On Tuesday 30 May, the Commission announced that it was authorising an Italian aid scheme worth €125 million to promote transport by sea.
The aim of the aid scheme is to encourage a shift in freight transport from road to a mode combining short sea shipping and road.
It is open to road hauliers transporting their goods by sea on eligible routes between an Italian port and another port in the European Economic Area.
The aid will partly cover the higher costs of sea transport journeys compared with road transport alone.
Beneficiaries will be able to receive a maximum of €0.30 per vehicle kilometre (a unit of measurement representing the movement of a vehicle over one kilometre) in the form of direct grants until 31 December 2027.
The Commission found that the aid complied with EU law on State aid and, more specifically, that the aid complied with Article 93 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which provides that aids meeting the “needs of coordination of transport or if they represent reimbursement for the discharge of certain obligations inherent in the concept of a public service” shall be compatible with the European Treaties. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)