Development of a Costs Simulator to Assess New Maritime Trade Routes

One of the main challenges identified by the European Commission White Paper on transport was to address the imbalance in the development of the different modes of transport. Specific actions looking to boost rail and maritime connections were foreseen and included the establishment of the Marco Polo programs. The demand for increased mobility and increased flexibility and timeliness of delivery has led to road transport becoming the dominant mode of transport in the European Union. The growth in road transport has had a significant impact on road congestion, road safety, pollution and land use. In view of this, a change from traditional unimodal to multimodal transport is desirable. Maritime transport is one of the least pollutant modes. Additionally, it contributes to the reduction of traffic congestion, accidents and noise costs on European roadways. Another advantage of ships over trucks and trains is that vessels consume less fuel as a result of the relatively low speeds at which they travel. All these advantages justify support actions to intermodal chains with marine sections including Short Sea Shipping (SSS) as a way to reach more sustainable mobility within Europe. The main benefit of Short Sea Shipping lies in the possibility of combining the inherent advantages provided by the involved modes, thus reducing costs and increasing freight transport capacity over long distances.