Trans-European transport network: seaports, inland ports, intermodal terminals and project No 8

PURPOSE: to clarify the position of seaports, inland ports and intermodal terminals in the trans-European transport Network (TEN). COMMUNITY MEASURE: Decision 1346/2001/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision No 1692/96/EC as regards seaports, inland ports and intermodal terminals as well as project No 8 in Annex III. CONTENT: the aim of the decision s to clarify and strengthen the position of seaports, inland ports and intermodal terminals in the TEN-T. The identification of these interconnection points in the TEN-T shall improve the co-ordination of the development of the infrastructure in general, and of the projects of common interest in particular. It should also help public and private sectors to take decisions in terms of long term investment. The decision provides a certain level of selection in order to ensure a coherent development and co-ordination of the Ten-T. Seaports shall permit the development of sea transport and shall constitute shipping links for islands and the points of interconnection between sea transport and other modes of transport. They shall provide equipment and services to transport operators. Their infrastructure shall provide a range of services for passenger and goods transport, including ferry services and short- and long-distance shipping services, including coastal shipping, within the Community and between the latter and non-member countries. The seaports included in the network shall correspond to one of the categories, A, B or C, defined below: a) international seaports: ports with a total annual traffic volume of not less than 1,5 million tonnes of freight or 200 000 passengers which, unless it is an impossibility, are connected with the overland elements of the trans-European transport network and therefore play a major role in international maritime transport; b) Community seaports, not included in category A: these ports have a total annual traffic volume of not less than 0,5 million tonnes of freight or between 100000 and 199999 passengers, are connected, unless it is an impossibility, with the overland elements of the trans-European transport network and are equipped with the necessary transhipment facilities for short-distance sea shipping; c) regional ports: these ports do not meet the criteria of categories A and B but are situated in island, peripheral or outermost regions, interconnecting such regions by sea and/or connecting them with the central regions of the Community. The trans-European combined transport network shall comprise: - railways and inland waterways which are suitable for combined transport and shipping which, combined where appropriate with the shortest possible initial and/or terminal road haulage, permit the long-distance transport of goods, - intermodal terminals equipped with installations permitting transhipment between railways, inland waterways, shipping routes and roads, - suitable rolling stock, on a provisional basis, where the characteristics of the infrastructure, as yet unadapted, so require." Projects of common interest must relate solely to infrastructure open to any user on a non-discriminatory basis. In addition to projects relating to the connections and inlandports mentioned in Annex I, projects of common interest will be deemed to include any infrastructure project corresponding to one or more of the following categories: 1) access to the port from waterways; 2) port infrastructure inside the port area; 3) other transport infrastructures inside the port area; 4) other transport infrastructures linking the port to other elements of the trans-European network. It should be noted that the Project No 8 in the list from the Essen European Council should be the multimodal link between Portugal and Spain and the rest of Europe. ENTRY INTO FORCE : 09/07/01�