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Maritime Trade and Transport - HWWI

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the hinterl<strong>and</strong> areas is a complementary one. This means that coastal <strong>and</strong> inl<strong>and</strong> carriers, rail<br />

<strong>and</strong> road traffic <strong>and</strong> pipelines generally also profit from an expansion in seaborne trade.<br />

On the other h<strong>and</strong>, it should be assumed that lower quality in the connections with the<br />

hinterl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> the harbors would have a negative effect on the scope of seaborne trade. In its<br />

white paper on transport policy, the European Commission states that it regards the threatened<br />

capacity overload of trans-European traffic networks as a serious danger for the compe -<br />

titive ability of European business <strong>and</strong> the “optimal utilization of globalization of trade.” 20<br />

Excessive use of the roads also means great burdens on the environment. As the European<br />

Commission states in its green paper on energy supply in November 2000, approximately<br />

28% of the emissions of CO2 – the most important greenhouse gas – in 1998 were attributed<br />

to energy consumption in the transport sector. Road traffic alone was responsible for 84% of<br />

the traffic-related CO2 emissions.<br />

The overloading of certain traffic routes is, on the one h<strong>and</strong>, ascribed to the fact that the<br />

users very rarely have to pay for all of the costs they cause. On the other h<strong>and</strong>, this congestion<br />

is the result of delays in the construction of infrastructure for the trans-European network.<br />

In its white paper, the Commission suggests a series of measures for solving this problem.<br />

These include a toll system for road usage, the promotion of other types of carriers, <strong>and</strong><br />

targeted investments in the trans-European network. Short sea shipping <strong>and</strong> inl<strong>and</strong> waterway<br />

transport are to profit especially from these measures. Plans exist, for example, for the creation<br />

of “high-speed seaways“ to more efficiently connect ports to the railroad <strong>and</strong> inl<strong>and</strong><br />

waterway network <strong>and</strong> to increase the efficiency of harbor services.<br />

<strong>Maritime</strong> cargo shipping does not, however, profit at all times <strong>and</strong> in all locations from<br />

public or private infrastructure measures. The expansion of l<strong>and</strong>-based transport routes can –<br />

at least partially – also be to the disadvantage of sea shipping. This is exemplified, for example,<br />

by the pipeline that connects Baku on the Caspian Sea with the Mediterranean port of<br />

Ceyhan in Turkey, which has been completed following a construction period of four years.<br />

Beginning in 2008, a million barrels of crude oil are to flow through this pipeline daily. This<br />

will disencumber the Strait of Bosporus of the passage of approximately 350 supertankers per<br />

year. 21 Another example is the Øresund Bridge, which was opened on July 1, 2000, <strong>and</strong> connects<br />

Denmark <strong>and</strong> Sweden. Estimated losses for sea cargo shipping are 10 to 15% of the total<br />

transport volume. Farther-reaching effects may result if construction of the Fehmarn Belt<br />

Bridge is completed.<br />

As a whole, the development of maritime world trade is likely to be affected less by competition<br />

among the various carriers than by the determinants that shape the scope, structure<br />

<strong>and</strong> direction of the international trading of goods. It is to be assumed, for example, that increases<br />

in production <strong>and</strong> income in the individual regions of the world will lead to an<br />

increase in seaborne trade. Above average growth rates in countries in which maritime traffic<br />

20 See EU (2001).<br />

21 See N.N. (2006b).<br />

Berenberg Bank · <strong>HWWI</strong>: Strategy 2030 · No. 4<br />

33

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