1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:20,120 Out to sea, there's a vast emptiness. 2 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:23,200 On land, nothing but road congestion. 3 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:29,800 Traffic, especially goods traffic, is constantly increasing throughout Europe's road network. 4 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:30,880 Statistics are very clear. 5 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:35,840 By 2020, freight transport will have increased by more than 70% in the European Union and 6 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,800 by 95% in the 10 new member states. 7 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:45,320 The result will not only be gridlock on the roads, but also damage to the environment, 8 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:52,120 more accidents, and the danger that European business will become less competitive. 9 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:56,960 And then there's the sea, which appears to be an increasingly credible alternative for 10 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,800 transporting goods between member states. 11 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,560 The European Union is aiming to develop what it calls motorways of the sea, all around 12 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:08,560 Europe. 13 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:14,880 The motorways of the sea are floating infrastructures that allow the transport of goods from one 14 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,400 member state to another member state by sea. 15 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:26,840 And this offers many advantages compared to road itineraries, which are often congested, 16 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:32,760 crowded by too many trucks on these land motorways. 17 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:41,240 And, of course, Europe would be badly inspired not to use these sea routes. 18 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:49,880 40,000 km of coast, really, it deserves, I think, attention. 19 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:54,240 In concrete terms, the idea is to establish high-quality maritime links between a limited 20 00:01:54,240 --> 00:02:00,600 number of selected ports located at strategic points on Europe's coastline. 21 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:05,000 With the timescale to 2010, the network of motorways of the sea will be established along 22 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,160 four major corridors. 23 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,080 The first links the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea with the states of Central 24 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:12,760 and Western Europe. 25 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:18,280 The second runs along the Atlantic coastline, which will reduce traffic across the Pyrenees. 26 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:24,880 The third in the Western Mediterranean will link Spain, France, Italy, and Malta. 27 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,160 And the fourth will make a link from Slovenia to Cyprus. 28 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,160 The sea routes have two advantages. 29 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,200 The first is that they are not expensive. 30 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:45,600 A sea route with four boats that rotate all day costs 400 million euros. 31 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:54,560 A large railway tunnel through the Pyrenees to transport trucks on trains costs 6 billion euros. 32 00:02:54,640 --> 00:03:01,440 The second advantage is that you save on congestion and bottling at the border. 33 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:10,480 If I take the example of a sea route between Nantes and Bilbao, you put 100 trucks on 34 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:16,160 each boat with four rotations a day, that's 200,000 trucks less at the Franco-Spanish border per year. 35 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:22,000 But the concept of motorways of the sea is not only limited to the sea itself. 36 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,600 It's global, integrates the entire European transport network and builds upon Europe's 37 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:28,520 terrestrial axes. 38 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,600 In reality, everything is connected. 39 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:38,520 A truck loaded with merchandise boards a boat operating on a motorway of the sea. 40 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:43,520 On arrival in the other country, it can then proceed to its destination. 41 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,600 The merchandise can also travel by rail and then by sea to be finally loaded onto another 42 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:57,400 train, barge or truck, which will deliver the cargo to the customer. 43 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:04,400 The predominant factor in the success of motorways of the sea is a harmless and a seamless integration 44 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:10,360 of overland transport, whether it be road only, rail only or in waterways only. 45 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:16,040 And the best example is, of course, the combination of them all. 46 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:20,320 It's obvious that the success of motorways of the sea lies in the choice of ports and 47 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:26,560 the quality of their connections to land transportation. 48 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:36,720 The ideal port must have good links to roads, rail and waterways and must not be congested. 49 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,320 It's what's called a multimodal hub. 50 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,560 Accessibility is fundamental to allow a port to attain the necessary critical mass in terms 51 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:45,880 of tonnage. 52 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:51,920 This is vital if it's to be both profitable and competitive. 53 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:59,000 In order to be, let's say, a full and 100% alternative to road operations, frequency 54 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,880 and regularity is an absolute necessity, yeah? 55 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,920 But you can only reach that if you have sufficient volume, yeah? 56 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:17,600 And the volume, the critical mass determines the frequency you can actually have. 57 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,240 Regular frequent connections, that means at least two round trips per day between the 58 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:23,240 ports. 59 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:28,040 The transporters must also be able to count on rapid competitive links. 60 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:32,240 This involves pulling out all the stops to reduce the time vessels and their cargo spend 61 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:33,840 in port. 62 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:38,360 In future, a huge effort must be made to make transport more flexible. 63 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:44,960 This requires a highly efficient service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 64 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:54,040 It also involves simplifying administration with the systematic use of a one-stop shop. 65 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:58,360 And finally, it involves the establishment of a system to monitor maritime as well as 66 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:02,040 land transportation. 67 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,920 In Galileo, the future European satellite radio navigation system will enable transport 68 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:09,400 to be monitored with great precision. 69 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:14,080 It will permit operators as well as authorities to pinpoint the exact position of a cargo 70 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:24,800 at any given moment, whether it's at sea or on land and whatever the mode of transport. 71 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:30,000 Historically speaking, Europe was built thanks to its ports and the trade they attract. 72 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,400 Today it's reclaiming this ancient idea by means of the motorways of the sea. 73 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:39,520 All these connections will establish or reinforce a multitude of links between Europe's regions. 74 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:44,440 Seen from the land, the motorways of the sea are an undeniable asset for regional development. 75 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:51,800 The motorways of the sea have a great added value for freight traffic and thus for the 76 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:52,800 regions. 77 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:58,920 We can connect remote regions to islands, but we can also bypass natural barriers such 78 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,840 as the Alps and the Pyrenees and thus organise shorter transport routes. 79 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:13,440 This helps the regions to develop, and this is the main idea of the motorways of the sea. 80 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,760 The motorways of the sea also aim to link islands and regions on the periphery of Europe 81 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:22,440 with the centre, whatever the weather conditions. 82 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:26,760 In the Baltic, for example, the motorways of the sea will allow ships to sail all year 83 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:36,240 round making ports accessible in winter with extended icebreaker services. 84 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,440 Generally speaking, the ports will once again become centres of economic development with 85 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:45,440 especially favourable advantages for economic and social cohesion between regions. 86 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:22,400 Today, work on the motorways of the sea has already begun. 87 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,160 The first European funding has been made available. 88 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:29,240 Guarantees will be given to all the major players, whether they're local authorities, 89 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:33,600 port authorities, industries or operators, they all need to feel that the system will 90 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:36,440 be permanent to enable it to work efficiently. 91 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:45,440 It's not possible to convince operators to put goods or trucks on a ship if they don't 92 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:50,440 have the guarantee that this service will last over the medium term. 93 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:58,440 This is why the budgetary effort of the European Union will be to give aid to operation going 94 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:03,440 up to four or five years, which is exceptional in terms of aid to operation. 95 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:08,440 To convince transport operators, the Commission plans to introduce a label for the motorways 96 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:13,440 of the sea, a quality label which will guarantee that levels of service meet certain criteria, 97 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,440 frequency, speed, regularity, safety, quality of service. 98 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:21,440 But above all, it's vital to ensure that everyone feels involved. 99 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,440 If not, motorways of the sea will not be realised. 100 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:32,440 In the minds of people, we need to design the logistics chain of transport, 101 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:37,440 from the company that produces a good to the consumer. 102 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:40,440 And that's a bit of a revolution of mentality. 103 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,440 The motorways of the sea will have two major assets. 104 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,440 They'll make industry more competitive and they'll improve the quality of people's lives 105 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,440 by reducing pressure on the roads. 106 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:56,440 In time, the motorways of the sea will not only serve member states. 107 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:00,440 Europe is already planning to extend them to third countries.