The allied transport projects met again to give a progress update on their various analyses, strategies, action plans and manuals, and to brainstorm on key performance indicators for green transport corridors. The cooperation scheme that originally included TransBaltic, EWTCII and Scandria has now 9 participating projects with Rail Baltica Growth Corridor, NECL II (Midnordic Green Transport Corridor), Bothnian Green Logistic Corridor, StratMoS and BSR InnoShip – a set up that resembles the Maritime Transport Cluster cooperation scheme, recently launched in the North Sea Region Programme.

Seeing the importance of the gathered competence in the umbrella cooperation, the Baltic Transport Outlook (BTO) Secretariat agreed to a notion of a joint seminar, with the BTO Steering Committee members attending, to discuss the content of the draft final Baltic Transport Outlook study and the way the umbrella projects could assist in further dissemination of the BTO results after the study is finalised in late 2011.

In general discussion on streamlining the various transport planning processes, a significant role was attributed to the Northern Dimension Partnership on Transport and Logistics (NDPTL), which is deemed a relevant arena to debate the findings of both the BTO and the umbrella projects at the overall BSR level, with participation of the EU neighbouring countries.

The meeting, being the first occasion for the three parties to exchange information and share ideas for collaboration, saw also some other benefits – an opportunity to harmonise visions on the future transport networks in the Region. As BTO strives to create a BSR-specific strategic network, complementary to the Commission’s TEN-T core and comprehensive network, the NDPTL aspires to do likewise, with active participation of Russia and Belarus. In that respect, the umbrella projects orientate themselves to develop a green transport network, with services, technologies and education issues added to the infrastructure layer. For that reason the projects agreed to sign a joint letter of intent to DG MOVE offering assistance in developing the green transport network of the European Union, based on accumulated knowledge, experience and links to relevant stakeholders in the BSR transport corridors.

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No 11

In this issue –

• The future of small ports – What are the development perspectives for small and medium Baltic Sea ports? The article summarizes discussions on the topic from a seminar that took place in Elblag in June featuring speakers from port authorities, research sector and ports around the Baltic Sea. The article also features some insight to the special case of Port Elblag. A more extensive report from the seminar is available here.
• A hotspot for empty flows – The share of empty boxes of all containers transported in the Baltic Sea Region (21%-26% between 2005 and 2009) is above global and European average. Hamburg University of Technology has made a study on the subject in dialog with transport and terminal operators providing some insights from the industry. The study in its full is available here.

100 participants from 12 countries gathered in Sweden/Skellefteå in May for TransBaltic Conference 2011 – “A model region for green transport solutions” to discuss transport and infrastructure in the Baltic Sea Region focusing on the region’s internal connectivity and its external accessibility. Invited speakers from the region as well as from India and North America inspired to animated discussions between the audience and the panels featuring pan-Baltic organisations and TransBaltic stakeholders. What do we need to consider when preparing for a green future, what is crucial in achieving this and what policy measures do we require?

A report summarizing the two day long conference with highlights from presentations and discussions is now available. Download the report here.

The conference did not only highlight transport and infrastructure issues but did also draw some attention to the northern parts of Sweden. The municipality of Skellefteå took the opportunity to invite the conference participants for an evening to remember letting them experience what the region has got to offer visitors.

Click on the link to view a film clip from the evening reception: “TransBaltic in Skellefteå on YouTube”

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No. 10

In this issue –

• Dry Ports best-practice – Sascha Westermann, Hamburg Port Authority, reports from a TransBaltic study trip to Australia discussing dry ports and measures on how to control approaching port traffic with authorities and operators in the continent’s three major cities.
  
• Making the BSR a well-tuned model region – Which public policy measures, supporting pre-requisites or weak component should be paid special attention to achieve a future green BSR? TransBaltic 2nd project conference “A model region for green transport solutions” 11-12 May invited for interactive discussions on the topic and more, read about what was said at the conference in Skellefteå.

The cross-project collaboration continues and the 2nd seminar back-to-back with the Rail Baltic Growth kick-off conference once again brought together TransBaltic, East West Transport Corridor II, Scandria, North-East Cargo Link II, Rail Baltica Growth Corridor and Bothnian Green Logistics Corridor projects to discuss and present latest results in the context of green multimodal transport corridors.

Mikael Nyberg, deputy director general at the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications, opened the meeting by introducing an outlook of the Finnish transport policy that has to respond to the needs of green transport and improved long-term planning.

A common understanding of the green corridor concept seems to be getting closer to the finishing line. Mathias Roos – the EWTC II project manager – announced the project’s intention to complete a list of key performance indicators by the beginning of autumn. The set of KPI’s, rendered available for testing to the allied projects, will make it possible to compare and develop green corridors in a systematic manner.

The meeting opened up a possibility of efficient streamlining of activities between the allied projects on one hand and two important pan-Baltic transport development processes on the other, namely: the Baltic Transport Outlook (BTO) and the Northern Dimension Partnership for Transport and Logistics (NDPTL). The BTO consortium welcomed the participating projects for an exclusive consultation session to review the draft final report of the study. In turn, the NDPTL Secretariat accepted an invitation to attend umbrella meetings on a permanent basis for information exchange and mutual inspiration.

Furthermore, the allied projects agreed to address the European Commission with recommendations on how to use the green transport corridors experience in exploring the core network corridor notion in the TEN-T planning work.

TransBaltic aspires to expand the group of collaborating projects at the next umbrella meeting scheduled in early September, to cover the corridor projects newly approved by the BSR Programme authorities as well as ongoing projects dealing with environmental effects of maritime shipping.

Located by the Elblag River in close range to the Vistula Lagoon is the Polish port of Elblag, the first municipally-owned sea port in Poland. The heritage of the port is complex, connected to both Prussian, German and Polish history. Entering the Lagoon from the Baltic Sea requires a passage through the strait on Russian territorial waters, which implies complicated administrative procedures. In addition, the passage through the strait is restricted barely for the vessels under the Russian and Polish flag, with no access allowed for other EU countries.

This very unique situation of an EU port confronted with access limitations for incoming and outgoing ships is reflected in its economic standings. The port of Elblag is in need for vast investments to improve the hinterland and seaward connections, the latter to be possibly facilitated through constructing a direct canal through the Vistula Spit to avoid entering the Russia’s territorial waters.

The city of Elblag hosted TransBaltic and Baltic Ports Organization’s third joint seminar, this time with a focus on the development perspectives for small and medium sized Baltic Sea ports. Such ports face several challenges, like inadequate hinterland connections, unbalance in an export/import pattern, stringent environmental regulations, complicated management and ownership structures and last but not least – the strong competition. The different constitutions of ownership and management are visible throughout Europe but the dominating model in the Baltic Sea area is that the port is owned by the state, municipality or region. A growing trend in Sweden of the ownership being taken over by private stakeholders enables the competing ports to establish cooperation ties and find own niches. Crucial for the small and medium sized ports is to have an anchoring among the local industry and acceptance from the local society. Attracting larger cargo volumes necessitates also collaboration with terminals and dry ports, which in turn may secure investments in its road and rail hinterland infrastructure.

Discussion at the EU level is to large extent overlooking the development prospects of small and medium size ports. Transnational projects like TransBaltic can in that respect serve as a tool for highlighting interests of this particular segment of the maritime economy and assist in formulating common views on how the cargo flows should be handled in order to diminish risk for competing interests.

A report summarising the seminar is currently under preparation and will be published on the TransBaltic website in August.

A joint resolution was adopted when representatives from TransBaltic’s partner regions gathered May 11 in connection to the conference in Skellefteå/Sweden for a politic oriented pre-meeting to agree on the direction of its further work.

We are with that supported in our aspiration to contribute to the implementation of the EU Baltic Sea Strategy with emphasis on the development of green transports solutions and the green corridor concept. The resolution also acknowledges our important role as platform for public and private sector to meet and to facilitate collaboration with and between other projects in this context. Finally the partner regions stress the importance of their active involvement in the TransBaltic transport action plan to be developed next year for a joint standpoint to complete the transport harmonisation actions by the national governments.

Download the resolution here: TransBaltic Conference 2011 – Joint resolution

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No. 9

In this issue:

• Emerging business opportunities - India, along with China, is one of the fastest growing economies in the world today. The European Union is the country’s largest trading partner, accounting for more than 25% of India’s total exports and 21% of its total imports as of 2009. A TransBaltic delegation spent five days in India to learn more about the country’s transport systems and future plans regarding its trade with Europe and the Baltic Sea region in particular.
• Future environmental regulations for shipping in the BSR – TransBaltic and Baltic Ports Organization recently launched a report on the topic. Get to know more about the complex issue, which causes great challenge for both the shipping industry and the ports, in an interview with the co-author – BPO’s Secretary General Bogdan Ołdakowski, TransBaltic task 4.1 leader. The report can be downloaded from our website under “Reports & Material”