The paper was presented at the Polish Logistics Congress “Logistics 2004 – Logistics networks in the integrated European market”. Poznań, May 19-21, 2004.
The article attempts to identify directions for promoting alternative modes of transport in Europe and Poland in order to curb the dynamic growth of road freight. It discusses the European Commission’s recommendations regarding the development of intermodal transport. It presents the structure and volume of intermodal transport in Europe. Furthermore, it attempts to forecast intermodal transport in Poland and outlines the fundamental undertakings necessary for the development of intermodal transport in Poland.
Introduction
The situation in the intermodal transport market in Europe and the layout and structure of relationships between its main participants can be presented as follows:
• in European Union countries, there is no single, centralized organizational structure that would perform the functions of organizing and managing intermodal transport operations, which is obvious given the need to comply with the principles of free and fair competition;
• a leading role in organizing intermodal transport is played by National Intermodal Transport Companies, which act as intermodal transport operators and are simultaneously members of the UIRR (International Union of combined Road – Rail transport companies); these companies, by purchasing transport services from railways, organize and supervise rail services on terminal-to-terminal routes;
• the road haulier is responsible for acquiring shipments, transporting goods from the loading point to the terminal, and organizing their delivery from the destination terminal to the recipient using their own fleet or the fleet of partners.
Proper cooperation between rail and road transport is the basis for the success of intermodal transport operators, in accordance with the fundamental principle that combined transport will only be able to develop if the interests of both road and rail transport are taken into account.
Ways of supporting intermodal transport by the European Commission
The European Commission will undertake many actions, both legislative and initiating (including co-financing), aimed at supporting the development of intermodal transport in Europe. Recognizing that it is purposeful and fully justified to continue promoting modes of transport alternative to road, the Commission launched a new program in 2003 for a period of 7 years with an annual budget of approx. 30 million euros, called Marco Polo (the successor to the PACT program), which, by promoting intermodality, is intended to be open to all proposals and projects aimed at shifting freight from road transport to alternative and more environmentally friendly modes and technologies of transport: rail, short sea shipping, inland waterway transport, and combined transport.
According to the European Commission, achieving significant structural changes in the freight market in accordance with the recommended principle of sustainable transport development will be possible through the implementation of a package of the following measures promoting the shift of a portion of freight from road transport to rail and combined transport:
1) significant improvement in the efficiency and quality of rail services, including primarily the elimination of delays in the operation of block freight trains and increasing the reliability and frequency of rail services, especially those provided in the intermodal transport system;
2) ensuring rail interoperability in an international layout by eliminating existing technical, operational, and organizational bottlenecks in international rail freight transport;
3) improving partnerships and cooperation between train operators and rail infrastructure operators, and between them and intermodal transport operators;
4) improving rail operation costs and ensuring price flexibility;
5) ensuring long-term financing for rail infrastructure investments;
6) introducing effective and consistent taxes and charges for heavy goods vehicles;
7) effective implementation of basic regulations concerning road freight transport, especially regarding weight limits, safety, driving times, and drivers’ work and rest periods, with simultaneous verification of the procedures and sanctions applied.
However, one must be aware that without any external assistance, railways will not be able to win the competitive battle against road transport. EU experts emphasize that railways will not become a modern mode of transport for the new century unless conditions are created for their full and real liberalization, and unless rail transport, and consequently combined transport, receive the necessary assistance.
The full article in PDF format.