b'24American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comEUROPE PORTSRail favored in EU in record transport infrastructure investment package& TRADE 2024 The EUs investing heavily in rail infrastructure as part of their overall infrastructure development strategy.By Stuart Todd, AJOTThe European Commission (EC)freight traffic by 2050.hasselected134transportprojectsTheEUfundingpackagehas to receive a record sum of over 7allocated additional subsidies of 700 billion (US$7.63 billion) in EU grantsmillion (US$763.01 million) towards from the Connecting Europe Facilitythedevelopmentofacross-border, (CEF),theEUsinstrumentforAlpine rail link between France and strategic investment in infrastructure.ItalytheTurin-Lyontunnelto This represents the largest call underenhancerailcapacityforpassenger the current CEF Transport program. and freight traffic.ItsaidthefundingwillsupportThemegaundertakingentailsthe projects that deliver on the EUs climateconstruction of two 57.5-km-long tubes objectives, improving and modernizingfor the Mont Cenis base tunnel and 48 Aerial view of Europes biggest port, the Port of Rotterdam theEUnetworkofrailways,inlandkm of safety and maintenance tunnels.waterways and maritime routes alongThe project is supported by public European ports evolvingthe Trans European Transport (TEN-T)authoritiesandeconomicplayersin Network. FranceandItaly,whoviewitasa This is the largest call under thesignificant opportunity to develop rail and multi-dimensional role current CEF Transport program. Thefreight and take many trucks plying selected projects will help transformtrans-Alpine routes off the roads.By Stuart Todd, AJOT Europestransportnetwork,making cleanertransportmodesmorer aIlI mpactsEuropes major ports have had totransition which is steadily dominatingefficient and attractive for passengersHowever, it does have detractors deal with the fall-out from the Red Seatheportlandscape.Newenergyandfreightwhileenhancingsafetyin both France and Italy who point to crisis on ocean shipping since the endsources and related commodities areacross the TEN-T, commented Wopketheraillinksimpactonthenatural of last yearchaos and disruption tobeing handled in Europes ports. TheseHoekstra, Commissioner For Climateenvironmentwhileitsprojected schedules and the congestion createdcomewithspecifictransportneeds,Action, with responsibility for Transport. investmentcostsareperceivedas when ships finally make it to harbor. infrastructureadaptionsandnewRailprojectswillreceivetheexorbitantandsubjecttoconstant Amorefundamentalchallengeconnectivities (both maritime and tolions share (80%) of the 7 billionupward revision.is having to adapt to radical changethe hinterland), storage requirements(US$7.63 billion), a reflection of theTELT (Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin), intheiroperatingenvironmentandand new supply chains. Commissionsfixedobjective,setthe Franco-Italian public company set up adopt new functions on top of theirWhileinvestmentsinenergyout in its 2020 Sustainable and Smartin2015tomanagetheproject,recently traditional role of multimodal logisticstransition and sustainability accountedPOH_127_x_203_.qxp_(AJOT)17.02.2416:34Seite 1 (FAVOREDcontinued on page 27)hubsservinginternationaltradeandfor less than 10% in 2018, the shareMobilityStrategy,todoublerail supply chains and connecting the seahad increased to almost 25% by 2023.with hinterlands. Acloserlookatthedifferent Portsarenowalsohubsandtypesofprojectswithinthiscategory facilitatorsofsustainableenergy,showsthatalargeportioninvolves clustersofindustryandthecircularinvestments in infrastructure and services economy, as well as important pillarsrelatedtotheenergytransitionofthe ofgeo-politicalandgeo-economiceconomy, another large share consists resilience,accordingtoastudyofinvestmentsininfrastructureand preparedfortheEuropeanSeaPortfacilities for reducing the environmental Organisation (ESPO), in cooperationfootprint of shipping while a smaller withportsandlogisticsconsultant,share concerns investments to reduce Peter de Langen. theenvironmentalfootprintofport operations.s ocIetally -r esponsIBlep rojects Whilecontainertrafficremains Entitled,Portinvestmentsstudya key segment in port expansion, its 2024:theinvestmentpipelineandprominence diminished in 2023 when challengesofEuropeanports,itcompared to 2018, the study finding serves as an update of previous EPSO- thatgeneraltradegrowthwasless commissioned research in 2018. importantaninvestmentdriverlast The evolving and multi-dimensionalyear than energy transition.role of Europes ports is reflected inccss horep oWer g reen HAMBURGtheinvestmentpipeline,thenew study notes. h ydrogenitNexttospendingondevelopingisEuropes biggest port, RotterdamYOUR PORTbasicportinfrastructureandkeepingat the forefront of decarbonization state-of-the-art,portauthoritiesareandenergytransitioninitiatives. investing more and more in projects ofAprimeexampleistheCarbon astrategicandsocietally-responsibleCaptureandStorage(CCS)project, natureandwhichcontributetowardsnamed Porthos, which makes provisionglobal achieving Europes ambitions. However,forsome37milliontonnesofCO2transPORT this often implies projects with slow, lowtobetransportedfromindustrialsolutionsand risky returns on investment. companiesbasedintheportand Theprimeexampleisenergy(ROLEcontinued on page 26)Europes second-biggest port, Antwerp-Bruges'