"Successful projects should fight congestion on European roads and improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system, two main objectives of the EU (European Union) transport policy," stated the Commission. "Companies across the EU and beyond are invited to submit proposals."

 

The EC explained that the general aim of the Marco Polo programme was to help companies introduce services that shifted freight off the roads and onto shortsea shipping, rail and inland waterways. "This support is available during the high-risk start-up phase of the projects."

 

The top-ranked projects in the competitive evaluation process would be offered grant contracts of up to six years, continued the EC. However, only projects capable of demonstrating sustainable non-road freight transport services – i.e. projects which could survive on the market even after they ceased receiving EU financial support – had a chance for a grant.

 

The EC said the call was open to applications for five types of actions:

 

Modal shift actions which would shift freight from road to shortsea shipping, rail, inland waterways or a combination of modes of transport.
Highly innovative catalyst actions which were aimed at overcoming structural barriers in the freight transport market in the EU, such as low-speed of freight trains or technical interoperability problems between transport modes.
Common learning actions which would improve cooperation and optimise working methods and procedures between actors in the freight transport chain.
Motorways of the Sea actions which shifted freight from road to shortsea shipping or a combination of shortsea shipping and other modes of transport, offering a very large-volume, high-frequency intermodal maritime transport service.
Traffic avoidance actions which integrated transport into production logistics in order to reduce freight transport demand by road.
The EC added that the budget for the Marco Polo programme 2009 call had been increased to €62m compared with €60m in 2008. In parallel, the funding intensity had been raised from €1 to €2 per 500 tonne-kilometres shifted off the roads.