Projects concerning Motorways of the Sea will be supported with the objective to alleviate congestion and/or to reduce the environmental impact of transport through short sea shipping links.

The supported studies and / or works, shall relate to:

• the upgrade of port infrastructure, hinterland connections and dedicated terminals, where required to establish or expand such short sea shipping links. Such projects shall involve at least one Core Network port in a Member State and another Core or Comprehensive Network port in another Member State with the main purpose to establish or expand cross-border links. The investments between the two ports should be reasonably balanced.

Port Infrastructure required for the establishment or upgrade of the maritime link may include, amongst others:

• • Providing or improving inland waterways/road/rail access and connectivity with the ports’ hinterland e.g. through the upgrade of the road, railway or inland waterway last mile connections;
• • basic port infrastructure such as turning basins, quay walls, berths, jetties, backfills (for creating space for other basic port infrastructure, for example a berth, quay), land reclamation, which are improving the efficiency of the maritime ports and their integration within the TEN-T network. Support can also be given to fixed ramps, gangways, automooring systems and other fixed infrastructure needed for the short sea shipping link;
• • Port access aiming at providing safe maritime access in the form of breakwaters, access channels, fairways, locks and navigational aids (e.g. radar, buoys);
• • shore-side electricity supply (including an upgrade of electrical grid within the port if it is needed for the shore-side electricity supply);
• • port reception facilities for oil and other waste (including residues from exhaust gas cleaning systems) to meet environmental requirements;
• • Improvement of port handling capacity through the construction or upgrade of freight and/or passenger terminals, safe and secure parkings (the necessity of the safe and secure parking areas should be clearly demonstrated in the proposal) or investments in customs, phytosanitary, immigration or security facilities but excluding mobile superstructure (e.g. cranes, , multimodal equipment and vehicles, etc.), passenger car parks and warehouses;
  • digitalisation of port operations, excluding support to shipping operators.
• Projects facilitating the provision and use of short sea shipping but not linked to specific ports such as ICT platforms, facilities for ice-breaking, including ice-breakers, or activities ensuring year-round navigability.

Maritime vessels will not be supported except for ice-breaking activities.