Almost 40% of goods traded within the European Union are transported by sea, a cleaner alternative to road transport. Despite efforts from Brussels to promote maritime transport, the sector's market share within the EU has not grown in the last 15 years. EurActiv France reports.
Shipping is still Europe's second choice for short distance transport, behind road transport, despite its environmental credentials and the congested state of European roads.
Since 2001, the European Union has promoted policies to try to keep as much freight as possible off the roads, but the market share of sea transport remains unchanged.
Slow process
Around 45% of goods traded within the European Union are transported by road, and just under 40% by sea. Rail and river transport account for the rest of the market.
"The switch to clean transport is one of the priorities of European transport policy. But the objectives have not yet been achieved," said Eric Banel, Delegate-General for the Association of French Shipowners.
Antidia Citors, from the coastal protection NGO Surfrider, said, "Despite certain drawbacks, sea transport is the cleanest in terms of CO2 emissions".
The changing nature of the EU may go some way towards explaining the stagnation of the sea transport sector. Jean-Marie Millour, from the Short Sea Promotion Centre, explained that "the stagnation of the sea transport sector's market share should be viewed alongside the EU's enlargement into continental Europe and countries that are largely landlocked".
>> Read: EU seeks to shift freight to rail and shipping
In this context, the fact that sea transport has maintained its market share could be seen as a relative success for European policy.
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EU efforts to promote sea transport bring little progress