Promotion Centers

In 1999, the European Commission started to establish the national promotion Centers (SPCs) to promote Short Sea Shipping in the single Member States. The SPCs aim at demonstrating, with the support of national institutions and industry main stakeholders, that sea transport can be a reliable, safe, profitable and certainly more eco-friendly alternative compared to road transport.

Their main activities are:

  • provide juridical and technical information concerning Short Sea Shipping
  • take part in researches, technical committees and public discussions at national and European level
  • participate actively to training initiatives concetning the intermodal and sea transport (collaboration with the Escola Europea de Short Sea Shipping and Centre Atlantique de Shortsea Européen)
  • organize the Short Sea Shipping Annual Conference and take part to the Shipping Weeks promoted at national and European level, and eventually other relevant events for the industry
  • promote, by means of national and local events, the economic, environmental and social benefits resulting from Short Sea Shipping and its implementation within the international intermodal network
  • debates and discussions with the industry associations (ECSA, ECASBA, ESPO, FEPORT, IURR, IRU, CLECAT, ESC, …)

The European Shortsea Network (ESN) gathers all the SPCs in the EU, with the aim of coordinating the activities at European level and promote Short Sea Shipping by engaging the major international stakeholders.

The SPCs of the European Shortsea Network include the 21 EU Member States and Turkey:

Throughout 2015, the ESN has edited and finalized the Network's Legal Identity official document, which states the desire by all the Short Sea Shipping Promotion Centers to strengthen the cooperation and increase the number of activities, also through their juridical recognition. The document has been officially signed in Brussels on January 15th 2016.

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