MIRMAL

ISSUE Nš5

16-05-2003

THE SHORT SEA SHIPPING:

THE 14 COMMANDMENTS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

by Miquel Roca

I.- Introduction.

 

On 10 April 2003 the European Commission adopted a new program for the promotion of Short Sea Shipping along with a proposal for a directive to standardise a new sort of containers: the so-called European Intermodal Loading Units. The European Commission affection towards the Short Sea Shipping is not unknown to the European transport industry, although it can be argued that with this new adopted program the agenda is definitely set and both Governments and industry players are strongly committed to its end. For what the European Intermodal Loading Units concerns, and according to the Commission itself, they are called to be the authentic revolution of the European transport and the world logistics as we understand it today (1).

 

The program focuses on 14 actions to enhance the role of Short Sea Shipping in Europe. We will draw special attention to the ones we consider more relevant, such as the action aiming to harmonise the considerable number of technical specifications currently existing for swap bodies in trade within the EU which, as a result of their diversity, are said to cause unnecessary additional costs. Other short and medium-term measures, to be as well considered, tackle de issue of removing the obstacles to the growth of Short Sea Shipping and the non less important marketing one to improve its general image as a slow and old fashioned mode of transport (2). The remaining actions contained in the program focus on the need to create the so-called ‘motorways of the seas’, computerising customs procedures and setting up one-stop administrative shopping in ports.

 

These fourteen actions are called to be the rules to govern the future of the European transport industry, fourteen commandments to be followed by both the Member States’ governments and the industry players if they are to succeed in drawing up the new era of transportation. As the White Paper reads in its own title: it is time to decide.

2- The fourteen commandments.

 

2.A - The IMO FAL Directive (3): The first step to speed up the logistics chain within the boundaries of the European Union aims to simplify the burden of documentary and administrative procedures by standardising certain reporting formalities for ships to arrive in and/or depart from ports in the Member States. In practice, this means that the multitude of different national forms needed to be provided at the time of arrival or departure of a vessel into a Member State’ port will be replaced by one common set of forms by 9 September 2003 the latest.

 

2.C - The European Intermodal Loading Unit (EILU): One of the measures put forwards in the White Paper is the improvement of intermodal loading units, both containers and swap bodies. The Commission understands that standardising a European loading unit that would combine the stackability of a container with the pallet-wide cargo space of a swap body could offer a solution.

 

The proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Intermodal Loading Units lays its rational on the inconvenience caused by the current diversity of Intermodal Logistic Units (i.e. a container or a swap body). The diversity of their handling and security devices in particular are blamed for hampering the efficiency of transhipment operations, considered to be slow and cost ineffective for what the Short Sea Shipping interest concerns (6). It seems that the European Commission is somehow spoiling the virtues of the container as a revolutionary asset in the transport industry. When even today, after decades of its creation, when a large number of articles, books, and conferences speak wonders about the container, the European Commission unveils its weak points and the need of reinventing the container, not only as a valid transport unit, but also as a valid unit able to be hundred per cent multimodal, able to be fully transhipped into all modes of transport, and able to respond to the needs of optimising its actual cargo-space for pallets, both European and UK pallets.

 

The EILU would combine the benefits of containers (their solidity and stackability) with those of swap bodies (in particular their greater capacity). Together with their ability to be stacked, and in order to meet the necessary requirements for maximum intermodality, they need to be suitable for top lifting and seaworthy. The new European units should offer the maximum allowable space for transporting ISO pallets, and they should also offer fast loading and unloading of pallets in order to reduce costs and delays. Basically, the EILUs will consist of a general-purpose dry cargo box allowing two pallets to be loaded side by side.

 

With the application of these measures, and additionally by equipping the new units with the best anti-intrusion devices available, such as electronic seals, able to track when the unit has been opened, the European Commission intends to shift the actual figures and increase the use of sea containers in Europe’s roads and rails. It is assumed by the Commission that ISO containers are not optimal to be used in all modes of transport, at least in what transhipment and handling operations refers (6).

 

A good question to ask is what about the existing units. The European Commission responds to this question that ‘it is not economically justifiable to require existing units to be altered or refurbished with the harmonised characteristics’ (7) This means that once the Directive comes into force the EILUs will have to share their lives with the existing ISO containers, but it also implies that existing containers are already sentenced to death. It is estimated that on average in five years the weaker swap bodies will disappear, whereas stronger containers will pass away in about 10-15 years. They will remain alive, however, in those situations in which water carriage is not a viable option, being weak swap bodies a cheaper and more reasonable logistic solution.

 

The most dramatic change in the new EILUs will be their measures. The length of the ‘long EILUs’ will be of 13.2 m. (40’ ISO containers have a length of 12 m.) and the length of the ‘short EILUs’ will be of 7.2 m. (20’ ISO containers have a length of 5.867 m.). In practical terms this means that the ‘long EILU’ will be able to carry 33 europalettes or 26 UK pallets (compared to 25 europalettes or 22 UK palettes able to be carried today by the 40’ ISO containers). The ‘short EILUs’ will be able to carry 18 europalettes or 14 UK pallets (whereas the 20’ ISO containers can only carry 11 europalettes or 9 UK palettes).

 

In percentage terms, it means that the ‘short EILU’ improves the cargo capacity by 63% in case of europalettes and 55% for UK palettes, whereas the ‘long EILU’ improves the cargo capacity by a 32% in case of europalettes and 18% in case of UK palettes.

 

In front of all this obvious advantages there is a quite dangerous impact to the industry. Cellular ships and barges will need to adjust their cell guides to a new length and width. This will mean additional costs for effectively running the EILUs or loss of cargo space if the readjustments are not undertaken or even directly rejecting business when the EILUs are to be used. On the other hand, it seems reasonable for any shipowner to readapt its vessels and take the advantage of the new units, as it seems assured that the greater capacity of EILUs compared with containers should largely compensate for these additional costs.

2.D - Motorways of the Sea: the notion of ‘motorways of the sea’ implies to alleviate major land bottlenecks in the European transport system and enhance the logistics integration of Short Sea Shipping. They have the task to save the traffic jams created both in the Pyrenees and the Alps due to heavy road transport. The Commission will, by June of the present year and once the industry has been heard, finally establish the routes to be considered as ‘motorways of the sea’. One particular case named in the White Paper is that of an ‘Italian company creating a service of road transport connecting the ports of Genoa and Barcelona’, making obvious reference to the Grimaldi Group service.

The Grimaldi Lines service Barcelona-Genoa

2.E - The remaining commandments: Other actions to be taken according to the Program presented by the European Commission imply improving the environmental performance of Short Sea Shipping; outline a Guide to Custom procedures for Short Sea Shipping; identify and eliminate the obstacles to make Short Sea Shipping more successful than it is today (which in turn means to ‘adopt and implement the Directive on market access to port services as soon as possible’ (8)); continue legislative moves towards enabling the use of electronic rather than paper submissions towards the creation of a non-bureaucratic environment that limits the use of paper documents to the minimum; carry on with the research and technological development; create the so-called one-stop administrative shops as to reduce, or at least co-ordinate; the number of administrations boarding and checking every single ship and to offer port users a single contact point or help-desk for administrative formalities; ensure the vital role of Short Sea Shipping focal points in every Member State; ensure the good functioning of the Short Sea Shipping promotion centres; promote the Short Sea Shipping as a successful transport alternative and collect relevant statistical information to track the development of the Short Sea Shipping.

 

There is still one last statement contained in the White Paper worth to be mentioned. The European Commission finds necessary to ‘promote the profession of freight integrators’. It does not say anything about the logistics providers, nor about the Value Added Services departments already in existence in most shipping companies (offering door-to-door services, insurance coverage, etc), as it refers only to freight integrators. It does not define what a ‘freight integrator’ is, not where lies the line between a freight integrator, a freight forwarder and a logistics provider. As stated in the White Paper itself, we will have to wait until further proposals to this end are submitted in the present year 2003.

3. Conclusions.

 

Over the last years most of the legislative initiatives taken by the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport of the European Commission have created great concerns. Resulting in strikes all over Europe, in several sectors of the maritime industry such as stevedores, and combined with a warm welcome from certain Members States such as Austria, happy to see how the European institutions fight against the chaotic Alpine road network.

She is now aware of the collapse of European roads and rails, as well as about the misuse of the coastal capabilities of Europe. Under her direction, the European Commission is changing the access to the port services market, the way goods will be transported in the future in Europe and even the containers that will be used for that purpose. Indeed more contrary reactions and demonstration will come on the way, but the agenda is already on the table and the clock has started to run.

 

 

Footnotes:

 

(1) See the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council in Intermodal Loading units.

(2) See id., explanatory memorandum.

(3) Directive 2002/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 February 2002 on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States of the Community.

(4) Budget foreseen for 1.1.2003 – 31.12.2006

(5)See White Paper "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide" http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy_transport/en/lb_en.html

(6)See the explanatory memorandum of the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Intermodal Loading Unit.

(7) Id.

(8) Id.

(9) See the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Market Access to Port Services.