NMC-NSR - The Northern Maritime Corridor project for the North Sea Region
Overview
Background & policy context:
The major industries in the regions of northern Europe are based on the exploitation of natural resources like fish, minerals, petroleum and timber. However, most of them find their main markets in the central and southern parts of Europe. The Northern Maritime Corridor is important in this context, connecting the resources of the north to the consumers of the south.
The present situation with regard to freight transport represents major challenges for European society with regard to congestion on roads and emissions. Globalisation and increased trade will make this challenge even more urgent, and for the industries in coastal regions surrounding the North Sea this situation can become a serious threat.
Up to now Short Sea Shipping (SSS) has lost market share with regard to freight transport between regions in northern Europe, and is in many cases not competitive with road haulage.
Objectives:
The overall aim and vision of this NMC Interreg IIIB project is to develop efficient and sustainable maritime transport solutions connecting the coastal regions bordering the North Sea and manufacturing industry in the North Sea basin with industrial development in the Barents region.
The project addresses major challenges in coastal regions regarding efficient and sustainable freight transport. The NMC project is a tool to promote balanced and sustainable development in the northern coastal regions. The project covers both the Northern Periphery Interreg IIIB and the North Sea Interreg IIIB areas, and has also links to regional development outside these areas, i.e. Russia. Partners represent, amongst others, regional authorities, ports, shipping companies, transporters and major industries.
The guidelines from the Commission constitute a transnational platform for all Interreg IIIB programmes in Europe. The document puts a strong focus on effective and sustainable transport, intermodal shifts from road haulage to rail and sea transport, and increased integration between maritime and insular regions. Maritime safety and risk management strategies are also regarded as an important transnational issue.
Measures developed in respect to these priorities should be related to Community policies like The Northern Dimension, TEN and ESDP.
Based on this, the main objective has been formulated as follows: To establish new/improved short sea shipping services to shift cargo from road to sea.
Methodology:
The Interreg IIIB NMC project will include a wide range of different regional and transnational activities, divided into six strands. All activities, both those labelled regional and those labelled transnational, will have a transnational perspective. Regional activities will, however, focus on the relation between one specific region and the North Sea Region, whilst transnational activities will focus on the overall situation in the North Sea Region.
The project activities have been carried out through six different strands:
- Regional maritime clusters;
- Promotion of short sea shipping and development of new services in the corridor;
- New concepts for seafood transport and logistics both within and between regions;
- Maritime transport concepts in the petroleum sector investigating the present situation in the North Sea and future possibilities in the Barents region;
- Implementing and harmonising risk management strategies to secure the sustainability and safety of the Northern Maritime Corridor;
- Management and technical assistance.
The Strand 1 and Strand 6 are the supervisory strands while the other four strands are the thematic strands.
The regional maritime clusters have prepared the ground for transnational cooperation through studies and region-to-region initiatives. For the four thematic strands transnational working groups have been functioning. The project emphasis has been to function as an arena for networking and an international conference has been arranged every year with 100-150 participants from all countries and regions.
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