Brussels, 08/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has authorised a package of aid measures notified by the Italian region of Sicily for the restructuring of road haulage and the development of combined transport. The innovative scheme will be in force for three years with a budget of approximately EUR 35,000,000. The objective of the scheme is to promote road-sea combined transport services on long-distance routes between ports in Sicily and other Italian and Community ports. The scheme is conceived as a pilot project with an experimental character: it aims at achieving a structural modification of the current freight system in Sicily, encouraging road hauliers, in particular smaller companies, to form organisational groups to make better use of combined road-sea transport. It consists in granting an 'environmental bonus' for the shipping of individual heavy goods vehicles of more than 12 tonnes or semi-trailers. The aid will be granted to loaded and empty trucks travelling both into and out of Sicilian ports, with the exception of lorries shipped on maritime services crossing the Strait of Messina. Undertakings already engaged in combined road-sea transport operations and those currently operating combined road-rail transport will be excluded from the measure. In the light of the specific geographical and economic situation of Sicily, the difficulties in organising the intermodal transport market and the experimental character of the measure, the Commission considers this scheme to be compatible with EU state aid rules.