15th Anniversary marks a new start for EFIP

From 15 till 17 October the members of EFIP gathered in Mantova to join EFIP's General Assembly meeting.

Created in 1994, EFIP, the European Federation representing nearly 200 inland ports in 18 countries from the European Union, Moldova, Switzerland and Ukraine, is celebrating its 15th Anniversary.

This 15th Anniversary means a new start for EFIP. In spring EFIP decided to set up a joined office with the European Sea ports Organisation. At the same time, EFIP's secretariat was completely renewed.

At the General Assembly meeting in Mantova, EFIP's new Director gave a first overview of achievements and presented her working programme for the next year to the EFIP members.
"I believe we can conclude that EFIP is fully operational again. During the General Assembly meeting, Isabelle Ryckbost presented a working programme that reflects very well the priorities of the inland ports at the moment. The new director attaches a lot of importance to linking the ports themselves to the instructions and increase the visibility of the inland ports. We can only welcome that" stated EFIP's President Willy Robijns.

Furthermore a discussion was held on the internalisation of external costs of transport. Isabelle Ryckbost summarizes the position of EFIP as follows "EFIP wants to participate actively in this debate. We see in a step by step approach the best way to unlock this difficult dossier.

We should start with some externalities and work on the basis of pilot projects.
The internalisation should only relate to transport and aims above all at making the different transport modes more comparable".

Furthermore, the General Assembly welcomed the Port of Ghent (Belgium) as a new EFIP member.

For The CEO of the port of Ghent, Daan Schalck, it is very natural to join EFIP: "The upcoming Seine-Nord project, offers plenty of opportunities for the port of Ghent. Being an intermodal nodal point, Ghent has very good hinterland links via IWT, rail, pipelines en the road. With 20 million throughput by IWT, Ghent is in fact an important inland port. Moreover promoting sustainable transport is one of Ghent's main goals. A reason more to join EFIP."

Finally the EFIP members agreed to nominate a third Vice President, who will represent the Eastern and Central European countries. Mrs Carmen Costache, President of the Romanian Inland Ports, was elected for this function.

By welcoming the European inland ports, Mantova proves to attach a lot of importance to networking. Province of Mantova's Vice-president Claudio Camocardi confirms: "Mantova has proven to be able to work in network at several levels, not only within EFIP, but also at national level. Mantova promoted together with other local organisations a "coordination agreement of the northern Italy waterway system", that held its first formal assembly in parallel with this General Assembly of EFIP. Even if inland waterway transport is not constantly present on the national political agenda, a bottom -up approach and network of port authorities and regional agencies is boosting.

The first result was the successful submission of a project under the TEN-T call for proposals, so that EU funds will contribute to the infrastructural development of the IWW."
On Friday afternoon, EFIP members visited Mantova's port area by boat.
 
We have discovered a port that is developing itself into an eco-compatible trimodal logistic pole, able to boast competitiveness and ensure environmental sustainability. The port of Mantova serves and lies on the one hand beside the Chemical pole area, an economically strategic area implying however a great effort for environmental prevention and recovery from historical pollution. On the other hand Mantova's port
area lies beside the Natural Park of the Mincio River with the protected area Vallazze, so important for its naturalistic biodiversity and beauty. It is a challenge for Mantova to develop a sustainable but competitive port and it seems that Mantova will be able to meet this challenge and become a real Eco-port", States EFIP's President after the visit.
The port visit was combined with a short conference where representatives of the European Parliament and the European Commission inform EFIP and its members about current developments in EU transport policy of interest to inland ports. Belgian liberal MEP Dirk Sterckx spoke about the activities of the new Parliament and the cooperation between sea ports and inland ports in the framework of the "maritime space without frontiers" concept. His intervention was followed by an update on the implementation of the TEN-T priority projects and a preview of the Danube Strategy by Cesare Bernabei, Policy Coordinator
for inland waterway transport projects in the European Commission and right hand of European Coordinator, Karla Peijs. Finally, Roberto Ferravante, DG Transport, Deputy Head of Unit, of the DG TREN Unit dealing with logistics, co-modality, inland waterways and motorways of the sea & Marco Polo gave an outline of the latest developments in the field of logistics.

Paolo Costa, former President of the Transport Committee of the European Parliament and Chairman of the Port of Venice, was the central guest of the dinner on 16 October. On 17 October a visit to the Port of Venice will conclude this two day meeting.

Source: www.transportweekly.com