In March 2011, the European Commission adopted the White Paper 2011 “Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system”², defining a long-term strategy to make European Union transport system more efficient, safe and secure. The 2011 White Paper identifies ten goals for a competitive and resource-efficient transport system, which serve as benchmarks for achieving the 60% GHG emissions reduction target.
Among its goals, the White Paper sets that 30% of road freight over 300 km should shift to other modes such as rail or waterborne transport by 2030, and more than 50% by 2050, facilitated by efficient and green freight corridors. In order to achieve this objective, various initiatives have been implementing at European level: e.g. the strengthening of the high speed railways and completion of the TEN-T³ infrastructure network; the motorways of the sea initiative⁴; the Marco Polo Programme⁵, closed programme fostering intermodal alternative solutions.
Despite the efforts and actions undertaken at both European and national level in favour of “sustainable transport”, in the European Union the road mode is still largely predominant (48% of total transported freight⁶). In this context, Regional and National Authorities often set up incentive schemes to encourage a rebalance in the modes of transporting goods, by supporting the utilisation of less polluting modes of transport -different from the all-road one (modal shift).