CER: ‘CT Directive needs to reduce bureaucratic procedures for State aid’
The revision proposal for the Combined Transport Directive (CTD), part of the Greening Freight Transport Package (GFTP), was recently announced by the European Commission (EC). According to the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), the document still needs “additional provisions aimed at reducing red tape in State aid procedures for combined transport operations”.
More specifically, CER is asking to make public support for combined transport compatible with EU State aid rules. “This provision would significantly speed up the process and boost the market by making State aid accessible on average 3 years earlier compared to the current framework”, they underlined. In addition, CER is stressing that the CTD revision still requires significant changes to the Weight and Dimension Directive (WDD), another piece of the GFTP. Many in the industry agree that, for example, the CTD and WDD should be considered together as one.
The Combined Transport Directive
Unveiled on Tuesday 7 November in Bruxelles, the EC’s revision proposal of the CTD was welcomed by most industry players, who also acknowledged that there still is quite some work to do. One of the main points of the document is reducing combined transport costs. “We are setting Member States a target of cutting the monetary cost of combined transport operations by 10 per cent over the coming seven years. Our analysis has shown that this is the level of cost reduction required to create sufficient modal shift”, said Transport Commissioner Adina Valean.
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