ShortSeaShipping Inland Waterway Promotion Center
The ShortSeaShipping Inland Waterway Promotion Center Germany (SPC Germany) is a public-private partnership advisory institution based in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) in Bonn. The SPC is operated by the Association for the Promotion of Short Sea Shipping eV based in Hamburg. The publicly co-financed non-profit organization is part of a Europe-wide SPC network that was initiated by the European Commission with the aim of strengthening alternative modes of transport and primarily inland waterway and shortsea traffic . The SPC provides information on intra-European ship and rail freight transports as well as handling options within the framework of multimodal transport chains. The intention is a greater transparency of the market offer and the systemic possibilities of water- or rail-bound goods transport and the resulting greater use of these modes of transport.
organization structure
Sponsorship
The legal sponsor and operator of the SPC Germany is the Association for the Promotion of Short Sea Shipping eV (VFKSV). The association was founded on May 9, 2001 and is entered in the Hamburg register of associations. The SPC began its operational work on July 2, 2001 in the premises of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure ( BMVI ) in Bonn. According to the statutes of the VFKSV, the SPC acts neutrally and independently of companies and ports.
Members
The SPC is based on a Public Private Partnership (PPP), which is now supported by over 60 public and private members. This includes:
- the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI);
- the federal states of Baden-Württemberg , Bavaria , Bremen , Hamburg , Hesse , Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Lower Saxony , North Rhine-Westphalia , Rhineland-Palatinate , Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein
- Ports and port handling companies;
- Shipping companies, ship brokers, railroad companies and freight forwarders;
- Industrial and commercial enterprises;
- Associations of the German port industry
Board of Directors and Advisory Board
The board of directors and the advisory board preside over the SPC as controlling bodies. The members of both bodies come from the membership of the VFKSV and act on a voluntary basis. The board is elected by the general meeting and consists of the chairman, his deputy and three other responsible persons. The advisory board is composed of born advisory board members (federal and state) as well as elected advisory board members. The task of the advisory board is to provide technical advice and support to the board.
European Shortsea Network
At the European level, the SPC Germany is connected to the SPC offices of almost all EU27 countries via the European Shortsea Network (ESN) . The network was initiated with funding from the European Commission and includes organizations in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia , Sweden, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and Cyprus. (Status 10/2010) The main task of the ESN organization group is to strengthen short sea shipping (short sea shipping, coasters ) in Europe through an intensive dialogue with the European Commission / DG TREN . The European network makes an important contribution to the realization of cross-border water and rail transport within the EU27 countries through the technical exchange of the SPC and the overcoming of cultural and linguistic barriers.
Framework conditions / development of traffic
A country's transport infrastructure is the property of the national economy and must be expanded with taxpayers' money in the event of infrastructural bottlenecks. Since road freight traffic in particular has increased sharply since the 1970s, the traffic infrastructure in this area is particularly busy and also shows an investment backlog, as the financial requirements for expansion and maintenance measures cannot be fully covered by the responsible ministry. The reason for this is insufficient tax revenue. The situation on the streets in Germany and Europe will only get worse. According to an estimate by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, the volume of road freight transport will increase from almost 1.5 billion tons in 2004 to 2.2 billion tons in 2025. This corresponds to a growth of 55 percent. That is why those responsible for transport policy are making efforts to correct the imbalance in the use of infrastructures that has arisen in recent decades and to make greater use of free capacities on inland waterways, sea and railways for freight traffic. The SPC supports this transport policy goal with its activities.
tasks
In the guidelines of the VFKSV, the promotion of short sea shipping and inland waterway transport within the framework of intra-European intermodal transport chains is defined as the main task. The SPC performs this task with advisory activities and public relations work. It is committed to strict port and corporate neutrality.
Practical advice
The SPC provides information about providers for the design of multimodal transport chains, analyzes shipment structures for relocatable flows of goods and advises on the planning and implementation of logistical projects, which primarily include the transport modes sea and inland waterway.
public relation
As part of its public relations work, the SPC provides the press and members of the Public Private Partnership with industry-specific information and organizes specialist events with decision-makers from politics, industry, trade and freight forwarding. Fixed components of public relations work are also specialist lectures at chambers of industry and commerce as well as educational institutions, as well as participation in trade fairs and congresses. The SPC is also represented in social media and publishes a weekly newsletter and a quarterly in-house information magazine to advertise activities and events in inland and shortsea shipping.
Initial and continuing education
Another objective of the SPC is to sensitize the next generation of logistics staff to multimodal logistics concepts. Courses at universities and technical colleges serve to expand system knowledge so that alternative transport options can be dealt with openly. The focus of knowledge transfer is on the potentials, system advantages and obstacles of inland waterways, sea and railways, which are often illustrated by best practice examples. With the publication of the "Master Plan Inland Shipping" by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure in May 2019, the SPC was also involved in the area of recruiting young people for the waterway system.
Recommendations to politics
Due to its membership structure, the SPC is very close to politics and acts as a link between market events and the political level. SPC also prepares analyzes, surveys and potential assessments on topics such as the national port concept or the contribution to the action plan for coastal motor shipping within the framework of the Federal Government's Freight Transport and Logistics Action Plan.
aims
The basic aim of the SPC is the national implementation of European traffic and climate targets in the field of freight traffic, taking economic efficiency into account. This goal is to be achieved through the following measures:
- better use of existing transport infrastructures;
- Promotion of environmentally friendly modes of transport;
- Development of multimodal transport chains;
- Reducing greenhouse gases.
Flanked by politics, the SPC works with industry participants from industry, trade and freight forwarding to develop intermodal logistics approaches for European loads.
Individual evidence
- ^ Articles of Association of the VFKSV of September 2010, Section 2, Paragraphs 3 and 4
- ^ BMVI - ShortSeaShipping Inland Waterway Promotion Center (SPC). Retrieved March 30, 2020 .
- ^ Members list
- ↑ a b Traffic forecast up to 2025 ( memento of the original from January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Minister Tiefensee presents national port concept
- ↑ The Federal Government's Freight Transport and Logistics Action Plan ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
