Transport and tourism

• Author: Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (European Parliament)
• Pages: 120-136

EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service

120

TRANSPORT AND TOURISM

21. Single European Transport Area

Potential efficiency gain: €6 billion per year

Key proposition

Transport plays a key role in the smooth operation of the European Union economy. Despite

significant progress made over the last 20 years in creating a single market for transport and

decreasing the impact of external costs, the sector still suffers from multiple barriers that generate

substantial additional costs affecting t he environment, safety, human health, and the

competiveness of the economy. Together with adaptation to new socio-economic and

technological challenges, the sector requires implementation of integrated measures to secure

efficient transport systems, higher levels of transport safety, adequate social rules, and the enhanced

environmental sustainability of the sector.

Research commissioned by the European Added Value Unit of EPRS for the European Parliament's

Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) in 2014510 showed that the removal of inefficiencies in

the transport sector has the potential to yield annual gains of at least €5.7 billion and would mean

improved mobility for citizens, enhanced environmental sustainability, better intra-EU connectivity

and greater international competitiveness.

More detailed analysis of potential benefit

The European Parliament's research identified remaining regulatory gaps in the Single European

Transport Area and quantified, wherever it was possible, the potential impact of filling those gaps.

It estimated the potential benefits of removing barriers and inefficiencies in the single market for

rail transport at between €20 and 55 billion during the 2015-35 period, or between €1 and 2.7 billion

per year (Table 8). Integration in the road sector could bring a net benefit of €50 to 90 billion over

the same period, or between €2.5 and €4.5 billion per year. In air transport, between €18 billion and

36 billion could be saved over the 2014-34 period, or between €0.9 and 1.8 billion per year.

Optimisation of maritime and inland logistic container routes could generate between €26 and

52 billion in savings over the same period, or between €1.3 and €2.6 billion annually.

510 M Nogaj, Cost of Non-Europe Report - Single Market in Transport and Tourism, EPRS, October 2014.

Europe’s two trillion euro dividend: Mapping the Cost of Non-Europe, 2019-24

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Table 12: Potential savings and efficiency gains in transport by sector

Building blocks - Potential savings and efficiency

gains in transport an d tourism by sector

Annual cost of non-Europ e (€ billion)511

Rail transport 1

Road transport 2.5

Air transport 0.9

Water transport 1.3

Total 5.7

Source: M Nogaj, Cost of Non-Europe Report - Single Market in Transport and Tourism, EPRS, October 2014.

The calculations for rail and road (land) transport reflect direct efficiency gains for the economy and

represent a small proportion of potential overall indirect benefits, such as improved environmental

sustainability. Additional benefits in land transport were assessed at between €300 and €800 billion

by 2035 (or between €15 and €40 billion annually).512 The study did not quantify missing rail

infrastructure links at borders, which would have a positive effect on the competitiveness of rail and

improved connectivity in Europe.

A 2015 study prepared for the European Commission analysed the costs of potential non-

completion of nine European Core Network Corridors (CNC), which the EU has been developing

under the name of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) to increase connectivity in transport

by 2030.513 The research showed that non-completion of CNC would mean a total EU GDP reduction

of €2,570 billion between 2015 and 2035 (€128.5 billion annually on average) and that about 8.9

million job-years of employment would not have been generated. The study was based on an

economic model which estimates both direct effects of non-completing the CNC on the transport

system and economy, as well as indirect or second-round impacts on the economy.

Also a number of other studies by the Commission already poin t to potentially significant gains from

further action in specific EU transport modes. In the maritime sector, the potential of environmental

charging in ports was recently analysed. It showed that if all ports in the EU (plus Norway and Turkey)

were to apply an environmental charging scheme based on common characteristics, an average

30 % rebate on port dues for ‘green ships’ could result in incentives for the shipping sector of €1.4

billion over 5 years (provided that at least 30 % of the EU fleet met the eligibility criteria).514 In air

transport, review of European slot allocation rules alone could lead to €5 billion in efficiency gains

by 2025, or €334 million per year (estimated over a period of 15 years from 2010 to 2025).515

511 M Nogaj, Cost of Non-Europe Report, op.cit., p.62. Lowest-range estimates have been used.

512 Steer Davies Gleave, Cost of Non-Europe in the Single Market for Transport and Tourism - Road Transport and Railways

(Annex I), 2014, p.87.

513 W Schade et al., Cost of non-completion of the TEN-T, 2015.

514 European Commission, Differentiated port infrastructure charges to promote environmentally friendly maritime

transport activities and sustainable transportation, 2017.

515 European Commission, Impact Assessment accompanying the White Paper – Roadmap to a Single European Transport

Area - Towards a competitive and resource-efficient transport system, SEC(2011)0391, March 2011.