The European Sea Ports Organisation adopted last week its official response to the European Commission’s new communication on ports policy. The communication was published by the European Commission three weeks ago and is the result of an intensive stakeholder consultation.
“We welcome the Commission’s new ports policy.” said ESPO Chairman Giuliano Gallanti, “It generally reflects the balanced picture that emerged from the stakeholder dialogue. Its broad perspective and its general focus on soft law measures and instruments meet with our expectations.”
ESPO also welcomes the fact that the Commission is not seeking to develop interventionist measures which would alter distribution of traffic across Europe. The European port scene is becoming more diverse in terms of the number of ports involved and the scope of port functions and services, leading to more routing options for shippers. ESPO therefore concludes that the market, in combination with policies of regional and national authorities, is largely capable of finding its own solutions.
ESPO especially appreciates the Commission’s recognition of the pivotal role of port authorities, notably with regard to the use of concessions. “Defined in the broad sense, concessions are very useful governance instruments for public landlord port authorities and often the only tools they have at their disposal to protect the legitimate interests of their ports.” said Mr. Gallanti, “The interpretation given by the Commission broadly corresponds with the principles we believe port authorities should apply when granting concessions, for instance as regards selection criteria, durations as well as performance and ownership clauses.” Mr. Gallanti added that ESPO will undertake a study as to how European port authorities are currently using concession instruments. This may lead to further comments and initiatives at a later stage.
ESPO finally looks forward to continuing the constructive dialogue with the services of the Commission and other stakeholder organisations on the instruments and measures which are announced in the communication. ESPO is particularly interested in contributing to guidelines on the application of Community environmental legislation to port development and State aid guidelines. “We encourage the Commission to produce both before the end of 2008”, said Mr. Gallanti who also referred to further action of ESPO in the field of logistics, administrative simplification, port performance indicators, port-city relations and competition with ports from neighbouring non-EU countries.