Geest short-sea executive calls for “less hot air, more action”

Geest short-sea executive calls for “less hot air, more action”

Geest short-sea executive calls for “less hot air, more action”

   Wout Pronk, managing director of Dutch short-sea operator Geest North Sea Line, said European governments will implement much-needed actions to promote short-sea shipping in Europe as an alternative to road transport.
   Speaking after an informal visit to the port of Rotterdam by the transport ministers of all 25 EU governments on Saturday, Pronk said: “At last, it seems that governments in general, and the EU in particular, are prepared to put some real weight behind moves to transfer more freight from road to short-sea.”
   “What all of us in the transport industry need is less hot air and more action,” he added.
   Pronk believes that, under the current Dutch presidency of the European Commission, started July 1, things are “really going to change” and well-meaning policies will be backed by “real commitment.”
   Geest said it has worked hard in promoting short-sea shipping. In late 2003, the short-sea shipping line launched an unsubsidized Rotterdam/Bilbao service that competes with road transport.
   The EU transport ministers came to the port of Rotterdam mainly to witness the opening of the harbor railway section of a new cargo rail line, the Betuwe line.
   An EU informal transport council was held in Amsterdam on July 9-10. During the meeting, quality criteria for the “motorways of the sea” initiative were defined by the transport ministers, Geest reported.