On 11 January an application was dispatched to the JTS, applying for the announced 150 000EUR (incl. VAT) pot with a cluster initiative called ‘Baltic cluster for sustainable, multimodal and green transport corridors’. Lead partner for the initiative, Region Skåne, has now received the pleasant news that the application has been approved!

The transport cluster initiative consists of eight leading organisations representing TransBaltic, Scandria, Rail Baltic Growth Corridor, EWTC II, BSR InnoShip, Amber Coast Logistics, Baltic.AirCargo.Net and Bothnian Green Logistic Corridor, which are all projects under the BSR Programme Priority 2. These partners, currently also involved in TransBaltic umbrella cooperation, set the formal framework for the cluster while also some other projects involved in the umbrella cooperation but not included in the cluster initiative has committed to contribute with support in some activities. The cluster intends to host discussions with projects representing other transnational spaces or cross-border programmes, which offer substantial value to the cluster activities. The initiative will act to for example; bridge project activities in the area of green transport solutions, develop showcase of successful financial arrangements for BSR transport and logistics, strengthen complementarities and synergies of projects’ results etc. with the overarching goal to improve the Programme performance regarding its relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and reach to a wider audience.

The cluster is now preparing for its start-up in September this year with a first appearance at the BSR Programme Conference in Lilleström 19-20 Sep.

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No 15

In this issue –

• Shaping the network of green multimodal transport corridors “To forestall the future course of events” – TransBaltic recently released its second edition in the Policy Report series, with which the project aims to inspire politicians, officials and private enterprises within the transport and logistics sector to take the relevant policy actions towards an integrated transport system in the Baltic region. The article presents extracts from the document focusing on the by TransBaltic designed transport development scenario for 2030 – the so called the “green scenario”, with alternative development trajectories steaming from IMO regulation and TEN-T policy.

Download the TransBaltic Policy Report 2011 here.

• Hub-and-hinterland development in the Baltic Sea region “It’s only the beginning” – Seaports are increasingly functioning not only as individual places that handle ships but as parts of supply chains and networks. A port’s potential hinterland can be defined as an area reachable at a cheaper cost or shorter time than from another seaport, which in turn results in port and carriage providers’ competition to service locations in the overlapping segments. The rise of economic centres in the Baltic area has created opportunities to develop water-based and land-based transport networks which allow increased hinterland penetration. With the emergence of inland terminals and dry ports, hinterlands are extended even further. The article presents ongoing trends in the development of hubs and hinterlands in the BSR based on a TransBaltic report presenting more in-depth information about the development aspirations of Port of Gdańsk and Port of Ust-Luga. 

Download the “Hub and Hinterland development in the BSR” report here.

• TransBaltic’s Final Conference ”Crossing macroregional horizons” - On 4-5 September 2012 TransBaltic invites you to its final conference, which will mark the closure of the project after three years’ of intensive work. The two previous conferences were hosted in the southern and northern parts of Sweden, namely in Malmo (Skåne) and Skellefteå (Västerbotten). This time the project has decided to cross the Baltic Sea’s horizon and invites interested stakeholders to gather on Cyprus. Read more about the theme of the conference.

Register for the conference here.

As a spin-off to the, by TransBaltic, performed analysis of transport flows and scenarios for 2030 with a chapter on intermodal terminal development the project arranged a debate session on the subject. Regional authorities, ports and terminals around the Baltic Sea were invited to meet March 29 in Copenhagen and discuss trends and frameworks effecting the development of intermodal terminals in the BSR. The topic is in the limelight considering its inclusion in the TEN-T proposal and of much relevance from a Danish perspective considering the nation’s rapid decrease of intermodal terminals the last 20 years from 10 to 2. The current status of development differs however between the Baltic Sea countries depending on for example different ownership structures and prioritisations of investments in rail infrastructure. But how would we like to see the development and who should have what responsibilities in establishing, organising and operating an intermodal terminal? The seminar discussions concluded that all levels have a role to play. Public investments are needed to develop the basic infrastructure and the responsibility to do the strategic planning according to the country’s interests falls upon the national governments. However, since the private sector pays the actual construction and operational cost of the terminal the decision of location is up to the market. A dialogue between public and private sector already from the start is therefore essential.

The fact that terminal investments are made by private sector awoke another question among the stakeholders, is unrestricted access conditions really feasible? It was suggested that a solution could be to differentiate between the mature terminals and the start-ups, with the latter allowed running own (restricted access) service until certain volumes are reached.

In the context of the TEN-T policy on intermodal terminals it was also suggested that the BSR should be paid special attention compared to other macroregions considering the areas special geographical characteristics which requires much ro-ro traffic. The macroregion’s sparsely populated areas with dispersed production also calls for another approach in transport facilitating policies.

Click here to get to the seminar presentations.

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No 14

In this issue –

An economic game – An analysis of duty-free sales in the Baltic Sea region’s transportation system. Today, the Åland Islands play an important role in maritime transport in the Central/Northern Baltic Sea region as business thrives on board the ferry traffic to and from Sweden, Finland and Estonia as well as recently to Russia, all due to tax-free sales. Who would win and who would lose if Åland were deprived of its tax exemption?

In hopes of a good start – A regional approach to future transport planning. A future vision of the transportation system in the southeast Swedish region of Blekinge, presented in a recent TransBaltic report, provides ‘food for thought’ for the BSR’s decision makers on how clear goal-setting and wise planning could help reach the so often mentioned idea of sustainable transport, being efficient, reliable and environmentally safe.

Within the work of TransBaltic project Maritime Institute in Gdansk, organized a seminar devoted to discussions on development of transhipment hubs and port hinterland in the Baltic Sea Region.

The meeting was attended by project partners and stakeholders from research & development institutions, local government and business with relevance to issues concerning the development of the Baltic Sea ports.

The meeting focused on the current trends that can be observed in the Baltic Sea, particularly the transformation of some ports into regional transhipment hubs, which is mostly evident in the case of Port of Gdańsk. Within this context the seminar presented and discussed: ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) and their potential in reducing external transport costs, factors influencing the development of Baltic seaport network, as well as the existing transport infrastructure of Central Multimodal Corridor in the area of Westpomeranian Region. Moreover, a representative from the container terminal “DCT Gdansk” presented the terminal’s development strategy for the coming years and how their future expansion plans would benefit from the creation of sustainable transport in the Polish Pomeranian Region. The participants agreed that the current ambitious development actions and plans of Port of Gdansk will lead to realise its potential to become a Baltic transhipment hub.

Maritime Institute in Gdansk is currently preparing a report on the subject that will be available on TransBaltic website in end of March.

The successfully initiated cooperation between TransBaltic and the NDPTL resulted in the NDPTL’s invitation to host TransBaltic’s 4th Umbrella meeting at their premises. The same premises also house the European and Nordic Investments Banks (EIB/NIB), which gave the excellent opportunity to discuss how transport projects can be made bankable. Representatives from the two institutions provided the 9 attending transport projects with useful insights on how they work, their lending criteria and application processes. The general idea is that their lending activities have to follow EU objectives and facilitates for increased competitiveness, supports sustainable growth and less environmental impact. While NIB mainly has been focusing on the energy sector they have now adopted a lending strategy for transport, logistics and communications showing their increased acknowledgement and interested of this sector.

Next umbrella meeting will be hosted by Bothnian Green Logistics Corridor in Umeå 29 May, for which the allied transport projects are expected to have prepared input to the TransBaltic Macroregional Transport Action Plan.

The foresight process around the Baltic Sea carried out in 2010, initiated by TransBaltic, helped to identify alternative transport development trajectories in the years to come, their pre-requisites and policy-making consequences which were then described in the 1^st edition of the TransBaltic Policy Report series. This 2^nd edition concentrates more on the green transport scenario in light of new policy challenges as well as natural and socio-economic developments. Current transport and regional policy processes are being screened, highlighting some missing, overlapping or underestimated thematic areas of vital significance for future transport patterns in the Baltic Sea Region.

The report also debate on the robustness of the integrated transport system in the Baltic Sea area, bringing up some specific aspects of dynamically evolving trade exchange between the Baltic Sea Region and new global economic powers, such as China and India – developmental driver that definitely will affect the geography of the freight flows and cast a challenge for the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the BSR. The report also describes some examples of business cases that can contribute to better transport co-modality and sustainable regional growth I might become subject for relevant transport policies.

Download TransBaltic Policy Report 2011 here!

On 19 January Baltic Ports Organisation and TransBaltic hosted together a debate to tackle upon the TEN-T and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) proposals and their consequences for the Baltic Sea ports. The participants representing ports, port associations, regional authorities and transport ministries all agreed to that the dual layer approach to the TEN-T is a good solution. The long coast lines along the BSR Member States have resulted in development of many ports, sometimes making it hard for the national governments to prioritise. And here the Commission’s proposal may be handy in addressing this issue.The current TEN-T proposal includes 82-85 ports in the core network and 250 ports in the comprehensive network. While being in a core network a port may receive European funding for investments, it remains unclear of what it really means for a port to be included in the comprehensive network. The participants also highlighted some other factors to be questioned in the proposal, as for example the status of current Motorways of the Sea (MoS) links. The MoS, considered as vital for internal connectivity in the Baltic Sea Region, have been left out on the Commission’s proposed maps on the core network corridors, making them end at the ports. While the Member States have been invited to have a pro-active role in the creation and selection of network priorities the proposal is of much top-down nature. Some Members States might feel that their national investment plans have not been heard enough by the Commission and it can also be argued that the bottom-up green corridor initiatives with real supply chain integration is a missing component. Some concerns were raised by the Polish Ministry to the 10 billion EUR earmarked budget in the Cohesion Fund dedicated to the CEF proposal. A cut in the Cohesion Fund money that should facilitate for new Member States to catch up on the development, might result in a backdrop in the old/new Member State integration.

Participants also emphasised that the dry port concept should be discussed as a TEN-T policy component as such facilities serve as an extension of several main ports.

Click here to view presentations from the debate that took place on Sorö/ Denmark Jan 19, 2012.

TransBaltic partners Ma-Co (Maritime Competenzcentrum and SEP (SynergyEuropaPartner) responsible for the task “Capacity Building in transport operations” are launching a survey target at organisations dealing with vocational education matters and demands in the transport and logistics sector. The aim with the survey is to obtain an overview of the main driving forces, challenges and needs for action with regard to human capacity building in the transport sector and by doing so, be able to identify the right measures addressing the issue.

We would appreciate very much if you could help us by filling in below questionnaire which will take only 15 minutes of your time. All collected responses will be used exclusively for our analysis and will be treated as strictly confidential. The results of the survey evaluation will be presented at a workshop in Spring 2012 and incorporated into the operational and strategic output of the TransBaltic.

Download: Task 4.2 Survey_Human Capacity Building in transport operations

Please send the answers to vera.axyonova@sep-partner-hamburg.eu by 27.01.2012.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:  SEP SynergyEuropaPartner / Vera Axyonova / Phone: +49-40-383752

If the questions are out of scope of your competence, please forward the questionnaire to your colleagues or recommend us further potential respondents.

Region Blekinge/Sweden has, in the ambition of creating an action plan for sustainable transport developments in their region by 2030 (with an outlook to 2050), prepared a report highlighting some aspects of the transport system in Blekinge and the outcomes of discussions on the topic with regional stakeholders in both public and private sector. The results intend to answer the question whether it is possible to incorporate all stakeholders to co-develop a vision of a successful development and creating an action plan that can boost the regional development towards sustainable transport. By outlining the vision and the objectives and presenting a palette of potential measures to be included in an action plan the report could also be used to inspire other regions around the Baltic Sea area in the same direction. Download the report “Development of sustainable transport in South East Baltic” here.

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No 13

In this issue  –

 Emergency terminals for rail freight transport - Lack of confidence in railways’ ability to deliver acceptable quality of freight transport is one of several reasons for the small volumes of rail freight transport between Norway and other countries in the Baltic Sea Region. Representatives of key stakeholders in rail freight transport are now, within the framework of TransBaltic, working in close cooperation on procedures that might help customers to access to their containers in case of severe delays. Enabling intermodal connections between Poland and Scandinavia – The BSR transport system is going through changes due to huge infrastructure investments in fixed connections as the Øresund Bridge or the planned Fehmarn Belt Link which will increase the competitiveness of rail transport significantly on trade lanes linking Sweden and Denmark with the German transport networks, yet remains the profile of the transport system between Poland and Sweden unchanged still relying on traditional ro-ro ferry connections. A study performed by TransBaltic partner ILiM describes the potential of and the necessary steps for enabling regular intermodal connections between the main business centres in Poland and Sweden/Norway.

• Filling an important gap – While the newly launched TEN-T regulation proposal argues for a complete trans-European transport network to ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market and strengthening economic and social cohesion, the coordinated action of the national transport ministries around the Baltic Sea (Baltic Transport Outlook) delivers a plan for a strategic transport network in a macroregional context. As a complement TransBaltic presents a subregional perspective and project transport trends by 2030 with special attention to a green scenario highlighting the green corridor initiatives striving for a sustainable development within the Baltic Sea region also connecting it with the outside world. The article presents a unique estimation of transcontinental flow volumes in 2030 from the Far East destined for BSR and their distribution on different rout alternatives.

Region Västerbotten has within the scope of TransBaltic conducted a study of the dry port concept in the context of successful establishment in Västerbotten/Sweden. The report describes the constitution of a profitable dry port in Scandinavia and the necessary market conditions for successful implementation of the concept with special attention to the specificity of Region Västerbotten and the two potential dry port sites “The Nordic Logistic Center” in Umeå and the terminal in Stensele. Designing and implementing intermodal terminals is a complex process involving both public and private actors. The study identifies key factors and actors in the development process and describes how these interact and affect the progress and overall status of the process as well as describes the current trend and challenges related to the road-rail intermodal transport segment.

Download the report here.

Being part of the flagship project “Cooperation for smarter transport” of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, the four strategic transport projects TransBaltic, East-West Transport Corridor II (EWTC II), Rail Baltica Growth Corridor (RBGC) and Scandria were given the opportunity to present their joint vision during the European Commission’s 2nd Annual Forum on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region in Gdansk, Poland, 24-26 October 2011. The projects hosted a joint forum together with the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy & Communications back-to-back with the main event inviting stakeholders to discuss Green Corridors with focus on the projects’ various solutions for more efficient transport, such as information broker system, bio-gas corridor, an internet platform for planning of intermodal transport and rail connections in the Baltic states. To enhance the message of their joint vision and efforts for a Baltic Sea Region connected to Europe and future global markets acting as facilitator of sustainable transport solutions worldwide the four projects shared a stand at the main forum exhibition. The stand attracted visitors like Johannes Hahn, EU-Commissioner for Regional Policy and Dirk Ahner, Director General of DG Regio, proving the importance of the transnational transport projects’ input to the Baltic Sea Strategy.

Commissioner Johannes Hahn, Horst Sauer/Scandria, Evelina H. Malm/TransBaltic and Mathias Roos/EWTC II

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No 12

In this issue -

The intergraded transport system in the Baltic Sea region – the transit role of Latvia. – The transport sector should be perceived as a whole, rather than separate industries and logistics connections. Still the transport network in the EU must not only be united, but also green, as the environmentally friendly approach hits the big time. The TransBaltic Stakeholders Debate, held in Riga on 14th of September, was devoted to the holistic and green development of European transport, with special attention to the transit role of Riga.

Inland waterway transport in the BSR – time to take action. – As transport needs are growing, while restrictions in the transport sector are increasing in number, the development of inland water transport (IWT) in the Baltic Sea region is an undeniable chance to meet market demands and to boost the region’s competitiveness on an international scale. A recent TransBaltic report gives an insight into the present state of the inland transportation system in the BSR and shows the importance of integrating IWT into the system as well as proposes actions in order to do so.

A letter addressed to the Director of “Trans-European Transport Network and Smart Transport” at the European Commission’s DG MOVE was sent last week signed by several project managers of transnational projects from both North Sea Region Programme and the Baltic Sea Region Programme.

As a result of the frequent umbrella meetings and cooperation scheme, TransBaltic together with Amber Coast Logistics, Bothnian Green Logistics Corridor, BSR InnoShip, EWTCII, NECLII, Rail Baltica Growth Corridor, Scandria and StratMos agreed to sign a joint letter of intent offering the European Commission assistance in developing the green transport network of the European Union by providing their knowledge, experience and networks. The scope of the joint work by above mentioned projects correlates well with the corridor approach promoted by the Commission in the TEN-T planning work, focusing on the green transport corridors as a measure to combine the optimised performance of multimodal supply chains with sustainable regional growth and territorial cohesion.  

View the letter here: Joint letter of intent for the green transport network development

Inta Rozensteine - Deputy Director of Financial Management & Development Dep, Latvian Ministry of Transport

“Co-ompetition is the key to future successful development” Igor Kabashkin, President of the Transport and Telecommunications Institute in Riga, declared when presenting the prospects of Latvia’s transport transit role. Some 50 participants joined the discussion when TransBaltic invited to debate the subject in Riga.

Alongside Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia is mobilising the forces not to be left off the map when the growing Asian economies plan their future transport routes. Inta Rozensteine, Latvian Ministry of Transport, announced that the Ministry, in the planning stage of the national transport policy 2014-2020, is much aware of the importance of attracting these transit flows to secure a positive economic development, while keeping references to the European Commission’s White Paper.

Latvia has the advantage of bordering to both Russia and Belarus and the institutionalised customs union between these two neighbouring countries and Kazakhstan is perceived an excellent opportunity to attract the freight flows. Development of logistics and distribution centres could also be on the agenda with the value added production in the customs free zones.

Competition between the three Baltic States is, however, not a desirable outlook. While rivalling for funding to develop TEN-T infrastructure links and green transport technologies, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia can still cooperate to harmonise planning concepts and develop their own profiles as transit countries. Thus, co-ompetition at relevant governance levels and across the territories could be more suitable as a means to find a right focus in transport policy planning.

Click on the link below to see a live coverage from the event.

The allied transport projects' meeting in Stockholm

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

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.

How is TransBaltic being perceived by involved stakeholders and are we on the right track? The topic was one of the discussion points on the agenda for the project’s 4th Steering Committee meeting, this time hosted by Vest Agder County in Kristiansand/ Norway.

TransBaltic initiated earlier this year an evaluation process to find out if some measures for improvements need to be taken when entering the second half of the project’s lifetime. A first review of the results and analyses from the evaluation were presented for the Steering Committee members at their meeting last week. The report, performed by an external consultant, concluded that 89% of the partners find that the project’s implementation process has met their expectations, a reasonably high number. The Steering Committee members were pleased to see the result however highlighting that of course all partners’ satisfaction is of major importance. The report further indicates that a reason for some dissatisfaction is the delayed results in the Baltic Transport Outlook study which have caused some concern among the partners. TransBaltic’s implementation is to some extent dependent on their process and such delays could affect the project negatively. However recent progress in this matter has been made and Stig Hjerppe, Region Västerbotten and manager for the task related to the BTO study could inform that the dialogue with BTO has intensified and with the now more distinct collaboration, TransBaltic will be able to perform in time.

No report on issues to be dealt with was presented for the committee members. The project is, with the exception of some minor activity changes running according to plan. Good news is that the partner Region Sjaelland that so far has kept a fairly low profile because of lack of resources now has enabled the possibility of more engagement in TransBaltic and accepted the vacant seat that has been set aside for them in the Steering Committee.

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 reort can be downloaded from the website under “

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No 8, Feb 2011

In this Issue –

• Find an extensive interview with task 4.3 leader – Urszula Kowalczyk, Head of the Economics and Law Department of the Maritime Institute in Gdansk, responsible for the recently launched study report “Implications of the EU transport policy on development of sustainable transport in the Baltic Sea Region”. Get to know more about the report and Ms Kowalczyk’s thoughts about policies and green corridors in “A vision to be brought to life”.
• 2011 has had an exciting start! Update yourself on the exciting activities TransBaltic has been occupied with lately and what we are planning for in the close future.

Region Skåne and TransBaltic organised one of the workshops held at Interreg Forum in Stockholm regarding “Infrastructure planninga and accessibility”. The workshop gathered around 50 participants interested in the concept of green corridors and its impact on the accessibility and territorial cohesion of the Baltic Sea Region.

It featured a presentation of transnational Interreg projects active in transport-related matters and their joint work to make the green corridor concept proposed by the European Commission more customised to specific development conditions of the Baltic Sea Region.

‘It is time for Green Corridors 3.0’ – said Jerker Sjögren, representative of the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, country’s coordinator of the green corridors. He expressed words of acknowledgment for the ambitions of TransBaltic, EWTC II, Scandria, NECL II and other projects that created so called umbrella cooperation and underlined a need to better exploit their implementation results in the transport planning work at the national level.

The panellists, comprising the European Commission (DG REGIO), the Swedish Ministry and the featured projects, were anonymous to see more flexible solutions in the future Cohesion Policy. These should allow for stronger territorial dimension of transnational programmes (to respond to specific development needs) and more efficient inclusion of private stakeholders in the project implementation. The current projects shall be thus instrumental in supplying good evidence for the new placed-based Cohesion Policy. In pursuing the green corridor concept, they should do their utmost to build durable structures for public-private alliances (associations, cooperation platforms) and secure that both environmental and business benefits stemming from the concept are visible. Such evidence will be helpful also in the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region as it will increase understanding between various sectors and create a win-win situation.

Panel f.l: Anders Lindholm -DG Regio, Virpi Heikkinen -NECL II, Gesa Köhler -Scandria, Evelina Malm -Region Skåne, Mathias Roos -EWTC II, Sara Rahm -TransBaltic, Magnus Oldenburg -Swe.Ministry, Jerker Sjögren -Swe.Ministry

Transport policies are crucial not only for the economy but also for security and development. The recently launched report “Implications of the EU transport policy on development of sustainable transport in the Baltic Sea Region” addresses the challenges and obstacles for sustainable transport development in the EU/BSR and the EU policy responses. It also investigates the green corridor concept within this context and the concept from a wider perspective – what research and development activities are being done worldwide? The research study is part of TransBaltic task 4.3 – Sustainable Transport and Green Corridors. An interview with task manager Urszula Kowalczyk - Maritime Institute in Gdansk, can be found in the next TransBaltic newsletter issue no.8.

Download the report here.

Regional Policy Commissioner Hahn got to learn more about some of Region Skåne’s most prominent projects while paying a visit to the region. Last Saturday Mr Johannes Hahn was welcomed to Skåne by a delegation led by the Regional Governor Ms Pia Kinhult. The Commissioner‘s one day study visit started off with an introduction to the impressive European Spallation Source site, the Region’s flagship project expected to change not only the southern part of Sweden once finished but also to affect the innovation status of the whole Baltic Sea area. Further Mr Hahn was introduced to Interreg projects initiated by Region Skåne. Project Manager, Wiktor Szydarowski, got the honour to give Mr Hahn a presentation of TransBaltic, briefing him about the project’s ambitions of investigating not only the BSR’s internal connectivity but also its external accessibility by looking towards Far East, China and Central Asia with a planed study trip to India the following day. The Commissioner found the ambition very interesting and expressed a wish to know more about the project findings on the prospects of future BSR-India trade.

From left: Jürgen Neumüller – Scandria, Per-Åke Hultstedt – NECL II, Olli Keinänen – RBGC, Bengt Gustafsson – EWTC II, Wiktor Szydarowski – TransBaltic, Gustav Malmqvist- The Bothnian Corridor, Harald Sørensen - NMC

With the intention to function as an umbrella project for related Interreg projects TransBaltic conducted a first seminar in such a spirit. Six projects, covering the whole geographical area of the Baltic Sea Region from south to north and from east to west were invited to the seminar in Stockholm/Sweden. Mr Magnus Oldenburg from the Swedish Ministry of Energy, Enterprise and Communications, co-responsible for Priority Area 11 in the EU Baltic Sea Strategy, opened the seminar with presentation on the implementation progress and underlined importance of the gathered projects for a successful outcome of efforts to manage the transport flows in a smarter and greener way.

The purpose of the umbrella forum is to find synergies between the transport-related projects and pan-Baltic transport development initiatives towards ‘BSR blueprints’. Ongoing and proposed projects from both the BSR Programme as well as from North Sea & Barents Sea Programmes have several common components and at least 16 of them can demonstrrate possible thematic synergies. To streamline the work and share the findings would facilitate ambitions towards achievement of an integrated transport system in the BSR.

With an one year old agreement between the three green corridor projects, Scandria, EWTC II and TransBaltic, and the Swedish Ministry of Energy, Enterprise and Communications the umbrella function has already been put in practise. By joint workshops and seminars the three projects compliment each other’s studies and formulate harmonised policy messages to the broader public. In the process of defining the concept of green corridors the agreement secures a division of workload and further implementation of the projects’ individual findings.

For this occasion TransBaltic decided to widen the cooperation scope through inviting four other corridor initiatives, namely Rail Baltica Growth Corridor, North East Cargo Link II (Midnordic Green Transport Corridor), Bothnian Corridor and Northern Maritime Corridor. This is a right step towards future transport cluster cooperation stimulated by the BSR Programme authorities to synergise on each project’s assets and strengthen communication to the decision-making levels.

The seminar participants agreed on an idea to sustain the umbrella cooperation and are ready to meet again back-to-back with Rail Baltica Growth Corridor’s kick-off meeting in Helsinki in June 2011.

Download: TransBaltic Newsletter No 7, December 2010

The issue explores following topics:

• Intermodal terminals of the future – Emergence and significance of dry ports 

“Environmental problems have received increasing attention during the last decade and with them also the role which logistics concepts can play in reducing those problems.”

• An area in mobilisation

“In connection with the outcomes of the foresight debates in the “TransBaltic Policy Report 2010”, the project representatives went to North-West Russia to discuss transport investments of this key area in the future geography of freight flows…”

TransBaltic’s paid visit to North-West Russia and the Arkhangelsk Region created some buzz. Click on the links below to find published articles:

:“TransBaltic studies Belkomur” – BarentsObserver.com 

“Arkhangelsk Region is ready to become part of transnational transport corridor” – Dvinaland.ru

While the port authorities need to invest in the appropriate ship sewage reception system, the municipalities ought to prepare wastewater treatment plants for the increased volumes. Fees applied by the ports on the cruiser ships to handle the wastewater cause them to dump their sewage in the sea. In many cases but far from all, investments in onboard facilities are in operation. – “You have to remember that the cruisers don’t only stay in the Baltic Sea” stated Gun Rudeberg, General Counsel and Head of Environmental Affairs / Port of Stockholm. When addressing the environmental issue a global perspective needs to be adopted, determining that the cruiser industry would rather be encouraged to device own sewage treatment solutions and not be solely reliant on improved reception facilities in the Baltic Sea ports.

 The focus on SOx puts the shipping industry in unfavourable position against its road competitors but Ulla Tapaninen, Professor / University of Turku, pointed out that the CO2 emissions are not to be forgotten, indicating that the seaborne transportation is highly competitive in this context. The participants agreed that networking, communication and joint efforts between involved parties are crucial in improving the environmental state of the Baltic Sea Region. Agreements between ports in the end of a line for a common standard might be one approach towards a solution. 

A report on the seminar will be prepared by Baltic Ports Organization and available in mid January 2011.

Benchmark study visit to Spain

A TransBaltic delegation consisting of project partners from Sweden, Germany, Polen and Finland visited Spain for inspiration and to study what lessons can be learned when planning and implementing the concept of Dry Ports and logistic centres in respectively partner regions. On the trip was also Dr Violeta Roso, the founder of the Dry Port concept as it is defined today.

What is differentiating a dry port from a hinterland terminal is its intermodal features as stated by Dr Roso -“The Dry Port concept is based on a seaport directly connected by rail to inland intermodal terminals, where shippers can leave and/or collect their goods in intermodal loading units as if directly at the seaport”. The participating TransBaltic partners dedicated to the Dry Port development in the Baltic Sea Region are in different stages concerning the implementation process of the concept, nonetheless expectations were high of finding out valuable input when visiting the two prominent sites.

Located in Coslada, right in the outskirts of Madrid is Puerto Seco de Madrid (Dry Port of Madrid). The intermodal terminal is unique with its direct railway connections to four major Spanish ports namely: Barcelona, Bilbao, Algeciras and Valencia. Not only as a benefit to the four mentioned ports in the competition with other seaports, Puerto Seco connects them with each other in form of a landbridge connection improving the competitiveness of the Spanish Port system as a whole. The Site Manager, Jaime Seijas, viewed success factors for this public owned facility and told further investments plans to expand the capacity and intermodal interfaces with the cooperating seaports.  

 Next stop on the agenda took the delegates to the largest logistic platform in Europe – Platforma de Logistica – Zaragoza (PLAZA). The over 12 million sq m premise is a centre for distribution, transportation and intermodal services for cargo delivered via railways, roads and air routes, with training and research institutions in close cooperation. With its competence and direct connection to Europe and beyond the site attracts both national and international companies as tenants.

The TransBaltic delegates met Jeanett Bolther, External Funding and Knowledge Transfer Office Manager, and Dr. Santiago Kraiselburd, Executive Director, both working for the Zaragoza Logistic Center located right in the heart of the PLAZA. The institute has together with MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, the government of Aragón, industry, and the PLAZA constituted the Zaragoza Logistic Programme in a unique partnership.

Results from the study trip will be inspirational in the further TransBaltic work on the network of dry ports in the Baltic Sea Region.  .     

Pawel Stelmaszczyk (DG MOVE), Wiktor Szydarowski (TransBaltic), Jan Kozlowski (MEP), Tunne Kelam (MEP, Chairman of the Baltic Europe Intergroup), Colin Wolfe (DG REGIO)

Last Tuesday TransBaltic made a presentation for the European Parliament. Tunne Kelam, chairman of the Baltic Europe Intergroup, and Jan Kozlowski, co-chairman of the meeting, opened the session by welcoming the two invited projects: TransBaltic and Rail Baltica Growth Corridor.

After recently conducted study trip to the Barents Area, Wiktor Szydarowski/TransBaltic Project Manager, could offer the audience conclusions on the future geography of the freight flows, stated in the “TransBaltic Policy Report 2010”. These relate in particular to infrastructure investments in the Russian territory of the Barents Area that may change the transport patterns in the Baltic Sea Region and a threat for a new East-West divide across the Baltic Sea Region caused by diversified approach to introducing green transport solutions.

The project presentations were followed by interventions of the European Commission officers: Pawel Stelmaszczyk/DG Move, José Anselmo Laranjeira/DG Move and Colin Wolfe/DG Regio.

An article on planned investments in the Barents Area based on conducted visit to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk will be published in the December issue of the TransBaltic newsletter.

Last week, about 600 conference participants assembled in Tallinn/Estonia. The reason was the BSSSC Annual Forum back-to-back with the 1^st EU Baltic Sea Strategy Forum. Performed for the first time was also the collaboration forum between TransBaltic, EWTC II, Scandria and the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communication. Thirty participants, registered for this occasion, got together at one of the conference venues to discuss the concept and visions of green corridors. The hosts of the forum presented their previous and forthcoming work in the course of this topic with an opportunity for the participating stakeholders from business, university and authorities to influence. Round table discussions analysed the concept from a practical point of view, discussing how to get a grip of green corridors and turn it into formulated benefits for the business sector to get engaged. 

Presentations and photos from the 1^st Green Corridor Stakeholders’ Forum are available here.

The TransBaltic Policy Report 2010 offers conclusions and recommendations for how to proceed in taking up relevant policy actions for the future transport developments in the Baltic Sea Region. Extensive inventories of completed and ongoing policies, strategies and projects in relation to the BSR, together with consultations with stakeholders within the transport sector are summarised into this one document.

The report highlights certain issues. What obstacles might we be facing and how do we turn them to our strengths when planning the geography of future freight flows?

The report is also available in printed copy, please contact the TransBalic WP2 manager if you would like a version sent to you.

Find the report here. Enjoy the reading!

The launch includes 3 individual parts

The first one is a product within task 3.1 presenting the planned transport investments in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Central Asia and the Far East. The second one is also within task 3.1 being an extensive inventory of transport developments. The third one is a report of the foresight process that was carried out during spring investigating future scenarios for the Baltic Sea Region. They all play an important role in placing TransBaltic in the bigger picture and being departure point for further work. The reports are available here.

A report, made on the basis of the Seminar and Debate “Baltic Motorways of the Sea - Successful projects, barriers and challenges for MoS policy implementation” held by Baltic Ports Organisation (TransBaltic Task 4.1) has now been released.

See the report here.

TransBaltic Newsletter No. 5, August 2010

Directions for the Future!

The first series of TransBaltic foresight debates concerning the Green Scenario 2030 and the Artic Scenario 2030 in the Baltic Sea Region is coming to an end! 

  Five fruitful sessions strategically placed throughout the region have been summarised in a report, which explores the original concepts and features a valuable input aired by the participants. As an operator in the transport and logistics area, that has been invited to or had the possibility to participate in our debates, please find the draft version attached.

 In a wrap-up of this process TransBaltic would kindly ask you to take the opportunity for another contribution. Below you will find the link to a short and concise survey consisting of three questions. All answers will be taken into account in a comprehensive document that will be disseminated this autumn and set the direction for further work in the TransBaltic project

View the debate section of the report here!

 We would be happy to receive your feedback by 31st of August.

 TransBaltic thanks you for your collaboration!

Green Corridor Agreement has now been signed!

TransBaltic has together with the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise, Energy & Communications and the two other transnational projects EWTC ll and Scandria (projects also co-funded by the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013) signed a contract for joint forces in green transport corridor activities. The green corridor agreement is a follow-up to the letter of understanding that the projects signed last year declaring their willingness to cooperate, especially concerning the green transport corridor concept. This agreement serves the purpose of deciding upon activities and stating the signing parties’ different responsibilities.  

Download the Signed GC Agreement!

 

Anna-Lena Cederström (Region Blekinge, EWTC ll Lead Partner) hands over the last pending copies of the agreement to Jerker Bjurnemark (Region Skåne, TransBaltic Lead Partner)

Transbaltic newsletter Feb 2010

Find the newsletter for December 2009 here:

TransBaltic signs a contract on green transport corridors with the Ministry of Enterprise, the East-West and the Scandria project. Find the agreement Green corridor agreement