Analysis of the External Costs of Selected Short Sea Shipping Vessels against the Road Alternative

According to the midterm review of the EU White Paper on Transport, Short Sea Shipping is expected to grow at a rate of 59%, in metric tones, from 2000 to 2020. We consider that the overall expected growth in freight exchanges is of 50% (also in volume) sea transport is one of the most feasible ways to reduce traffic congestion on European roads. However its clear adoption as a transport alternative has not been definitely carried out by several reasons. There are identified technical, administrative and legal reasons, but the society understands the maritime transport still as a slow and low efficient transport mode, not seen as a real alternative at all. As shippers has not find always the most satisfactory service nor the best price that could motivate a modal shift. There is the need for balance the infrastructures, using tariff principles based on the necessity for reflect the exact external costs generated by the different infrastructures, the EU published in 1998 the White Paper on Fair Payment for Infrastructure Use: A Phased Approach to a Common Transport Infrastructure Charging Framework in the EU COM (1998) 466. This article will analyze on selected multimodal transport chains, the pollutant emissions of different powered ships compared with the ones of their road alternative. These pollutant emissions will be translated to environmental costs, based on existing quantification databases. In some cases the maritime transport gets savings in those costs against the truck, what would justify a kind of environmental bonus to be used by the administration to promote the sea option. The paper will conclude briefly discussing how to best implement the bonus for getting a real transport mode balance.