The EU Strategy for the Danube Region

Priority Area 1b: To improve mobility and Multimodality – road, rail and air links

Transport & Logistics

-
“Bridging the Gaps between
the Danube Region Countries”
(Part II)

Franc Žepič, PAC 1b

Ministry of Infrastructure, Slovenia

Transport & Logistics

in the SEE and in the Danube region
14 April 2016 | Sava Centar, Belgrade,
1
Serbia
The EU and Macro-regions:
 First macro-region: the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBR); 2009

 Second macro-region: the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR)

- 8 Dec 2010: Adoption by the CION (Two docs: Communication on Strategy and Action plan)
- 24 June 2011: endorsed by the European Council!
- 30 June / 1 July 2011: the end of preparation / start of implementation

 Third macro-region: The Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region (EUSAIR); 2014

 Fourth macro-region: The Alpine Macro-Region (EUSALP); 2015

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EUSDR - 11 Priority areas:

 PA1: To improve Mobility and Multimodality
 PA 1a: inland waterways - Austria and Romania
 PA 1b : rail, road and air links - Slovenia and Serbia
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The Danube Region ...

 14 States: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Moldova, Ukraine
 Population: 115 mio (EU28: 506 mio) Area: 1,092.591 km2 (EU28: 4,324,782) 3
 Danube Region –
development indicators
Country Population GDP 2014 GDP 2014 The EU: from 6 to 28 members (since 2004:
bill ion USD per capita PPP USD
„Old & New Member States“)
Germany 81,757,600 3.868.29 39,717.70
Austria 8,356,707 436.34 43,905.68 Enlargements:
1957/58: BE, DE, FR, IT, LUX, NL (Founder states)
Czech Republic 10,674,947 205.52 28,694.71
1973: DK,  IE,  UK
Romania 21,959,278 199.04 6,195.84 1981: GR
Hungary 10,005,000 138.35 11,888.11
1986: ES, PT
1995: AT, FI, SE
Croatia 4,489,409 57.11 10,561.27 2004: CZ, EST, CY, LV, LT, HU, MT, PL, SI, SK
2007: BG, RO
Bulgaria 7,576,751 56.71 4,915.85
2013: CRO
Slovakia 5,429,763 99.79 26,354.70

Slovenia 2,054,199 49.49 19,110.56 Candidate countries Potential Candidate

Serbia 7,306,677 43.87 4,245.54 Country :
Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina,
B&H 4,613,414 18.29 9,515.65

Montenegro 672,180 4,48 4,757.32

ENP (Eastern Neighbourhood Policy):
Moldova 3,567,500 7.94 4,753.55 Moldova, Ukraine (Association Agreement
Ukraine 45,888,000 131.81 8,267.07
signed 2014)
Source: Internet - http://www.tradingeconomics.com/
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 Danube Region –
transport
The Danube region:
High diversity between 9 EU and 5 non-EU countries

Unbalanced transport and infrastructure

between Danube countries

Rail network: high and conventional rail.
Source: Internet
A set of Contradictions:
High freight and passengers transport on the
road, low freight and passengers transport on
the railways,
Underused extensive network of railways,
overused extensive yet poor road infrastructure
High number of ports, low level of container
transshipments,
Low motorization of the population, high
number of fatalities and seriously injured on the
roads
Inadequate air transport connections,
relatively high number of airports 5
Infrastructure: “Once upon a Time”
Pan-European corridors (Crete 1994, Helsinki 1997)
• No. IV: Dresden/Nuremberg – Prague –
Vienna/Bratislava – Budapest – Bucarest –
Constanta – Sofia – Thesalloniki/Plovdiv - Istanbul

• No. V: Venice – Ljubljana – Budapest – L’viv

Branch A: Bratislava - Uzhhorod
Branch B: Rijeka – Zagreb - Budapest
Branch C: Ploče – Sarajevo -Budapest

• No. VI: Gdansk – Katowice – Žilina; branch Katowice

- Brno

• No. VII: The Danube River

• No. VIII: Durres – Tirana – Skopje – Sofia – Plovdiv –

Burgas – Varna – Constanta

• No IX: Helsinki - St. Petersburg – Kiev – Chişinău

– Bucharest - Dimitrovgrad – Alexandroupolis

• No. X: Salzburg – Ljubljana – Belgrade – Skopje -

The corridors are road-rail (multi-modal), with the
exception of Corridor VII, which is represented by the
Danube river.
Thessaloniki
Branch A: Graz – Maribor - Zagreb
Branch B: Budapest – Novi Sad - Beograd
Branch C: Niš – Sofia - Istanbul
Branch D: Veles – Bitola - Igumenitsa 6
Transport Infrastructure: „Yesterday“
Core Corridors – TEN-T (Reg. 1315/2013 on TEN-T and Reg. 1316/2013 on CEF)
2014 – 2020 (2030): 9 CORE TEN-T CORRIDORS
and EU COORDINATORS:
Five corridors are part of the Danube region
transport network i.e. No. 1, No.4, No.5, No.8 and
No.9.
1. Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor (FI, SE, DK,
DE, AT, IT, MT) – Mr. Pat Cox (IE)
2. North Sea-Baltic Corridor (NL, BE, DE, PL, LT, LV,
EE, FI) – Mr. Pavel Telička (CZ)
3. North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor (IE, UK, FR, NL,
BE, LU) – Mr. Peter Balazs (HU)
4. Baltic-Adriatic Corridor (PL, SK, CZ, AT, SI, IT) – Mr.
Kurt Bodewig (DE)
5. Orient/East-Med Corridor (DE, CZ, SK, AT, HU, RO,
BG, GR, CY) – Mr. Mathieu Grosch (BE)
6. Rhine-Alpine Corridor (NL, BE, DE, FR, IT) – Mr.
Paweł Wojciechowski (PL)
7. Atlantic Corridor (PT, ES, FR, DE) – Mr. Carlo Secchi
(IT)
8. Rhine-Danube Corridor (FR, DE, AT, CZ, SK, HU,
HR, RO, BG) – Ms Karla Peijs (NL)
9. Mediterranean Corridor (ES, FR, IT, SI, HR, HU) –
Mr. Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (NL) 7
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 Transport Infrastructure: „Today“
TEN-T and Connectivity Agenda
Political commitments:
28 August 2014: Conference of Western Balkan
States (The Berlin Process)

21 April 2015, Brussels: Commissioner for transport

meets with WB6 Prime Ministers

22 June 2015, Riga: Ministerial meeting with WB

Ministers at TEN-T Days 2015

27 August 2015, Vienna: Western Balkans Summit

Next: July 2016, Paris: WB6

Extended Core Corridors:

- Mediterranean Corridor
- Orient/ East-Med Corridor
- Rhine/Danube Corridor
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 TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
in the Danube macro-region
Towards 2030

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EU Regulatory base
 Logistics package 2007 (by the Commission):
 Communication “The EU’s freight transport agenda (COM(2007)606): Boosting
the efficiency, integration and sustainability of freight transport in Europe,
accompanied by:
 Freight transport logistics action plan,
 Towards a rail network giving priority to Freight,
 Ports Policy
 Maritime and Short Sea-shipping (report)

 Urban package 2013 (by the Commission):

 Communication: »Together towards competitive and resource-efficient urban
mobility«, including:
 A call to action on urban logistics (Commission Staff Working Document)

 Studies (January 2015): Fact-finding studies in support of the development of an

EU strategy for freight transport logistics Lot 1: Analysis of the EU logistics sector

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Logistics Performance Index
LPI measures logistics efficiency. Danube macro-region countries:
LPI ranking and scores 2014 (of 155 countries)
Six component indicators:
Country Rank Country Rank
1) The efficiency of the clearance process (2012) (2012)
(e.g. speed, simplicity)
Germany (4) 1 Bulgaria (36) 47
2) Quality of infrastructure (roads, rail,
ports, RRT, ITS) Austria (11) 22 Croatia (42) 55

Czech Republic (44) 32 Ukraine (66) 61

3) The ease of arranging competitively
priced shipments
Hungary (40) 33 Serbia (75) 63
4) The competence and quality of
logistics services (transport operators, Slovenia (34) 38 Montenegro (120) 67
customs brokers)
Romania (54) 40 Bosnia & (55) 81
5) The ability to track and trace
consignments Herzegovina
Slovakia (51) 43 Moldova (132) 94
6) The frequency with which shipments
reach the consignee within the Source: World Bank (Connecting to compete 2012 & 2014: Trade logistics in the
scheduled or expected delivery time global Economy http://lpi.worldbank.org/international/global/2014

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Logistics Potential
Western Europe vs Danube Region
Remarks
Western Danube
Europe Region
developed not developed, DR Adriatic
Infrastructure: and Black
ports, hinterland connections missing links
sea ports
135-190 mio up to 80 mio F‘furt:190
Market: Catchment area (population, GDP), 8- Belgrade:80
9h from distribution centre (city) population population

Base Costs: basic operational costs, labour Higher costs Lower costs Austria,
40.000-20.000 5.000 – 20.000 Germany,
costs, rental and land costs, manufacturing costs Greece
eur/year eur/year
Labour Capacity: working population, skilled Advantage
n/a n/a workforce
workers, unemployment=availability available

Business Environment: Ease of doing business, Varies from

n/a n/a country to
Regulatory base, Efficient customs clearance country
procedures
Logistics: specialized workforce and logistics Skilled / mature Skilled /
centres developing
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Logistics: „Looking ahead“

To be considered:

Sustainable „Green“ logistics:

such as use of alternative fuels
Technological progress: New
rolling stock initiatives:
autonomous vehicles (such as
Truck platooning), autonomous
ship
Digitalization: e-Logistics
New business model: e.g.
Circular economy“

Source: Internet – Colliers report „Emerging logistics hubs in 2020“

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 Challenges (that remain):
 To narrow the gap between performance of individual countries in transport:
 a common strategy for development of transport infrastructure is needed, so that the
infrastructure works that are stalled, delayed or postponed should restart
 better use of intermodal transport in the region (“full modal integration”), quality and
reliability of railways to improve, roads: missing links constructed and bottlenecks removed,
high performing sea and river ports, including new intermodal terminals developed.
 Removal of border-crossing barriers, in particular administrative

 Logistics sector:
 logistics reform should be started by governments,
 long term commitments from policymakers and private stakeholders are essential to obtain
a reliable supply chain,
 Two key features: Just-in time (JIT) and Door-to-door (DTD), both favour use of the road and
air (the least energy efficient modes),
 Special attention to city logistics, in order to integrate urban freight operations into door-to-
door services,
 advanced business model (e.g. study the resource efficient circular economy concept – incl.
Reverse logistics for reuse, recycle or disposal of material or goods)
 best practice exchange, in order to learn from each other.
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Co-operation & Co-ordination &
Co-action = Progress
The core network corridors, once completed, will provide quality transport services
for citizens and businesses, with smoothly integration within the Danube Region as
well as with the EU.

The priority projects will remove bottlenecks, promote interoperability, and build
missing cross-border connectivity.

Only coordinated and well implemented national and regional projects can provide
Transport and Logistics in service of the market and the people of the Danube region.

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Thank you very much!

Please visit:
www.danube-region.eu

http://groupspaces.com/MobilityRail-Road-Air/

PAC Serbia PAC Slovenia

Miodrag Poledica, State Secretary Mr. Franc Žepič, Secretary

Ministry of Transport Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning
Belgrade Ljubljana
poledica@mgsi.gov.rs franc.zepic@gov.si

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