In view of this week’s Transport Council and the debate it will hold on the 2015 Annual Growth Survey and transport policy’s contribution to EU Competitiveness, growth and jobs, the undersigned associations wish to address the EU Transport Ministers to voice their concerns on the way the Union is tackling transport infrastructure financing and development.

Our associations would like to underline the importance of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to fund projects along the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). CEF and TEN-T are the tools of an ambitious and at the same time realistic infrastructure policy, which will contribute to achieving a better-connected Union, fostering the development of the solid transport network European industry needs in order to thrive.

We welcome the Commission’s ambition to attract more private investment to the transport sector, but are concerned that an over-optimistic attitude towards the deliverables of the soon-to-be-established European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) can be to the detriment of many infrastructure projects which are currently eligible for CEF funding but which would probably not be able to attract investment under EFSI.

The reallocation of a huge portion of the CEF budget (18.1% of the CEF transport grants budget in non-cohesion countries) as EFSI credit guarantee will put at risk many projects that have been identified as priorities of the TEN-T network.

As explained in the Interim Report by Mr Christophersen and Professors Bodewig and Secchi, the opportunities offered by the Investment Plan have a clear potential to benefit transport infrastructure projects where traffic is dense, on a relatively short segment, and highly predictable.

However, many port, rail and inland waterway projects present very different features. And yet they are necessary to build an efficient and interconnected, sustainable EU-wide transport network. Public grants will therefore remain of vital importance.

In order to make transport infrastructure projects more attractive to private investors, the Christophersen-Bodewig-Secchi report in many cases suggests blending financialinstruments and grants, i.e. funding the riskier or non-revenue generating parts of a project through grants to make the rest of the project more profitable for private investors.

The European transport sector requires indeed to use such blending of financial instruments and sufficiently attractive CEF grants. But this kind of construction is obviously only possible if the CEF grants budget still has sufficient means. Of the EUR 26.4bn originally foreseen for transport in the 2014-2020 financial period, EUR 12bn has already been spent through the 2014 CEF call.

For the sound development of the European transport sector, we hereby call upon all Transport Ministries to reflect on ways to avoid cuts to the CEF budget, as well as to formulate and submit to the attention of the Spring European Council alternative solutions for providing EFSI with an adequate credit guarantee.

The signatories:

• CER: The Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) brings together more than 70 European railway undertakings and infrastructure companies. CER represents the interests of its members towards the European institutions as well as other policy makers and transport actors. CER’s main focus is promoting the strengthening of rail as essential to the creation of a sustainable transport system which is efficient, effective and environmentally sound. For more information, see www.cer.be. For further information, please contact: Libor.Lochman@cer.be.

• EBU: The European Barge Union (EBU) represents the majority of the inland navigation freight and passenger carrying industry in Europe. Its members are the national associations of barge owners and barge operators as well as international associations in the field of inland navigation and related areas. EBU’s main objective is to represent the interests of the inland shipping industry and Rivers-See shipping industry at a Pan-European level and to contribute to the development of a sustainable and efficient Pan-European transport system. 

• ECSA: The European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) is the trade association representing the national shipowners’ associations of the EU and Norway (close to 99% of the EEA fleet or about 20% of the world fleet). Our aim is to promote the interests of European shipping so that the industry can best serve European and international trade and commerce in a competitive free enterprise environment to the benefit of shippers and consumers and help formulate EU policy on critical maritime transport-related issues.

• EFIP: The European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP) brings together more than 200 inland ports and port authorities in 18 countries of the European Union, Switzerland and Ukraine. Since 1994, EFIP has been the voice of the inland ports in Europe. EFIP highlights and promotes the role of inland ports as multi-modal hubs. For more information, please contact: Kathrin.Obst@inlandports.be, www.inlandports.eu.

• EIM: The association of European Rail Infrastructure Managers, was established in 2002 to promote the interests and views of the independent infrastructure managers in Europe, following liberalisation of the railway market. It also provides technical expertise to the appropriate European bodies such as the European Railway Agency. EIM’s primary goal is promoting growth of rail traffic and the development of an open sustainable, efficient, customer orientated rail network in Europe.

• ERFA: European Rail Freight Association - represents new entrants, i.e. all those operators who want open access and fair market conditions, and sustains their role of pushing forward the development of a competitive and innovative railway market. In 2015, ERFA represents 34 members from 16 countries across Europe.

• ESC: The European Shippers’ Council represents the freight transport interests (by all modes of transport) of business in Europe (manufacturers, retailers or wholesalers).

• ESO: The European Skippers’ Organisation looks after the interests of the private inland shipping entrepreneurs on European level. The Council of ESO is composed of representatives and entrepreneurs of Belgian, Dutch, French, German and Polish IWT branch organisations. Over the years, ESO has occupied itself in the interest of the independent entrepreneurs on various matters, such as market observation and regulation, fleet renewal, waterway bottlenecks, promotion, crew regulation, training and certification, accommodation, environment and emissions, River Information Services, etc. ESO - since 1975 - participates in many working and advisory groups of CCNR and EC.

• ESPO: Since 1993, the European Sea Ports Organisation represents the port authorities, port associations and port administrations of the seaports of the Member States of the European Union and Norway. ESPO has also observer members in several neighbouring countries to the EU. ESPO ensures that seaports have a clear voice in the European Union. The organisation promotes the common interests of its members throughout Europe and is also engaged in dialogue with European stakeholders in the Port and Maritime sector. For more information, please contact: Isabelle.Ryckbost@espo.be, www.espo.be, Twitter: @ESPOSecretariat

• FEPORT: Founded in 1993, FEPORT represents the interests of large, multinational terminal operators and stevedoring companies performing operations and carrying out activities in the seaports of the European Union. FEPORT’s aim is to promote the interests of its members and to maintain constant dialogue with all EU institutional and non-institutional stakeholders.

• INE: Inland Navigation Europe is the European platform of national & regional waterway managers and promotion bureaux. Neutral and without commercial interests, INE sees major opportunities to contribute to sustainable transportation by moving more goods by water in EU regions and cities with accessible and navigable rivers and canals.

• UIPFounded in 1950, the UIP – International Union of Wagon Keepers, with its seat in Brussels, is the umbrella association of national associations from fourteen European countries, thus representing more than 250 keepers with approximately 180.000 freight wagons, performing 50 % of the rail freight tonne-Kilometres throughout Europe. The UIP represents the members’ concerns at international level. By means of research, lobbying and focused cooperation with all stakeholders and organisations interested in rail freight transportation, the UIP wants to secure on the long term the future of rail freight transport.

• UIRR: Founded in 1970, the International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport represents the interests of European road-rail Combined Transport Operators and Transhipment Terminal Managers. Road-Rail Combined Transport (CT) is a system of freight forwarding which is based on efficiently and economically inserting electric rail into long-distance (road) transport-chains through the use of intermodal loading units (ILU).

• UNIFE is the association representing the European rail manufacturing and supply industry at the EU and international level and gathers 80 member companies involved in the engineering, design, manufacture, and maintenance of rail transport systems, subsystems and related equipment. UNIFE also brings together 15 national rail industry associations of European countries.For further information, please contact: Philippe.Citroen@unife.org