Study on the TEN-T Motorways of the Sea Horizontal Priority (MoS II)

Projekt order

Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move)

The ‘Motorways of the Sea – Study’ (MoS II) shall support the European Commission (DG MOVE) and Mr. Kurt Bodewig as the Motorways of the Sea Coordinator in the development of the MoS Implementation Plan 2019-2022. The concept of the Motorways of the Sea (MoS) is legally and comprehensively described in Article 21 of the TEN-T Regulation 1315/2013 – and supports the maritime dimension of the Trans-European Transport Network under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
Therefore, MoS as the maritime pillar of the TEN-T Network is contributing towards the achievement of a European Maritime Transport Space without barriers for short sea shipping, connecting the Core Network Corridors (CNCs) by integrating the maritime leg and facilitating maritime freight transport with neighbouring countries.

ISL finalised already the first MoS study in 2018 - with its partners CIRCLE S.p.A. and ADS Insight – which served as a basis for the First Detailed Implementation Plan outlining the vision for the future Motorways of the Sea (MoS) framework and its integration into the Core Network Corridors.

The current assignment of the ‘MoS II study’ to ISL, Circle and ADS represents the continuation of the support to the European Commission for the development of the overall maritime transport policy within the TEN-T framework as already undertaken for the period 2016-2018.

The MoS II study will comprise the following tasks:

1. Development of two updated Detailed Implementation Plans (DIP) for 2019 and 2021:
   • focus will be on the identification of MoS key priority areas and actions, leading to updated versions of the Detailed Implementation Plans
2. Elaboration of the MoS knowledge base:
   • description of the overall situation of maritime transport in the six sea basins
   • analysis of legal and market framework conditions
   • identification of investments needs for ports and shipping within the MoS context
   • identification and analysis of requirements on integration of MoS into the nine CNCs
3. Alignment of MoS project categories with projects identified for the nine CNCs:
   • development of a list of project categories for ports and shipping under the MoS umbrella and alignment with CNC projects
   • identification and analysis of financing alternatives for MoS
4. Communication and dissemination activities
   • Preparing, supporting and following up of the MoS conferences / seminars / working groups and MoS Forum meetings
   • other communication activities (e.g. questionnaires, social media)

The current study is a continuation in a row of ISL’s work regarding the development of the Concept on Motorway of the Sea following the

• ‘First Study on the TEN-T Motorways of the Sea Horizontal Priority’ for DG Move
• the ‘Motorways of the Sea: An ex-post evaluation on the development of the concept from 2001 and possible ways forward’ for DG Move and
• the study on ‘Improving the Concept on Motorways of the Sea’ for the European Parliament