Brussels, 10 December 2020
On the 10th of December, just one day after the European Commission’s presentation of its “Strategy for Sustainable and Smart Mobility”, the European Logistics Platform organized a webinar where some ELP members had the opportunity to showcase which green and digital solutions they were already implementing in their day-to-day business. The webinar moreover allowed logistics stakeholders and policymakers to discuss how the new Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy could help the transport sector progress and thrive.
The webinar was hosted and opened by MEP Marian Jean Marinescu who represents the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament and also works as EPP Coordinator Transport and Tourism. Marinescu noted that a complex challenge lies ahead as the transport sector needs to cut emissions while maintaining quality and the same levels of connectivity. Measures, he argued, should be based on comprehensive studies which also take into account social aspects and the competitiveness of EU industry, while investments into inland waterways and rail transport are crucial to accomplish the much-needed modal shift.
MEP Marinescu’s opening statement was followed by a presentation of Annika Kroon, Deputy Head of Unit Maritime Transport and Logistics, who gave a presentation of the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy published on the 8th of December. She described the strategy as a tool to accomplish the Green Deal target of 90% greenhouse gas emissions reductions from transport by 2050, explaining that the strategy is based on three objectives: making the European transport system more sustainable, smart and resilient.
Besides setting an ambitious target for 2050, the strategy also sets milestone targets for the years 2030, 2035 and 2050, for example: by 2030, inland waterways transport and short sea shipping should increase by 25% and rail freight traffic by 50%. By 2050, rail freight traffic should have tripled, and inland waterways transport and short sea shipping will increase by another 50%.
Samskip, a multimodal logistics company with various subsidiaries across Europe, gave a company presentation underlining that they always aim to minimize the road leg, moving cargo as much as possible by cleaner modes. However, when improving multimodality, regulators should not only focus on constructing new terminals, but also on taking the most out of the existing ones. Finally, Samskip brought across the message that price signals are crucial to promote combined transport and argued in favour of again looking into the revision of the Combined Transport Directive.
Another insightful presentation came from North Sea Port, which explained some of its green solutions that related to the recycling and re-use of CO2, electrification, hydrogen production through connection with windmill parks and improved port planning (in particular by promoting slow steaming).
Finally, RailFreightForward, a coalition that shares a vision to increase the share of rail in freight transport in order to make transport greener and safer, outlined their vision to reach these goals by:
- Improving last-mile connections.
- Increasing the utilization rate of trains to up to 80%.
- Increasing the weekly frequency of rail freight trains, among others by enhanced digital capacity management.
Source: ELP