Maritime Commission

The creation of the maritime commission is one of the milestones in the life of ECG, as it marks the end of the period when ECG was perceived as a trucking association. Indeed, with big shipping lines, port operators and rail companies joining in the course of the last year, ECG enjoys today a truly multimodal membership.

The Maritime Commission is the second sector Commission to be created after the one on commercial vehicles. In the future, ECG also plans to form a Road Commission and a Rail Commission.

The objective of the Maritime Commission is to focus on issues that are specific to this area of operation and jointly identify non-commercial activities that would benefit all ECG members, and the industry in consequence, in terms of efficiency.

The Commission currently works on two major projects, for which two sub-groups have been created. The first project is related to the harmonization of the responsibility and liability rules in ports. The aim of the second project is the identification and elimination of existing operational inefficiencies in ports.

The sub-group on operational inefficiencies decided to map the processes in different European ports in order to come up with a general picture of problems encountered across the continent. After detailed reports on the situation in the ports of Zeebrugge and Barcelona, the issue of lack of communication between the port operators and the trucking companies was identified as an important bottleneck. One solution that is currently being investigated is an on-line booking-in facility that will allow transport operators to pre-warn the port of their expected arrival time and dare, as well as of the details of the cargo. Three IT service providers have made their offers for setting up such a system.

The sub-group on responsibility and liability rules in ports is investigating the current practices in different parts of the continent in preparation for drafting an ECG standard.

Membership in the Maritime Commission is open to every ECG member active in the broadly defined maritime sector – deep-sea, short-sea and inland waterways.

For more information on this Working Group, please Contact Us