EC APPROVES FRANCE’S INTERMODAL SUBSIDY PROGRAM

EC APPROVES FRANCE’S INTERMODAL SUBSIDY PROGRAM    The European Commission has authorised a program of the French government to pay subsidies to promote intermodal transport in France.
   The French program, expected to cost between 30 million and 40 million euro ($32 million-$43 million) a year, aims to encourage scheduled intermodal transport services by inland waterways, rail or shortsea shipping, as an alternative to road transport. The subsidies will be paid to the operators of transport services and will operate from 2003 to 2007.
   “The aid scheme is intended to offset the handicap imposed by the transshipment operations inherent in intermodal chains but absent from door-to-door road transport,” the European Commission said.
   The program will replace the current dual system of operating subsidy per ton-kilometer paid either by the French state to the French state railways, or by the French waterways authority (Voies Navigables de France) to waterway operators. The new system provides for a flat-rate payment per intermodal transport unit transshipped at a land terminal or port situated in France.
   The European Commission said that the program is in line with its modal transport policy, and that the subsidies are compatible with European competition rules.