Call for tender for motorways of the sea in the North Sea area 

Motorways of the sea projects are defined as projects the purpose of which is to gather cargo transport on routes between ports in order to either improve existing maritime transport chains or to establish new profitable, regular and frequent maritime transport chains for cargo transport between the member States.

Motorways of the sea should be seen as part of the development of overall logistic systems for maritime transport, ports and hinterland infrastructure.

The North Sea countries cooperate on the development of the concept of motorways of the sea in the region and hereby urge consortia consisting of, at least, ports and transport providers to propose projects for motorways of the sea in the North Sea region.

As a TEN-T priority project, it is possible for a motorway of the sea project to get support for up to 20 per cent of the overall project costs, while it is possible for studies and pilot projects to get up to 50 per cent support. Motorways of the sea, studies and pilot projects must, as a minimum, cover the establishment or development of facilities or infrastructure (for example in the form of access ways to and from ports) in at least two ports situated in at least two states. Specific proposals must be made by at least two countries, and the proposals must combine public and private interests.

The entire call for tender is available here in English, where you will also find more detailed guidelines about who and how to apply.

Please observe that the next deadline for submission of project proposals to the Commission is 31 August 2010. Since the proposals are to be dealt with in the member States, it is important to contact the relevant member States about possible projects as soon as possible.

For further information, please contact Mr Søren Clausen, tel. +45 33 92 43 87, or Mr Steen Jonssen, tel. +45 33 92 34 01, in the Ministry of Transport or Mr Mogens Schrøder Bech, tel. +45 39 17 45 01 in the Danish Maritime Authority.