Page 120 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - SEPT 2025

Mobility & transport

Ports should be a red line in Europe’s policy making. projects in ports (e.g., those
Ports are at the crossroads of the current climate, focused on greening, energy
geoeconomic, and geopolitical challenges and need transition, and resilience)
room for manoeuvre to help navigate Europe’s economy have a high societal value,
and society through these constantly changing but often yield slow, low, and
realities. risky returns on investment.
Such investments, without
business relevance and fea-
sibility for the investing port
authority, can only be real-
ised with sufficient and robust
funding and smoother state
aid permitting procedures.
The CEF funding has proved to
be an essential instrument for
supporting Europe’s ports in
their investment needs. How-
ever, the budget envelope for
ports is far too low to cover all
the investments underpinning
Europe’s public interest respon-
sibilities. These investments
are crucial to rendering
Europe’s ports future-proof and
• Avoiding competition distor- • Europe needs to invest more competitive.
tions with non-EU neighbouring in its ports. The European port
ports. Europe’s ports are located sector is highly capital intensive Let me conclude by stressing once
on European territory, but they and has high investment needs. more the foundational character of
function in a larger geoeconomic The investment pipelines of EU ports, which should be a red line in
and geopolitical context. Euro- ports reflect their multidimen- Europe’s policy making. Ports are
pean and non-European ports sional role, combining traditional at the crossroads of the current cli-
operate on the same pitch, but and new functions. A 2024 ESPO mate, geoeconomic, and geopoliti-
they often do not follow the same study reveals that the invest- cal challenges. They need room for
economic rules. The distortion of ment needs of European port manoeuvre to help navigate Europe’s
competition between European authorities amount to €80 billion economy and society through these
and non-European ports must be over the next 10 years (2024- constantly changing realities. We
prevented. Funding and financ- 2034). The second most crucial need a policy that elevates ports,
ing ports and port investments category concerns investments not one that restrains them. That is
that are in direct competition in sustainability and energy tran- the best way to enhance the com-
with EU ports should be avoided. sition. The most critical category petitiveness of Europe’s ports and
European initiatives such as the of investment for port authori- port stakeholders. The message of
Global Gateway should support ties, however, remains basic Transport Commissioner Tzitzikostas
partners, not competitors. EU port infrastructure. In fact, the at ESPO’s Annual Conference in
Policy must recognise the global greening of ports is accompa- Thessaloniki was clear: finding
nature of shipping when devel- nied by significant adaptations solutions “without increasing the
oping regional measures. The EU to basic infrastructure (e.g., pre- regulatory burden, duplicating
should lead the way at a global paring quays for offshore wind efforts, or re-inventing the wheel”.
level by actively advocating for or CO2 transport and pipeline For Europe’s ports, the forthcom-
a higher global ambition level, infrastructure), which is also ing Ports Strategy must be based
rather than focusing on regional reflected in this first invest- on and follow the recommen-
measures that hinder Europe’s ment category. We must under- dations of the Competitiveness
competitiveness. Policies like stand that this large sum does Compass and the Draghi report,
the EU-ETS for shipping, which not even take into account the focusing on simplification, imple-
put EU ports at a competitive dual-use investment needs that mentation, and enforcement of the
disadvantage compared to their will follow in order to strengthen regulatory framework developed over
non-EU competitors, should be Europe’s military preparedness. the last few years, rather than add-
avoided. Many new investments and ing new regulations and constraints.

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