EC allows $43-million subsidies for Italian road-sea links

EC allows $43-million subsidies for Italian road-sea links    The European Commission has approved subsidies totaling 35 million euros ($43 million) over three years for a program of maritime links carrying trucks to and from the Italian region of Sicily.
   The subsidies, called “environmental bonus,” will be paid to trucking companies or operators that move loaded and empty trucks between Sicilian ports and other Italian ports, with the exception of those shipped on maritime services crossing the Strait of Messina.
   “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 (European) community ports,” the EC said. The scheme is conceived as “a pilot project with an experimental character.”
   Companies already engaged in road-sea transport operations or road-rail transport will not qualify for the subsidies.