Marco Polo reviewed
The Marco Polo programme is an EU grant scheme which will spend EUR 400 million in the period 2007-2013 to support sustainable & innovative transport operations.

So far the programme has not been very succesful for inland shipping despite increasing efforts of the European Commission. With its high thresholds, the EU grant programme is primarily geared to larger companies and long distance traffic. That doesn’t work for the bulk of small companies in the inland navigation sector mainly active on short and medium distances. Today, national grants are more popular among inland waterway businesses as they take better account of the specific needs of the sector.

Under the leadership of the European Parliament, the thresholds for waterway transport have been lowered to 13 million tkm per year. The eligible costs for ancillary infrastructure were raised to 20%. The European Parliament also followed INE’s recommendation to advocate for an inland waterway grant programme geared to the special needs of the sector.

Under the Marco Polo II programme, funding is available for short-term freight transport projects in five areas:
 Modal shift, i.e. a shift from the road to rail, short sea shipping and inland waterways;
 Catalyst actions directed at innovative aspects and aimed at overcoming structural barriers in the market;
 Common learning actions aimed at widening the innovation know-how;
 Development of “motorways of the sea”, i.e. projects of short sea shipping;
 Reducing road freight transport, particularly by improving transport chains and introducing other innovative measures, in order to cut road transport by at least 10 %.

More information
≡ EC Marco Polo programme
≡ INE on Marco Polo