INTERMODADRIA

 INTERMODADRIA (project title: Supporting intermodal transport solutions in the Adriatic area)
Lead partner:  Marche region, P.F. Main Communication Infrastructures and mobility
State: Italy
Start: 02/2013; End: 06/2015
Months: 29
Total budget: 2.508.000,00 €
11 partners from: Albania, Bosna and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbija, Slovenia.

The ports of the Medium and Lower adriatic macro-region are a relevant asset to connect this geographical area with the main economic centres at European and International level. One of the main example are the ferry lines linking the Western Greece, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania with the ports of Ancona and Bari in Italy, representing a tangible proof of the economic ties across the programme area. These services, as well as the container feeder services linking the different Adriatic ports with the main hubs in the Western and Southern MED, represent a strong contribution to the greening of freight transport. However, the impact of the global crisis on the national economies of the area and on the maritime transport in general is reducing the attractiveness of these services compared to the pure road transport solutions. Even if the port of Igoumenitsa is today well served by the “via Egnatia” highway, the development of the railways infrastructural network serving the ports of Ancona, Bari, Durres, Bar, and the Croatian ports (with the exception of Rijeka), and linking them to the EU TEN-T network has just been concluded or is ongoing. Building the infrastructure is only one of the steps for the activation of intermodal services; the costs of the modal change, the lower flexibility of maritime and railways transport compared to road and the different regulatory frameworks make difficult the activation of intermodal corridors across the Adriatic. Therefore there is the need for coordinated actions of the relevant public bodies in the areas involved in the project to support the implemented investments, to increase the competitiveness of the short sea shipping and to strengthen the attractiveness of intermodal transport solutions.

The support to the development of intermodal transport solutions in the area covered by the project has a strong impact on the whole programme area, that can be expressed in terms of reduction of the heavy road traffic and related negative externalities (pollution, congestion), territorial competitiveness and reduction of the risk of marginalization for the local economies.

The project objective is the improvement of the integration of the short sea shipping transport in the logistics chains crossing the Adriatic sea, and more specifically the provision of the best environment for the activation on intermodal railsea transport services between the ports and their own hinterlands. Currently, the Adriatic ports have different level of accessibility to the inland transport infrastructures: even if the ports and the national governments have undertaken significant investments to increase the railways accessibility and the connection to the national railways network, not all the ports will be served in the present and medium term by railways services and infrastructures. Therefore, a clear picture on the available infrastructures and policy framework for intermodality must be provided to avoid the risk that the lack of modal alternative in one of the shores involves the choice of the road transport also on the other one where modal alternatives have been developed. The project therefore supports the implemented or ongoing infrastructural investments to promote intermodal transport by the joint definition of a set of outputs to improve the market, policy and regulatory conditions for intermodality.

The project activities will provide a contribution “from the bottom” addressed to the national and European Institutions on actions on the priority areas of intervention as defined by the White paper of transport of the EU Commission, as:

- Incentives for the modal shift form road to rail for maritime freight to/from the hinterland areas;

- Enhanced integration of short sea shipping in the logistics chain;

- Support to the promotion of quality jobs in ports, to increase the attractiveness of port professional profiles, avoiding the risk of lack of skilled and qualified workforce.