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Abstract
Despite the European Union (EU) efforts promoting policies that encourage short sea shipping (SSS) based on its advantages in terms of intermodality and environment, this mode has not yet reached a significant market share compared to land transport. In this paper, we establish a thesis that suggests that funding programs (such as Marco Polo I and II) have not properly offered the right incentives to promote SSS, and aspects such as the key role of port infrastructure and its characteristics, have not been taken into consideration. In a departure from traditional transport cost models, to prove our thesis, we use a theoretical intermodal competition model to compare alternative modes—road transport vs. SSS. We reach the conclusion that the EU needs to focus on ports and transport system efficiency as a whole in order to compete effectively in the freight transport market.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Javier Campos, María Cabrera and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments.
Notes
1. See more in http://ec.europa.eu/transport/infrastructure/index_en.htm
2. Medda and Trujillo (Citation2010) analyze the situation of SSS in Europe: its advantages, disadvantages, goals, and future perspectives.
3. See more data in http://ec.europa.eu/transport/marcopolo/index_en.htm
4. See more in http://ec.europa.eu/transport/infrastructure/index_en.htm
5. See more in http://ec.europa.eu/transport/marcopolo/about/index_en.htm
6. Short Sea Shipping of Goods (2009). See more data in http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/
7. See specific conditions in http://ec.europa.eu/transport/marcopolo/index_en.htm
8. This type of internalization measure, known as Pigouvian tax (Pigou Citation1932), is designed to correct a market distortion when there are negative externalities that, without it, would not be considered by private companies.
