The European Commission will present its ‘European Ports Strategy’ on Wednesday 4 March (see EUROPE 13800/1). Several of these elements, which Agence Europe was able to obtain in advance, are in line with the requests of the World Shipping Council (WSC).
Damian Viccars, the WSC’s Director of European Government Affairs, speaking to Agence Europe on Monday 2 March, stressed the importance of securing maritime supply chains against organised crime and serious trafficking activities, particularly drug trafficking. In his view, this should involve the exchange of information between authorities in the sector and the strengthening of public-private partnership models, both of which are included in the proposal.
“Criminal networks operate on a global scale. They adapt quickly, so prevention efforts and anti-trafficking networks need to be just as dynamic and international to keep pace”, he warned. “Public-private partnerships are essential, as it is the combination of commercial data available to industry with law enforcement intelligence and their ability to monitor shipments that offers huge potential for tackling crime along supply chains. And we don’t want this potential to be under-exploited”, he argued.
According to the document, the Commission will draw up European guidelines for the efficient sharing of data in the transport chain. By 2027, work should be underway on the two-way exchange of information between customs and maritime logistics companies, as well as on the exchange of data between private players on drug trafficking within the framework of anti-trust instruments. The future EU Customs Authority (EUCA) (see EUROPE 13816/21) and its common data centre (DataHub) (see EUROPE 13806/23) will use customs data to improve risk analysis and fight crime.
Security in relation to third countries. According to the text, the strategy must anticipate, deter and mitigate risks and reduce strategic dependencies. This includes limiting ownership, control and operation by high-risk suppliers, preventing access by high-risk entities to EU-supported actions and developing reliable suppliers of critical sub-components.
To ensure harmonised implementation, the Commission will draw up guidelines including criteria for assessing foreign investment. This will include a systematic classification and risk assessment of ports, port terminals, port service providers, operators, workers and energy companies in ports according to their role in critical supply chains or military mobility. A framework for mapping and monitoring foreign investment in EU ports will also be put in place.
In line with the proposed Regulation on Military Mobility (see EUROPE 13810/23), Member States should put in place stricter rules on ownership and control of strategic dual-use infrastructure and related operations and equipment, and should mitigate and address existing risks related to foreign ownership and control, in addition to the regulation on screening foreign direct investments.
In this context, ports should be subject to an in-depth assessment by the Member State in order to mitigate the risks associated with foreign ownership, operational control and equipment from high-risk suppliers. In addition, Member States must put in place frameworks to ensure rapid access to critical transport resources where alternative measures, such as outsourcing, cannot be mobilised within the required timeframe.
Short-sea shipping. “Trading by sea both with and within Europe remains much more administratively complex than it should be”, lamented Mr Viccars. He believes that transporting goods within the EU should be as easy by land as by sea. However, in the latter case, goods are “subject to all the constraints associated with the EU’s external borders”. “The EU Maritime Single Window is meant to deliver a once-only submission environment across the EU. Many years of work have gone into it. It was lobbied for quite vigorously by WSC”, he observed.
To remedy this situation, the Commission plans to ask the Coordinator for the European Maritime Space (EMS) to prioritise the development of sustainable and green short sea shipping links, facilitate dialogue and collaboration between ports, with a specific focus on smaller ports, on the upgrade of maritime infrastructure, and aim for seamless integration of ports with rail and inland waterway transport.
Read the document: https://aeur.eu/f/kzs (Original version in French by Anne Damiani, with Solenn Paulic)