| Financial Support
FUNDING INSTRUMENTS
TEN-T
Since the revision of Ten-T guidelines in 2004 ,Motorways of the Sea has become one of the 30 priority projects of the Ten-T programmed , The Ten -T programme provides financial support for infrastructure and facilities for Motorways of the Sea and for wider benefit actions ( co-financed up to 30% for cross-border sections and up to 20% for the other sections) and can also provide start –up aid ( limited to 2 years) and support for preparatory studies ( co-financed up to 50 % )
The multi-annual Ten-T work programme for period 2007-2013 includes a budget for Motorways of the Sea of €310 million, subject to revision 2010. It allows Motorways of the Sea projects ( at the end of each year over the period 2007-20012 ) with increasing budget availability until 2009-2010 in order to allow projects to mature before decreasing again through to the end of the financing period , The first Motorways of the Sea Ten-T call was issued at end of 2007.
Motorways of the Sea projects within the framework of Ten-T are selected in two stages. First, Member Stages issue a joint call to industry and public sector for proposal for Motorways of the Sea projects. Successful projects from these calls are then submitted for co-financing to the European Commission in the yearly Ten-T calls for Motorways of the Sea projects.
http://ec.europa.eu/ten/transport/actions/index_en.htm
Marco Polo 2
Marco Polo 2 provides financial support mainly for transport services and hence fully complements Ten-T, which focuses on infrastructure and facilities.
Motorways of the Sea are one of the five actions supported by Marco Polo 2 regulation. The funding intensity under Marco Polo 2 for Motorways of the sea actions can be up to 35% for a maximum of five years .In contrast with the Ten-T , no separate budget has been has been set aside for the Motorways of the Sea initiative. Consequently, all project proposal from the various actions compete for the same budget and funding priorities are determined in accordance with the Marco Polo evaluation criteria.
The Commission issues during the period 2007-20013 yearly calls for proposal for all Marco Polo projects; these are scheduled at the beginning of each year. These calls are issued to private undertakings.
Financing from Ten-T and Marco Polo can be combined for a single project.
Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds
The national strategic reference frameworks and operational programmes under the Structural and Cohesion funds are currently in the process of negotiation and adoption . A number of these programmes provide explicitly for support for the Motorways of the Sea .support from the Structural funds and the Cohesion fund s needs to dovetail with support from the Ten-T and Marco Polo programmes ,in particular so as to ensure that there is no double funding of the same component of the project from different programmes
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/marcopolo/index_en.htm
EIB (European Investment Bank) Support
EIB can provide support for Motorways of the Sea either through senior debt financing or through the Loan Guarantee instrument for Ten-T projects created jointly with the Commission . the latter can be beneficial for those components of the Motorways of the Sea projects whose financial viability is based on revenues ,tolls or other income paid by the users ,and which therefore may suffer if traffic level turns out lower than expected. The LGTT (Loan Guarantee Instrument for Trans-European Transport Network ) can be particularly relevant for Ten-T Motorways of the Sea projects with ‘near –investment ‘grade creditworthiness of the senior dept credit quality from near –investment grade which should result in reducing the cost of senior lending and making the project more appealing to potential investors.
http://www.eib.org/
State Aid
The 2004 Commnutiy guidelines on State aid to maritime transport, recognize that launching short sea shipping services may be accompanied by substantial difficulties which the Member States may wish to attenuate in bid to ensure the promotion of services that aim to improve the intermodal transport chain and to decongest roads . A number of the conditions are attached to this aid to Short Sea Shipping , in particular time limits ( three years ) and funding intensity ( either up to 30% of the operational cost of the service ,or up to 10 % of the investment in transshipment equipment) .It should be noted that, back in 2004 ,these conditions were consistent with Marco Polo and Ten-T and that the state aid guidelines do not distinguish between Short Sea Shipping in general and the Motorways of Sea.
Recognizing that the start up of a regular and frequent Motorways of the Sea services will face financial difficulties of a different order of magnitude from other Short Sea Shipping services , the European legislator has specifically increased the funding intensity and duration of Motorways of the Sea within the relevant Community support programmes , to up to five years with a funding intebsity of up to 35 % ( Marco Polo 2 ) and up to 30% for investment in infrastructure and facilities ( Ten –T)
In a view of the problems likely to be caused by the discrepancy in support for Motorways of the Sea ,within the relevant Community programmes State Aid guidelines when Member States also decide to support Motorways of the Sea projects through State aid ,the Commission services are currently looking at whether to harmonies the Community guidelines on State Aid to maritime transport with the more recent Marco Polo and Ten-T programmes .
Apart from the State aid to maritime transport ,State aid schemes have been put in place which indirectly support Short Sea Shipping . Italy , for example provides financial incentives to haulers for cargo transported by sea . Such initiatives help to make Motorways of the Sea a success and the Commissions services encourage Member States to discuss such programmes in a wider regional context with other interested Member States .
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/state_aid/overview/what_is_state_aid.html
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