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MOS CONCEPT The European Commission introduced the concept of Motorways of the Sea (MoS) in its 2001 White Paper on European Transport Policy for 2010 (revised in 2006). Motorways of the Sea refers to the development of key sea routes between EU Member States (and possibly neighboring third countries) that will offer high quality regular services in combination with other transport modes. The concept of motorways of the sea aims at introducing new, integrated intermodal maritime-based logistics chains with high quality maritime links to connect the limited number of selected ports that are located at strategic points on European coastlines. These chains will be more sustainable, and should be commercially more efficient, than road-only transport, providing regular and high-quality alternatives to road transport and permitting a substantial modal shift of freight traffic from congested roads to key combined “land-maritime routes” thus materialising the concept of the Motorways of the seas. Realising such routes should bring about a fundamental structural change in the EU transport system and the way it is organised in the years to come. Motorways of the sea will thus improve access to markets throughout Europe and bring relief to the overstretched European road system. In connection to the MoS concept fuller use will have to be made not only of maritime transport resources, but also of the potential of rail and inland waterways, as part of an integrated transport chain. This is the Community added value of the MoS.
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