EUROPEAN CARRIERS, SHIPPERS WELCOME EC DIRECTIVE ON PORT COMPETITION

EUROPEAN CARRIERS, SHIPPERS WELCOME EC DIRECTIVE ON PORT COMPETITION    The European Shippers’ Councils and the European Community Shipowners’ Association said that they welcome a proposal by the European Commission on European port services and competition.
   The directive proposal is part of a communication on sea ports from the EC to the European Parliament and the European Council of Ministers, issued in February. The proposal is currently before the European Parliament, which is considering amendments.
   The ESC said that it is particularly pleased that the guidelines that it submitted jointly with the European Community Shipowners Association to the EC in 1998 “have been largely incorporated in the proposed directive on market access relating to port services.”
      The EC’s proposal “reflects (the) ESC’s desire to have inefficiencies removed from industry’s supply chains to enable European business to enhance its competitiveness in highly competitive overseas and domestic markets,” the shippers’ organization said. The ESC said that shippers believe that increased competition among ports and the various suppliers of services within a port will substantially contribute to improvements in efficiency and productivity.
   Shippers and shipping lines say that certain European ports have activities that are not exposed to competition.
   The EC also said that “port services have been provided within frameworks characterized by exclusive rights and/or legal or de facto monopolies of a public or a private nature.”
   “Shippers are concerned that port service providers continue to enjoy monopolistic advantages and that many authorizations are given through direct agreements without an open selection procedure,” the ESC said.
   Alfons Guinier, secretary general of the European Community Shipowners’ Association, said that the proposed EC directive on port services is “a first necessary step in making port services a liberalized and more efficient industry.”
   The shipowners’ organization believes that it is essential that basic competition principles “are respected in the practical implementation of the directive.”
   By contrast, the European port industry gave a lukewarm response to pan-European directive proposal of the EC. The European Sea Port Organization said that it supports the basic principles of the EC directive proposal on market access to port services, but expressed “substantial concerns about the practical implementation of the measures proposed by the Commission.”
   It said that there is a risk that the current proposal could discourage investments in ports; that “the proposal may disregard the vital strategic function of the port authority; and that it may introduce a “one size fits all” policy for all port users.
   The European Sea Port Organization also warned of a risk that some of the proposed measures may lead to additional bureaucracy; that the proposal may not contribute to the creation of a “level playing field;” and that there is a risk that some of the proposed measures could diminish the quality of port services.
   “Given the serious character of these concerns and the complexity of the debate, ESPO believes that the directive proposal needs substantial amendments,” the port organization said.