU) and global competition will impose challenging requirements to providing innovative supply-chain and logistics solutions, including not only smart business models but also smart and foresighted infrastructural planning and management capacities. Public planning and funding face critical limitations, such as: (i) not duly accounting for the induced pressures on inland transportation infrastructure allowing access from/to the port to/from interesting trade links/destinations; (ii) not duly accounting for indirect costs and benefits resulting from either new infrastructural developments or re-deployment of existing infrastructures, and (iii) not duly accounting for the impacts of ports on the cities in which they are localised. Fragmented projections and impact assessments lead to sub-optimal economic performance of multi-modal terminals, the transportation network and the area they impact on increasing the risk of depleting initial investments or requiring on-going/permanent – public support, including to overcome local negative impacts. This article has two main purposes. On the one hand, it strives to identify shortcomings that hinder the achievement of expected benefits on urban and regional growth linked to port activity expansion. It is not based on a comprehensive analysis of case studies but on literature review and for that reason limiting factors mentioned in the article are not necessarily suited to specific situations. On the other hand, the article proposes a reflection on the relevant analytical and policy intervention tools having the potential to tackle and – ideally – resolve shortcomings. It advocates that a wider use of such tools would enhance the efficiency of handling freight volumes through ports and onto surface transport corridors maximizing positive spillover effects while minimizing nuisances and drawbacks for the urban and regional areas concerned. Congestion reduction in and around port areas and enhanced competitiveness are the expected results from balanced multimodal transport solutions. Many benefits are associated with efficient ports yet there tends to be a mismatch with gains spilling over to other regions and negative impacts borne locally. This area of research is expected to become all the more relevant in view of growing size of ships and therefore reduced number of ports/operators capable of handling those as well as higher induced pressure on – often already congested – inland transportation corridors. Conversely, development of the Motorways of the Sea and implementation of Short Sea Shipping foresee the increased use of medium and small ports to relieve the heavy burden on land transport, but this implies revised shipping patterns as well as overcoming fragmentation in transport infrastructure planning.

Within the framework of the European transport policy, a cornerstone of the EU supporting the efficient integration and cohesion of its internal market, the ‘Motorways of the Sea’ (MoS) concept was introduced as an effective means to alleviate congestion from road transport infrastructure. MoS comprise sea-based transport services integrated into door-to-door logistics chains aiming to concentrate freight flows on viable, regular, frequent, high-quality, and reliable short sea shipping links. MoS became one of the 30 priority projects for the development of the trans-European transport network efficiently complementing the core hinterland corridors and supporting, in that way, the provision of multimodal transport services. Four maritime corridors were designated as MoS with their development being supported by a series of projects funded under two main programmes.

Freight volumes are increasing worldwide, following almost the same growth rate as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This has resulted in congested sections of the road system and increase of traffic accidents. Consequently, several governments in Europe are promoting alternative modes of transport. Besides the use of railways, the European Union is promoting the use of maritime transport for short distances. This initiative, ‘Motorways of the Sea (MoS)’, aims at the establishment of more efficient and competitive maritime services between different countries. The present paper analyzes the development of an MoS network in the East Adriatic area, linking the Greek Ports of Igoumenitsa and Patras in the Ionian Sea. This is done by identifying financially viable MoS corridors, servicing the freight and passenger demand of the area. Initially, the freight and passenger flows of MoS in the East Adriatic/Ionian Seas region, based on the application of the four-step methodology for transport planning, are estim...

Despite European Union (EU) political support to identify the most feasible Motorways of the Sea, the final decision can only be made by Private Shipping Companies, which are operators of a unique stretch of the intermodal chain. This paper provides a multi-criteria decision method to identify the most suitable Motorways of the Sea taking into account the competitiveness of whole intermodal routes versus the alternative of road transport from the loader’s perspective. The analysis is carried out assuming a ‘many-to-many’ transport model. Firstly indexes of time and cost were defined and evaluated for every available route in the model in accordance with a multi-criteria decision matrix. Secondly, through a Monte Carlo simulation a sensitivity analysis was carried out in order to evaluate the influence on the results of the forecast assumed to construct the matrix. The results obtained are not only quantitative, but also qualitative. The development of intermodal routes via Motorways of the Sea is especial...

Even though the entire Baltic Sea is included in previous geoid modelling projects such as the NKG2015 and EGG07, the accuracy of contemporary geoid models over marine areas remains unknown, presumably being offshore around 15–20 cm. An important part of the international cooperation project FAMOS (Finalising Surveys for the Baltic Motorways of the Sea) efforts is conducting new marine gravity observations for improving gravimetric quasigeoid modelling. New data is essential to the project as the existing gravimetric data over some regions of the Baltic Sea may be inaccurate and insufficiently scarce for the purpose of 5 cm accuracy geoid modelling. Therefore, it is important to evaluate geoid modelling outcome by independent data, for instance by shipborne GNSS measurements. Accordingly, this study presents results of the ship-borne marine gravity and GNSS campaign held on board the Estonian Maritime Administration survey vessel “Jakob Prei” in West-Estonian archipelago in June/July 2016. Emphasis of the study is on principles of using the GNSS profiles for validation of existing geoid models, post-processing of GNSS raw data and low-pass filtering of the GNSS results. Improvements in geoid modelling using new gravimetric data are also discussed. For example, accuracy of geoid models including the new marine gravity data increased 11 mm as assessed from GNSS profiles. It is concluded that the marine GNSS profiles have a potential in providing complementary constraints in problematic geoid modelling areas.

Η συμβολή της Ναυτιλίας Μικρών Αποστάσεων (ΝΜΑ) έχει αδιαμφισβήτητα σημαίνουσα βαρύτητα για την ναυτιλία παγκοσμίως, δεδομένου ότι έχει ως απώτερο στόχο τη διαμόρφωση ενός ολοκληρωμένου συστήματος διατροπικών μεταφορών, το οποίο να μπορεί να αναπτύξει τόσο τον ελεύθερο ανταγωνισμό αλλά και να εξασφαλίσει την οικονομική και κοινωνική ενότητα της. Η ΝΜΑ έχει τη δυνατότητα παροχής αποτελεσματικών μεταφορών σε χαμηλό συγκριτικά κόστος και με αρκετά λιγότερες δαπάνες σε σύγκριση με τις οδικές ή και άλλους γνωστούς τρόπους μεταφορών, γεγονός που την καθιστά το σημαντικότερο μέσο μεταφοράς αγαθών, και συνεπώς έναν από τους πυλώνες του εμπορίου και επομένως και της οικονομίας παγκοσμίως. Η ολοκληρωμένη αξιοποίηση των ωφελειών που προκύπτουν από τη ΝΜΑ χρειάζεται μία ολοκληρωμένη Ευρωπαϊκή πολιτική η οποία θα την προωθεί. Για να ανταποκριθεί η ΝΜΑ στα σύγχρονα μεταφορικά δεδομένα καλείται να ενσωματωθεί στο ενιαίο πολυτροπικό/διατροπικό ενιαίο σύστημα μεταφοράς το οποίο προωθείται από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση και στο οποίο η ΝΜΑ μπορεί να έχει έναν από τους σημαντικότερους ρόλους. Η ΝΜΑ θα πρέπει να βελτιωθεί σε οργανωτικό και διοικητικό επίπεδο προκειμένου να βελτιώσει τη συνολική εικόνα της ούτως ώστε να μην είναι πλέον παρωχημένη, ενώ σημαίνοντα ρόλο θα παίξουν ως λογικό αποτέλεσμα οι λιμένες, των οποίων οι υποδομές και ο τρόπος λειτουργίας δεν είναι πάντα ο πλέον αποτελεσματικός ακόμη και σήμερα. Ωστόσο, οι κοινοτικές πρωτοβουλίες με πιο πρόσφατες εκείνες των Θαλάσσιων Διαδρόμων (Motorways of the Sea) κινούνται προς τη σωστή κατεύθυνση για εκσυγχρονισμό και ανάπτυξη των θαλασσίων κυρίως μεταφορών, καθώς και των συμπληρωματικών υπηρεσιών τους., On a global scale, the contribution of Short Sea Shipping (SSS) is undoubtedly of utmost importance not only for Commerce, but also for a variety of purposes internationally. Whilst overviewing the case of SSS contribution to Transport, specifically within Europe and its greater area, we can observe that the ultimate goal for an ideal transport model is for SSS to evolve to an integrated intermodal transport system which is capable to maintain and develop the competition as well as to ensure economic and social unity. The SSS has the ability to provide efficient transport into comparatively low cost with lesser external costs compared to either trucking or different transportation systems. In order to exploit the benefits arising from SSS, it can easily be assumed that an integrated European policy is crucial in order to promote it accordingly. SSS can meet its needs and requirements in modern transport data, only by the case of its incorporation to a single multimodal / intermodal transport system promoted methodically and wholly by the European Union. The SSS sector so far, shows obvious signs that in the very near future, there will be a vital need of improvement in both organizational and administrative level in order to improve its effectiveness and achieve its full integration in a complete transport network. Additionally, ports will play an equally important and influential role in the infrastructure as their current way of operation is not always as effective as needed and required, and also consequently they will need to adapt in the new order for SSS. Several initiatives triggered by the European Commission have been taking place for a long period of time for the development of SSS and to nowadays, with the most recent example the case of MoS (Motorways of the Sea), heading towards the correct direction in order to develop essentially the maritime transport sector and all other practices attached to it.

The transport system causes extremely harmful consequences for society and the environment. It is manifested through the increased emission of harmful exhaust gases, traffic congestions, traffic accidents, increased level of noise, higher levels of stress and various diseases of all participants of the transport system and society in general. The implementation and modernization of intermodality through the Motorways of the Sea (MoS) as its ecological and socio-economic sustainable subsystem is the efficient way of reducing the above mentioned consequences. Further sustainable development of MoS can be observed according to the ecological and socio-economic criteria and sub-criteria set out in this paper in order to keep it in direct function of protecting the society and preserving the environment.

The paper deals with a quantitative analysis on the competitiveness of intermodal transport, based on Motorways of the Sea (MoS), in comparison with all-road transport. This analysis is applied to MoS routes connecting the Italian mainland with Sicily. The study involves: a detailed intermodal network model which compares monetary costs and travel times from all relevant origins in the mainland to all relevant destinations in Sicily; and a survey carried out at some representative trucking firms operating to/from Sicily. The aim of the interviews has been: on one side to make a comparison between the theoretical and actual mode of transport and routes taken, and in case they are different, to understand the reasons of the discrepancy; on the other side to determine what are the main aspects taken into account by trucking companies in their modal choice, in order to understand how the competiveness of MoS against road transport can be improved. The results of the analysis show that the modal choice is affected by several elements: monetary costs and travel times; reliability of MoS routes; availability of MoS routes; MoS routes frequencies; but it resulted from the interviews that monetary costs and travel times are the most important factors considered by trucking companies in the modal and route choice. This study has also shown that an improvement of MoS routes on the Italian Adriatic side is necessary: actually, a strong reason for which in Italy MoS traffic is still a small percentage of road traffic is the low number of MoS routes currently in operation and their low frequency. This analysis could help decision makers, and maritime operators, to efficiently invest in the improvement of MoS routes. Moreover, this analysis, developed for an Italian case study, can be applied to other European and Mediterranean scenarios.

Over the last decades, the European Union (EU) has devoted a large amount of effort and money to projects aimed at boosting some of its maritime corridors as a modal alternative to road or rail freight transport. However, the overall design of most of these programmes has ex post revealed as very ineffective. This paper suggests that promoting port efficiency might be a more suitable target to increase the modal split of Short Sea Shipping (SSS) than subsidizing firms to transfer cargo from road to sea. But defining ‘port efficiency’ is a complex task and, therefore, granting money directly to port authorities could also generate perverse moral hazard effects, particularly when the improvements are difficult to monitor and many investments are non-refundable. The European Court of Auditors points out that millions of EU public port finance was wasted on empty terminal and other unused infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to design a proper subsidy to promote SSS by encouraging port improvements ...

This paper introduces the development of the Motorway of the Sea (MoS) concept, and summarizes the achievement of this concept in China. Then the paper analyses the advantages MoS can bring as well as the problems that it will face in the implementation process in the aspects of management, market and environment. In the end, several suggestions about implementing the MoS concept are given.

New trends in port strategies are emerging around the world in the last decade: port authorities are modifying their nature and their role, acquiring more and more an active role in the governance of logistics systems and often adopting managerial and entrepreneurial behaviors. Not all national legal frameworks are adapting in the same way and at the same time to the outcoming context, and port authorities of different countries are actually have different tools and capabilities to face the global competition. One common supporting tool of port authorities' evolution and strategies could be identified into ICT infrastructures. Based on this hypothesis, the paper aims at highlighting potential opportunity of an interoperability platform for interconnecting existing ICT modules and its implications in terms of port authorities' competitiveness. corridor 24 Genoa Rotterdam is the concrete case analyzed within the context of the European Research Project MoS24 “ICT based co-modality promotion center for integrating PP24 into the Mediterranean MoS Motorways of the sea”.

Motorways of the sea, or marine highways, is a relatively new concept that is intended to shift freight traffic from the road network to more sustainable maritime links through the establishment of frequent, high-quality sea-based intermodal transportation supply chains. As with any other concept of this magnitude, the realization faces a series of challenges in technical and organizational barriers, market and policy framework support, and socioeconomic acceptance. A decision support tool was proposed for assessing whether a particular transportation supply chain connecting two ports located in different countries could successfully evolve into a motorway of the sea, that is, an intermodal corridor. Three proposed components addressed the three agents whose involvement was essential for implementation: shippers and forwarders, maritime operators, and port and other national infrastructure authorities. These key components were ( a) an estimation of the minimum threshold of traffic volumes for use of a specific motorway of the sea for the supply chains served, ( b) a socioeconomic and financial analysis leading to prioritization of the required investments in infrastructure and services, and ( c) a determination of the service's financial viability. A macro-level application focused on a proposed motorway of the sea that would link the ports of Kalamata, Greece, and Alexandria, Egypt, and would serve their respective hinterlands, southeast Europe and Northern Africa. The proposed decision support tool addressed the need to identify the many stakeholders involved in the chain; this identification assists decision making at various levels and optimizes the motorways of the sea concept.

This article presents a wider perspective on possibilities of Motorways of the Sea development in the Adriatic Sea, with a special emphasis on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. A complete overview of Motorways of the Sea development has been presented, and key elements influencing the development of Motorways of the Sea were analysed. It has been ascertained that there exist a lot of bottlenecks in the connection to the transport infrastructure in South East Europe. Superannuated port infrastructure, unsuitable inland connections, and nonexistent IT tools for electronic data exchange between all participators in the logistics chain hinder dynamic development of Motorways of the Sea. All these elements were thoroughly analysed, and a proposal for a macro transport strategy suitable for South East Europe has been exposed. It has been accentuated that there is a future for Motorways of the Sea introduction but all described bottlenecks have to be further analysed and removed in a short period of time, to stimulate private sector for financial investments.

The continuous increase in freight transportation demand necessitates the promotion of nonroad mode alternatives. In this context, the motorways of the sea (MoS) initiative is intended to establish more efficient, frequent, and high-quality maritime-based logistics services between countries. Although the benefits of MoS development, which include economic development, territorial cohesion, environmental protection, and relief of road transportation congestion, are apparent, realization requires further investigation. A methodology was devised for the development of a MoS network that would connect several countries. The network would consist of market-attractive intermodal international corridors that would serve the freight demand of a multicountry region. Three main phases were proposed as part of the methodology: ( a) the definition of zones, transportation network, and trade characteristics of a study area that included several countries; ( b) forecasts of freight flows; and ( c) assignment of freight flows network and development of a MoS multicountry transportation network. The methodology was applied in the Adriatic region to develop a MoS network between six countries: Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, and Montenegro. Interaction between the established MoS international corridors and their potential performance for freight attraction was analyzed. Interested stakeholders can use the proposed methodology to evaluate the establishment of new MoS links within the framework of a wider intermodal multicountry transportation network.

In recent years transport policy at an European Level has been focused on reducing the share of road transportation and promote alternative transportation means in order to reduce road congestion and carbon footprint. One of the solutions proposed has been promoting Short Sea Shipping (SSS) transportation combined with land transportation to become a door-to-door alternative to the monomodal road alternative. The maritime centered option would hit to birds with a stone: reduce congestion in the most urbanized areas of the European Union and partly replacing heavy polluting truck haulage for an environmentally friendlier option. The European Commission launched many polices and initiatives to make the modal shift happen, the crown jewel being the launch of multiple initiatives promoting the establishment of a system of Motorways of the Seas. Those are links between ports with higher standards in terms of travel time, costs and flexibility, which can compete one-on-one with road haulage among the countries in the Union. Despite different efforts from the public administration to kick off MoS lines and ensure their competitiveness, the expected momentum is still yet to come. In the light of this, this thesis aims at providing tools to assess the competitiveness of existing and MoS line to-be, to quantify the room for improvement available and the effects that some changes at an operational and strategical level might have on the success of any specific line. Particularly, the thesis presented aims at three specific objectives: (1) to identify the strategic potential of SSS in all its forms, considering the characteristics of the demand (goods to be moved) and the role of RoRo and MoS shipping in the global picture; (2) to identify the most sensible procedures in RoRo terminals operation to be addressed to improve their performance and perception from the end user, and; (3) To understand the costs of the supply chain, and the cost structure of RoRo shipping lines, and their sensitiveness in front of market changes, pricing and public funding policies. To approach each issue different qualitative, analytical and simulating models are used depending on the concerned problem. The strategic assessment makes use interviews to identify the main requirements that a transporter might face when dealing with SSS. The role of the terminal is assessed by means of two separate models: from one side an analytical model is used to assess the relationship between capacity and quality by means of quantifying the service time the ship spends in a port and calculate the probability of delays. On the other side, the resilience of the port is assessed with an arborescence interlinking its current vulnerabilities, their causes and effects and their probability to happen. Finally, and regarding the business models, first a cost and time model is constructed for each of them and tested against variations on some of the variables and from there, a tool to calculate the optimal deployment of the shipping line to ensure the maximum shift (or profit) is provided. In that case, the model is complemented with the adaptation of a transportation discrete choice model. Overall, the tools should be helpful to assess the potential of a shipping line from its planning level to its final operational deployment., Els darrers anys, la política de transports a nivell europeu s'ha focalitzat en reduir el pes del transport per carretera de mercaderies i promoure mitjans de transport que li siguin alternatius, com a mesures per reduir la congestió a les carreteres i la petjada ecològica. Una de les solucions que s'ha posat sobre la taula, és l'anomenat Transport Marítim de Curta Distància (TMCD o SSS, en les seves sigles en anglès), com a una veritable alternativa bimodal (ferrocarril/carretera combinats amb transport marítim) a l'opció de transport monomodal per carretera. Diversos estudis certifiquen que el transport porta-a-porta transcorregut parcialment amb TMCD acostuma a registrar menors externalitats (bàsicament costos ambientals i de congestió) que el transport per carretera per cada tona transportada. Des d'un punt de vista operatiu, el TMCD i especialment la seva versió en forma d'Autopistes del Mar (AdM o MoS), enteses com a enllaços entre ports amb altes prestacions pel que fa a temps de viatge, flexibilitat i freqüència a un cost competitiu s'han estudiat àmpliament com a una alternativa directa i equivalent al transport per carretera. Però malgrat els esforços fets des de l'administració pública per promoure les línies d'AdM i assegurar-ne la competitivitat, aquestes no han obtingut l'impuls previst inicialment. L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi, de fet, és proveir un conjunt d'eines per tal d'avaluar la competitivitat de qualsevol AdM i quantificar-ne el marge de millora i l'efecte que alguns canvis a nivell operatiu i estratègic podrien tenir en la seva competitivitat , tan a nivell operatiu com estratègic, per tal de garantir-ne la competitivitat futura. De forma més específica, la tesi que aquí es presenta, analitza tres aspectes específics de les AdM: (1) Quines característiques a de tenir el seu mercat potencial a nivell estratègic, (2) con rol prenen les terminals portuàries, enteses com la baula dèbil de la cadena de transport, a nivell de la valoració qualitativa de la cadena de transport per part del seu usuari final i (3), possibles models de negoci pel transportista / propietari de la mercaderia per treure el màxim profit de les AdM. Cada un dels tres aspectes s'adreça mitjançant eines diferenciades que s'adaptin a la problemàtica plantejada. L'anàlisi estratègic es basa en entrevistes a usuaris de cadenes de transport per establir els principals requeriments del transportista que es pugui plantejar l'ús d'una AdM. A partir dels requeriments, es defineixen diversos models de cadena de transport, arribant a la conclusió que les cadenes 'push-pull' i 'push against stock' són les candidates que més es beneficiarien d'una AdM, almenys a nivell estratègic. El rol de la terminal s'analitza qualitativament analitzant-ne dos aspectes per separat: d'una banda es crea un model basat en una combinació de valors d'origen estocàstic, determinista i via simulació, per calcular el temps d'operació mínim d'un buc de càrrega rodada a una terminal marítima i la relació que hi ha entre nivell d'ús de la terminal i la seva capacitat. D'altra banda, també s'estableix un marc per quantificar la vulnerabilitat i resiliència de la terminal davant de elements que afectin la seva normal operació i com aquests poden afectar la qualitat percebuda del servei. Finalment, pel que fa als models de negoci pels transportistes, es construeix un model de costos i temps per cada un d'ells, se n'analitza la sensibilitat i el pes de les principals variables que els afecten com a eina per calcular el model de negoci, les característiques de la línia marítima i les tarifes de base a cobrar des de la perspectiva de la naviliera. Per assolir-ho, el model es complementa amb l'adopció d'un model d'elecció modal. Preses conjuntament, es proporciona una metodologia per ajudar a avaluar el potencial de futures AdM o millorar les existents i l'efecte que hi poden tenir les actuals i futures polítiques de transport.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the economic benefits of short sea shipping (SSS) in the shape of Motorways of the Sea (MoS) compared to road transport. The study cover a gap in agro-food economics and analyses the economic benefits of sea transport mode compared to road transport in the food trade between Spain and Italy for a specific product: olive oils. Design/methodology/approach – Three different transportation scenarios are considered (road only, road combined with accompanied SSS and road combined with unaccompanied SSS) linking the main olive oil production and consumption areas in Spain and Italy. In each scenario the cost per unit shipped have been calculated. Findings – The results show the road option is about 30 and 34 per cent more costly than the best SSS option available for the exportations from Jaén and Southern Catalonia, respectively. Research limitations/implications – The need of further research is identified, mainly focused in two directions: first, the need for inclusion of new variables to the model (e.g. value of time, seasonality, complexity of the transport chain, potential demand, etc.) to better assess the competitiveness of the sea connection and, second, a study of the environmental impact and socio-economic benefits of SSS implementation for the agri-food sector. Originality/value – The research enriches the current literature on this field and provides a basis for future studies. In particular, it corroborates the strategic decisions taken in the framework of European transport policy demonstrating a greater economic sustainability of SSS, and more specifically MoS, compared to the road transport.

Motorways of the sea operated as RoPax services are natural competitors with only-road freight haulage transportation. Cost, time and quality perceived are the determinants that make transporters and shippers use one route or another. This research considers the role that shipping companies and their ship deployment and pricing strategy have in the equation, as incentives for modal shift from road to sea. A model of the ships and transporter costs is developed considering different business models for the transporter (accompanied versus unaccompanied cargo) followed with a discrete choice model that, once calibrated, allows to test the influence that variables such as frequency, ship size and commercial speed might play into the competitiveness of a shipping line. As a result, different pricing strategies for the shipping line are developed and the characteristics of the optimal shipping line for each of them are found, to either maximize the profit of the shipping company or the modal shift.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.4148

This paper analyzes how the strategy taken by the cargo carrier when using motorways of the sea (understood as regular roll on/roll off short sea shipping lines) affects the competitiveness of the shipping line. Five different strategies were analyzed and grouped into three main types: road door-to-door transportation, road and sea transportation combined with a driver always accompanying the cargo and road and sea transportation where the cargo travels unaccompanied. The analysis provides formulae to calculate the economical and temporal cost differences from using a sea link in distribution and assesses the risk and investments necessary to maximize the profit for each strategy. The paper ends identifying the critical points affecting the competitiveness of short sea shipping roll on/roll off lines and proposes policies that could help in its development and success.

This paper explores Motorways of the Sea (MoS) policy in Europe. The major objective of MoS policy is to shift freight from long-distance road transport to sea transport. The paper first analyses maritime and transport policies, and associated public financial support regulations concerning MoS at European Union (EU) level. Examples are provided of Member State funding schemes intended to help further develop MoS services. The paper discusses MoS as an economic concept, outlining the processes involved in securing funding for what are private transport infrastructure initiatives (i.e. MoS), unlike road and rail infrastructure which are for the most part provided and maintained by the public sector. The findings suggest there is a need to reconsider MoS initiatives and interventions in future in order to bring about sustainable and timely MoS solutions, to help overcome the challenge of road freight transport and to meet EU environmental commitments. As a consequence, a simpler and more realistic approach ...

The main objective of the Motorways of the Sea (MoS) projects is to develop high quality maritime-based intermodal links to bypass congested land transport corridors so that they can provide an alternate competitive means of transport to unimodal road freight transport. The MoS projects are a political initiative of the European Commission (EC) but require the participation of private and public stakeholders. EC has proposed a number of policy measures to promote MoS projects. The need of the hour is to estimate the impact of the proposed policy actions on the performance of the MoS projects in order to develop effective set of policies to promote MoS services on the selected transport corridors. Conventional modeling techniques in transport policy analysis have used macro-economic modeling techniques. Since freight transport service choice decisions are taken at company level we argue that micro simulation using an agent-based modeling framework will provide a better framework for transp...

Green corridors are a European concept denoting long-distance freight transport corridors where advanced technology and co-modality are used to achieve energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact. Green corridors consider all types of agents acting in the door-to-door co-modality chains, including ports. Carbon footprints (CF) provide companies, customers and other agents with information related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the supply chain of products, identifying key points, potential risks and opportunities for improvement. Its application in both the logistic networks and all modes of transport would allow for the creation of green corridors and sustainable motorways of the sea. This paper describes the method which is composed of financial accounts (MC3) used to estimate the CF of a port. It shows the effects of the method on the Port of Gijon (PAG), which steers the existing Gijon/Nantes/Saint-Nazaire motorway of the sea. The extension of the system to all nodes of the shipping line...

Motorways of the Sea (MoS) projects, that is, the development of integrated maritime-based intermodal transport infrastructure and service networks at European scale, have been the vision of the European Commission (EC) under the European Transport Policy White Paper 2001. Although these projects have been prioritised under the Trans European transport (TEN-T) networks, they have met with limited success. Establishing MoS is complex because of its international scope and involvement of a large number of public and private stakeholders that often have conflicting objectives and goals. Presently, there is a need for EC to set clear, fair and attractive conditions to engage private stakeholders in the realisation of these projects. The paper will attempt to identify these conditions and recommend a way forward. The paper reviews the evolution of the MoS concept and existing barriers in the delivery of intermodal services to understand the expectations and concerns of the important stakeholders. Case studies of European Short Sea Shipping experiences in the different maritime corridors and elsewhere around the world are analysed to identify critical success factors and recommend a suitable framework for the realisation of European MoS projects.

The main objective of the EU funded FP6 collaborative research project LOGBASED was to develop innovative ro-ro vessels and transport systems enabling motorways of the sea to become competitive against their land borne competitors. The developed methodology and tools, which consider requirements and expectations of all transport chain stakeholders, permitted the design of higher performance and efficiency ships operating as an integral part of dynamic intermodal transport chains. The implementation of the LOGBASED-approach, provides a unique guidance to ship designers, yards, cargo owners and ship owners in realising a business opportunity within intermodal transport where the sea transport is the dominating leg. This paper summarizes results of the LOGBASED project and presents the latest enhancements to the LOGBASED approach and its application to other ship types and markets.

Establishing a European wide high-quality shipping links and integrating them with the trans-European Transport networks has been the vision of the European Commission (EC) to reduce land transport congestion under the Motorways of the Sea (MoS) concept. However, in spite of strong political backing and favourable policy initiatives, MoS projects have met with limited success. Establishing MoS is complex because of its international scope and involvement of a number of public and private stakeholders with conflicting objectives and goals. The paper attempts to identify critical factors for establishing viable MoS projects. The paper reviews the development of the MoS concept to understand the expectations of the EC and the concerns of the important stakeholders. The present status of these policy actions is reviewed and their possible effect on the performance of MoS projects is estimated. Case studies of short sea shipping initiatives in different parts of Europe and the world are reviewed to learn from ...

This paper introduces an Agent based modelling approach to model inter-urban freight transport between two or more trading regions. The use of the model is to ascertain the modal share of competing transport modes (road and intermodal) while taking complex transport service supply–demand dynamics into account. It is structured by modules describing company generation, supplier choice, modal competition and International road freight transport market dynamics. The behaviour of individual actors is simulated using normative agent behaviour and market knowledge. Using the micro-simulation approach, shippers and carriers (primarily road hauliers and a maritime based intermodal operator) interact through simulated contracts resulting in the generation of tours. The service performance of the tours is fed back into the model for decision making during contract deliberations. Preliminary application of model to Mediterranean case study show that market share gains of around 25–30% are obtained with policy interventions of financial subsidies to intermodal services and more frequent shipping services in the intermodal transport respectively.

This paper aims to contribute towards the design of effective freight transport policy by means of empirical analysis. In order to do so, a stated preference survey is undertaken to model the modal choice between door-to-door road transport and short sea shipping in the Motorway of the Sea of south-west Europe. The proposed analysis will provide policymakers with the necessary tool to identify the critical areas that should be addressed by future policy action in order to boost short sea shipping on Spain's Mediterranean coast. By applying the proposed method, we will be able to obtain estimates of the subjective values of transport attributes – value of time, value of reliability and value of frequency – in freight transport, values for which barely any empirical evidence on a national scale exists. Quantifying such values is a key part of the cost benefit analyses performed when evaluating transport projects.

Recent trends in production such as global sourcing, just-in-time deliveries and fragmented production chains have determined clear patterns in relation to growth in demand for freight transport. Although road transport has adapted better to the needs of this modern economy, congestion threatens to overwhelm overland carriage and limit economic growth. The transportation industry faces the challenge of developing an efficient and effective complement to the existing road system. One possible strategy is to revitalize coastal shipping such as Short-Sea Shipping (SSS). The objective of this article is to carry out a literature review and show how SSS can alleviate traffic congestion and enhance economic development by maintaining freight flow efficiency. Because ship transport offers higher fuel economy and lower emissions of harmful pollutants, SSS is considered to be one of the most sustainable and economically competitive modes of transport.

Motorways of the sea (MoS) is regarded as the integrated modal transportation supply chain that offers a realistic prospect for a substantial modal shift from road. It is also considered to contribute to improving competitiveness, reducing environmental damage, and enhancing regional cohesion. Research on MoS services has only recently started to develop. This paper proposes a probabilistic methodological framework based on Bayesian networks to identify and quantify the effect of different attributes on transportation supply chains that could foster the shift from traditional intermodal services to an integrated MoS process. Aspects such as operational characteristics of ports, hinterland operations, security, and administrative and customs procedures, as well as maritime and rail services, are jointly assessed. The proposed methodology identifies and prioritizes those attributes that most likely will lead to improving the operational state of an intermodal supply chain, thus rendering it an MoS chain. This could be a useful tool for decision makers to obtain the necessary information on a macro scale as they decide whether to proceed with needed investments for those intermodal links selected as potential MoS. Therefore, the model can be integrated into a decision-making framework as a tool by which necessary investments or service improvements or both could be identified.

In accelerating the integration of the European Union (EU) and achieving more equal modal split, short sea shipping (SSS) has become an increasingly important component in European transport planning. Despite the active promotion by the EU, however, questions have been raised on whether SSS can realistically compete with unimodal road transport as it is required to overcome considerable hurdles, notably efficiency and cohesiveness between different parts of the multimodal transportation chain. This paper attempts to address this issue by undertaking an economic feasibility analysis investigating the potential competitiveness of SSS in the Baltic Region. The generalized costs of different SSS options will be simulated and the potential of different options in maximizing SSS competitiveness will be visualized through applying geographical information system. It is anticipated that this paper can provide an invaluable insight to the development of EU's multimodal transport planning.

The continuing growth of international container trade has created capacity problems at major US ports, and the truck-based freight transportation has caused a deterioration of traffic congestion on important US transportation corridors. Using inland and coastal waterways, short sea shipping (SSS) can provide an improvement to these problems. Furthermore, SSS offers many additional benefits for the environment, the economy and society as a whole. Both the US Department of Transportation and the European Commission actively support SSS as an alternative, environmentally friendly mode of transportation. However, there are obstacles, administrative barriers and challenges that should be addressed. Several successful operations on both sides of the Atlantic make a strong case in favour of SSS. SSS can develop customized and technologically advanced solutions that will further integrate it into the intermodal transportation chain and will improve its image among shippers as a mode that can provide reliable doo...

The short sea shipping reports presented by the European Commission have shown that this industry segment is still lagging behind road transport and suffering from numerous constraints. To foster the elimination of the latter, the 2003 action programme on the promotion of short sea shipping presented 14 measures, one of which concerned motorways of the sea. In this respect, the 2003 High Level Group chaired by Karel van Miert defined four motorways of the sea within Project 21 of the revised trans-European transport network and presented a definition of the concept. Motorways of the sea are international short sea shipping services between ports located in two or more countries that aim at replacing land motorways to avoid congestioned roads/lanes, and linking European continental and island countries (European Commission 2003a). The challenge for short sea shipping rests on the revolution that the motorways of the sea are believed to make as many changes are expected to occur, particularly at port and sh...

Se trata de realizar una aproximación a las consecuencias que para el desarrollo territorial del Estrecho de Gibraltar como ámbito funcional tiene la serie de transformaciones que en cuanto a infraestructuras se están produciendo en ambas orillas. Todo ello con el objetivo final de mejorar las conexiones y comunicaciones entre los dos continentes a través de la potenciación del transporte intermodal (en especial de las denominadas “autopistas del mar”), y de la reducción progresiva de las diferencias en los niveles de desarrollo en la que todavía, a pesar de su enorme potencial geoestratégico, es la frontera más desigual del mundo. This paper aims to approach the consequences that infrastructural changes might have over the land development on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, considering this area as a functional territory. The ultimate goal is improving links and communications between both continents through spurring intermodal transport (mainly, motorways of the sea) and the progressive decrease of differences in development standards in what is still the most uneven border in the world, despite its large geo-strategic potential.

The last several decades have witnessed very substantial public sector investment in roadway and railway infrastructure throughout the EU. The seaway has tended not to be supported to the same degree, possibly due to the mistaken assumption by policymakers that the seaway represents some kind of free highway, and is therefore not deserving of public subsidy in the same way as roadways and railways. To a limited extent, the evolving EU Motorways of the Sea policy appears to recognize these distortions, and mechanisms are now being put in place to enable short sea shipping to develop further. Acceptance by the European Commission that short sea shipping offers the potential to hold back the dramatic growth in road freight transport throughout the EU reflects the fact that policy is now beginning to move more positively in favour of maritime intermodal transport solutions. Recent EU-funded research on the subject of Motorways of the Sea as well as increased EU grant aid reflects this shift and highlights the important role of the EU in this regard. Analysis of sea motorways in practice demonstrates the substantial modal shift that can be achieved by innovative carriers using advanced ship technology supported by appropriate policies, and/or due to specific environmental circumstances. However, there continues to be a mismatch whereby transport policy throughout Europe accepts the continued state financing of roadway and railway infrastructure but not seaway infrastructure. It is argued in this context that the seaway-equivalent infrastructure of roadways and railways is the deck of a ship. This argument is convincing for a number of reasons, not least because it is relatively easily demonstrated that the sea itself is anything but a free highway (if indeed it is a highway at all), whereas ports simply act as nodes, not as transport platforms. Acknowledgement of what actually comprises seaway infrastructure could have far reaching implications for the future attractiveness and competitiveness of maritime transport vis-a-vis subsidized land transport alternatives in Europe, and should result in more adequate policy mechanisms being introduced to help overcome market distortions and ensure a level playing field between sea and land transport.

Because of their critical strategic role, ports have all traditionally been subject to some form of government control even if the legal form and the intensity of this control have varied across countries. The member countries of the European Union have not been different from the rest of the world in this respect. A significant difference however is the recurrent effort to integrate, in a coordinated way, the port sector in a trans-European transport network (TEN-T) through the adoption of a common legal framework. In this context, if the objective of the reforms is to ensure that port networks, integrated in combined transport networks, become competitors of the road network, the concept of port efficiency becomes central. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the European Port Legislation and shows how comparative economic measures can be used to highlight the scope for port efficiency improvements, essential to allow short sea shipping transport to compete with road transport in Europe. To our knowledge, this paper is also the first effort of estimating technical efficiency of European Port Authorities. The average port efficiency in 2002 was estimated to be around 60%, denoting that ports could have handled 40% more traffic with the same resources. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2007) 9, 148–171. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100177

The need to shift goods from road to underused transport capacity led the European Commission to embark on the development of two important policies: one concerning short sea shipping (SSS) and the other concerning the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). While for many years these policies were delineated separately, the introduction of ports and Project 21 in the TEN-T brought these two policies together. In light of this, the aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the TEN-T on SSS. To achieve this, the paper describes the SSS market segment; it puts into a historical perspective the TEN-T policy; and it carries out an assessment of the impact of the TEN-T on SSS. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2007) 9, 302–323. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100184

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