Motorway of the Sea tries again
A second attempt at the ‘ Motorway of the Sea’ between France and Italy will open in the autumn, connecting the ports of Gijó n in Spain and Nantes – St Nazaire in France.
The last service from Grimaldy – Louis Dreyfus Lines (GLD Lines) that ran between Toulon and Rome (Civitavecchia) three times a week lost money due to the economic downturn and finally closed earlier this year despite hopes that it could ride out the slowdown at least until the summer.
However, the failure of the old route, which opened to much publicity in 2005 (taking a sizeable amount of EU grant money, including a lump from the Marco Polo modal shift programme), may have been at least in part due to its dependence on automobile traffic, which has plunged by over half since last year.
Still, GLD is certain that the way forward lies in combined freight and passenger services. The new route will bring the time between the Italian and French ports to a mere 14 hours and is expected to promote both import and export operations between central Europe and the north of Spain. The journey will cost €500 per Intermodal Transport Unit.
The new route will have a vessel load capacity of 2,230 running metres, which translates to some 150 trailers and 170 cars. On the journey from Gijón it will be possible to board with accompanied or unaccompanied loaded trucks.
It is hoped the service will help the economies at both ends of the route, Asturias and Castilla y León. Both have a manufacturing base, and this reduction in costs will add to their export competitiveness.
The existence of this new service is also expected to stimulate interest from new companies wishing to either settle into, or move goods through the region. It is hoped this will, in turn, generate an increase of traffic at the Port of Gijón, something which will benefit the entire port community.
These ambitious ‘Motorway of the Sea’ links also have environmental sustainability on their side as they meld with the European objective of reducing CO2 output. The emissions per ton of cargo from maritime shipping are much lower to those generated by road transport.
It remains to be seen whether the scheduled autumn start will be the right time for the new service.
