The present Freight
Logistics Action Plan is one of a series of policy initiatives jointly
launched by the European Commission to improve the efficiency and
sustainability of freight transport in Europe. It presents a number of short-
to medium-term actions that will help Europe address its current and future
challenges and ensure a competitive and sustainable freight transport system
in Europe. The external dimension of all of these actions will need to be
considered with a view to efficiently integrating third countries and in
particular neighbouring countries into the logistic chain.
The actions outlined are
designed to help the freight transport logistics industry achieve long-term
efficiency and growth by addressing issues such as congestion, pollution and
noise, CO2 emissions and dependence on fossil fuels that – if left
unchecked – would threaten its efficiency. These actions need to be
accompanied by work on a long-term perspective, undertaken jointly with the
Member States, in order to establish a common basis for investment in
tomorrow's freight transport systems.
The Commission suggests,
amongst others, the following measures:
- Developing a roadmap for the
implementation of e-freight, expanding on the concept of the “Internet
for cargo”;
- Making a proposal on
“e-maritime”;
- Working towards a standard
for information flows;
- Establishing a framework for
the development of ITS applications which also addresses freight
transport logistics (including monitoring dangerous goods and the
transport of live animals, tracking and tracing, and digital maps);
- Accelerating work towards
interoperability in Electronic Fee Collection;
- Continuing the freight
transport logistics bottleneck exercise;
- Drawing up a list of minimum
qualifications and training requirements at different levels of
specialisation to be incorporated into a framework that can ensure the
mutual recognition of training certificates;
- Launching a dialogue with the
European social partners to find ways to improve the attractiveness of
transport logistics professions;
- Elaborating, together with
industry, a set of generic (dynamic and static) benchmarks for
terminals;
- Establishing a network
between logistics institutes and promoting industry initiatives to
exchange experience and disseminate best practice;
- Establishing a single window
(single access point) and a one-stop shop for administrative procedures
in all modes;
- Making a legislative proposal
on simplifying and facilitating short sea shipping towards a maritime
transport space without barriers;
- Examining the details and
added value of establishing a single transport document for all carriage
of goods, irrespective of mode;
- Assessing the need for
introduction of a standard (fall-back) liability clause within the EU as
well as the need for a legal instrument to allow full coverage of the
existing international, mode-based liability regimes over the entire
multimodal logistics chain;
- Simplifying port access
requirements;
- Studying the options for a
modification of the standards for vehicle weights and dimensions and
considering the added value of updating Directive 96/53/EC;
- Defining green transport
corridors, developing a freight-oriented rail network, promoting the
establishment and recognition of Motorways of the Sea and Implementing
the NAIADES programme for inland waterway transport;
- Encouraging the exchange of
experiences of representatives of urban areas to help establish a set of
recommendations, best practice, indicators or standards for urban
transport logistics.
The European Commission will
report on progress made in the implementation of the Action Plan in 2010.
This report will also provide the opportunity to determine what further
actions will be required in the areas outlined above and to evolve EU freight
transport logistics policy in line with the economic context and
technological developments.