IP/08/955

Brussels, Belgium – The European Commission has 2008-06-17 approved the extension of a French aid scheme for operating scheduled services for the combined transport of goods. The recipients will be combined transport service operators, which bring together the different links in the logistic chain. The scheme will be in force during the period 2008-12 with an annual budget in the region of €30-40 million.

Combined transport is a system which uses road together with other modes such as inland waterways, rail or sea. The aid scheme aims to reduce the disadvantage represented by loading and unloading in intermodal chains compared with door-to-door road transport.

The scheme covers all categories of intermodal transport: rail, inland waterway and short-distance maritime. Its objective is to enable combined transport operators to offer competitive prices in order to promote the development of this transport system.

Flat-rate aid will be paid for each intermodal transport unit (ITU container) transhipped at a land or port terminal located on French metropolitan territory, and for each ITU passing through a nodal point in the case of national and international import/export land traffic.