#ports&shipping - “More EU budget for transport, the best investment plan for Europe” is the slogan launched today from a coalition of thirty European transport organisations. The campaign is calling for a strong connecting Europe Facility for the next financial period 2021-2028.
“We are very pleased to see that 30 transport organisations, covering all modes and nodes, service providers, users and cargo owners are supporting this plea for a strong financial support for the completion of the TEN-T network. 750 billion euro is needed to complete the TEN-T core network. We all know that transport projects with a high societal return do not always generate the necessary return on investment. We also believe that CEF support is the best guarantee to deliver high EU added value and responsible grant management”, says ESPO’s Secretary General Isabelle Ryckbost.
The ESPO Secretary will present the campaign on behalf of the Coalition at the Connecting Europe Conference beginning today which Afloat previously highlighted and is taking in the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
“Ports face a continual challenge to invest in long-lived port infrastructure. Even where such investments provide high added value and generate substantial economic returns, they often have low financial returns for the port authority. In the context of the review of the Connecting Europe Facility, ESPO will continue to make the case for continued and increased financial support in a variety of forms. Grants are an essential component of this”, says ESPO’s Chairman, Eamonn O‘Reilly.
The coalition's campaign has a leaflet that can be downloaded here.
Source: European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO).
Afloat adds that O'Reilly is also the chief executive officer of the Dublin Port Company where major redevelopment works are underway at Alexandra Basin (see photo). The project is part of the port's masterplan. Next month as part of Open Dublin House, a boat tour is to take the visiting public into the basin to examine the works in progress.
