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Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, noted: “Once more the European Commission makes significant funding available from its TEN-T programme to boost transport infrastructure in the European Union. I am very proud to give the green light today to these projects which will not only positively affect the lives of our citizens in the near future, but which will also widen the basis of the EU’s future transport infrastructure for years to come.”

The 2011 Multi-Annual Programme Call granted €161.3 million in total funding and aimed to finance the highest priorities of the TEN-T network, focusing on three fields:

• Motorways of the Sea (MoS – TEN-T Priority Project 21), providing viable alternatives for congested roads by shifting freight to sea routes – 7 projects selected, €47.8 million in funding
• River Information Services (RIS), involving traffic management infrastructure on the inland waterway network – 4 projects selected, €10.2 million in funding
• European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) – 15 projects selected, €103.3 million in funding

The TEN-T Executive Agency, which is entrusted with the financial and project management of the TEN-T programme, received 47 eligible proposals. 26 of these were selected, after a meticulous selection procedure, as the ones best meeting the criteria set out in the 2011 Multi-Annual Call, which was published on 28 June 2011.

The selected projects, whose objectives range from improving viable, regular and reliable sea-based transport services in Motorways of the Sea to equipping trains and lines with the most advanced version of ERTMS, involve 21 Member States. The grants will also help to mobilise substantial public and private financing.

The projects will be managed by the TEN-T Executive Agency, under the parentage of Directorate General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission.

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European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: “Transport is fundamental to an efficient EU economy, but vital connections are currently missing. Europe’s railways have to use 7 different gauge sizes and only 20 of our major airports and 35 of our major ports are directly connected to the rail network. Without good connections Europe will not grow or prosper.”

The new policy follows a two-year consultation process and establishes a core transport network to be established by 2030 to act as the backbone for transportation within the Single Market. The financing proposals published (for the period 2014–2020) also tightly focus EU transport funding on this core transport network, filling in cross-border missing links, removing bottlenecks and making the network smarter.

The new core TEN-T network will be supported by a comprehensive network of routes, feeding into the core network at regional and national level. This will largely be financed by Member States, with some EU transport and regional funding possibilities, including with new innovative financing instruments. The aim is to ensure that progressively, and by 2050, the great majority of Europe’s citizens and businesses will be no more than 30 minutes’ travel time from this comprehensive network.

Taken as a whole, the new transport network will deliver: safer and less congested travel as well as smoother and quicker journeys.

The 31.7 billion euros allocated to transport under the Connecting Europe Facility of the MFF (Multi-Annual Financial Framework) will effectively act as “seed capital” to stimulate further investment by Member States to complete difficult cross-border connections and links which might not otherwise get built. Every 1 million euros spent at European level will generate 5 million from Member State governments and 20 million from the private sector.

Maps showing the core TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network) for 2030 as well as the major implementing corridors for the financing period 2014–2020 are attached.

Background:

The new policy sets out a much smaller and more tightly defined transport network for Europe. Its aim is to focus spending on a smaller number of projects where real EU added value can be realised. Member States will also face more rigorous requirements in terms of common specifications which will work cross-border, and legal obligations actually to complete the project.

The TEN-T network consists of two layers: a core network to be completed by 2030 and a comprehensive network feeding into this, to be completed by 2050. The comprehensive network, will ensure full coverage of the EU and accessibility of all regions. The core network will prioritize the most important links and nodes of the TEN-T, to be fully functional until 2030. Both layers include all transport modes: road, rail, air, inland waterways and maritime transport, as well as intermodal platforms.

The TEN-T guidelines set common requirements for the TEN-T infrastructure – with tougher requirements for the core network. This will ensure fluent transport operations throughout the network. The policy also fosters the implementation of traffic management systems which will allow optimising the use of infrastructure and by increasing efficiency, to reduce CO2 emissions.

The implementation of the core network will be facilitated using a corridor approach. Ten corridors will provide the basis for the co-ordinated development of infrastructure within the core network. Covering at least 3 modes, 3 Member States and 2 cross-border sections, these corridors will bring together the Member States concerned, as well as the relevant stakeholders, for example infrastructure managers and users.

Click on the following link for more information:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/11/706&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en

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Moreover, attention is drawn to the adoption on 23 March 2012 by the Council of the European Union of Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 concerning restrictive measures against Iran and repealing Regulation (EU) No 961/2010.

The attention of the shipping community is drawn in particular, to provisions involving the transportation of crude oil, petroleum products and petrochemical products if they originate in Iran or are being exported form Iran to any other country. The prohibitions outlined above shall be without prejudice to the execution, until 1 July 2012, of contracts concluded before 23 January 2012 or transport of crude oil or petroleum products which had been exported from Iran prior to 23 January 2012. Any notification to perform a contract in lieu of Regulation (EU) No 267/2012 shall be made to the relevant competent authority.

To this effect, companies established in Malta or operating Maltese ships are required to abide by these restrictive measures when planning their operations and, to extend their full cooperation for their enforcement. Moreover, the shipping community is reminded that without prejudice to the penalties for violations contemplated in Legal Notice 372 of 2010, the use of Maltese ships in contravention to the restrictive measures may lead to closure of registry.

The electronic version of the above-mentioned Council Regulation can be downloaded from:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:088:0001:0112:EN:PDF

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This insurance shall cover maritime claims subject to limitation under the 1996 LLMC. The amount of the insurance for each and every ship per incident shall be equal to the relevant maximum amount for the limitation of liability as laid down in the 1996 Convention. The insurance needs to be in place at the latest when the ship enters a Member State’s port and the existence thereof shall be proved by means of a certificate, issued by its provider and carried onboard the ship.

Member States’ Port State Control inspectors can check whether this insurance is in place or not and they have, in the latter case, the right to expel the ship, in which case access to the ship will be denied in other Member States’ ports until a relevant insurance certificate has been notified. Furthermore, the Directive also imposes penalties upon a hip owner in case of breach.

Source: BIMCO Bulletin 2012 Volume 107

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The annual work programme has a high degree of flexibility to address new demands of projects of common interest which focus on TEN-T priorities, This year’s calls focuses on five distinct priorities:

Priority 1: Promote the development of an integrated and multi-modal transport system (indicative budget: €25 million)

Priority 2: Promote infrastructure development contributing to mitigation and adaptation to climate change and reducing transport’s impact on the environment (indicative budget: €35 million)

Priority 3: Accelerate/facilitate the implementation of TEN-T projects (indicative budget: €100 million)

Priority 4: Support Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and innovative financial instruments (indicative budget: €15 million)

Priority 5: Support the long term implementation of the TEN-T network, in particular the development of corridors that enable a coordinated implementation of the network (indicative budget: €25 million)

The TEN-T Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) manages the overall technical and financial implementation of the TEN-T programme, on behalf of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport. This means the Agency is responsible for the management of the calls for proposals as well as the external evaluation of project proposals submitted.

TEN-T EA will host an Info Day on 31 January 2012 in Brussels to help potential applicants better understand the call priorities, prepare their proposals and learn about the evaluation process.

The deadline for submitting proposals is 13 April 2012. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of their relevance to the TEN-T priorities and policy objectives, their maturity, their impact – in particular socio-economic and environmental – and their quality in terms of completeness, clarity, soundness and coherence.

More information:

http://tentea.ec.europa.eu/en/apply_for_funding/follow_the_funding_process/annual_call_2011.htm

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1. A merchant vessel both at the time that is being registered as a Maltese ship and during the period of its registration under the Malta flag must be classed with a classification society authorised to issue statutory certificates on behalf of the Government of Malta.

2. Effective from 1 January 2012 the list of these classification societies has been revised as follows:

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Bureau Veritas (BV)
China Classification Society (CCS)
ClassNK (NK)
Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
Germanischer Lloyd (GL)
Korean Register of Shipping (KR)
Lloyd’s Register (LR)
Polish Register of Shipping (PRS)
Registro Italiano Navale (RINA)
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS)

3. Existing procedures requiring a ship by ship authorisation for a classification society listed in this notice to issue statutory certificates on behalf of the Government of Malta shall remain in effect.

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The Merchant Shipping Directorate would like to draw the attention of all concerned to the publication of the Merchant Shipping (Insurance for Maritime Claims) Regulations, 2011 published on the 16 December 2011, as Legal Notice 484 of 2011. The Regulations transpose Directive 2009/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009, on the insurance of shipowners for maritime claims and entered into force on 1 January 2012.

All shipowners are required to be properly insured against damage to third parties. The Regulations also stipulate the same level of cover as set in the International Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims in its 1996 version (LLMC 1996). Malta is party to the LLMC 1996 and transposed the Convention through the Merchant Shipping (Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims) Regulations, 2003. Furthermore, the Regulations provide that proof of insurance can be in the form of a commercial insurance certificate.

As from 1 January 2012, vessels that do not have in place an insurance cover as referred to above may be denied entry into European ports and may lead to detention of the vessel.

The electronic version of Legal Notice 484 of 2011 can be downloaded from:

http://www.doi.gov.mt/EN/legalnotices/2011/12/LN%20484.pdf

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http://ec.europa.eu/transport/marcopolo/getting-funds/application-packs/2011/index_en.htm

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For further details, contact us on:

Tel: (00356) 21 651387
Fax: (00356) 21 651384
Email: management@combinedmar.com
Website: www.combinedmaritime.com