Financing Short Sea Shipping with EU innovative instruments State of Play for Connecting Europe Facility and Juncker Plan Matthieu Bertrand, Policy Officer, Unit Connecting Europe Investment Strategy, DG Transport and Mobility, European Commission 18 June 2015, SHORTSEA15 European conference, Copenhagen Transport
Context Level of public and private investment historically low in EU, particularly in infrastructure Adverse impact on growth and long-term competitiveness of EU economy Investment needs very high, in particular in transport sector Expected growth of international trade and passenger traffic, need to adapt infrastructure and fleets Greening of transport, major EU objective White Paper, TEN-T policy, Clean Fuels for Transport...
Context Private investors looking for investment opportunities High levels of liquidity on capital markets Very low interest rates on sovereign bonds Interest in infrastructure investments But risks & uncertainties European Commission & EIB want to square the circle Provide additional support in financing projects & companies By being able to have instruments with more risk bearing capacity
Tools available at EU level Connecting Europe Facility: grants Budget of 22.5bn for 2014-2020, with 11.3bn reserved for Cohesion MS 10.5bn remaining after 2014 call, including 7.3bn for Cohesion MS. => Limited budget available outside Cohesion, majority to go to SESAR, small budget for Motorways of the Sea Connecting Europe Facility: Financial instruments 1.5bn available for a wide array of instruments Project Bonds, LGTT, possibility of other Debt or Equity instruments, dedicated investment funds for specific policies Standard EIB lending New: European Fund for Strategic Investments
European Fund for Strategic Investments
European Fund for Strategic Investments New Fund set up within EIB with a 16bn EU guarantee to finance through loans or guarantees with higher risk-profile about 315bn of additional investments in the next 3 years. Set up of a European Investment Advisory Hub Regrouping and expanding existing Technical Assistance to help administrations and project promoters prepare projects and use financial instruments Set up of the European Investment Projects Portal to provide governments and investors with a transparent project pipeline to encourage investment.
Eligibility of financial instruments CEF financial instruments The whole TEN-T network, Core & Comprehensive All projects eligible under TEN-T Guidelines Ground and on-board components of traffic management systems or alternative propulsion systems EFSI instruments For transport infrastructure and equipment TEN-T projects, but also beyond TEN-T Projects for smart and sustainable urban mobility
Opportunities for Short Sea Shipping projects CEF grants Limited funding available through MoS for 2015 call Only for projects involving a port of the Core Network CEF & EFSI financial instruments Infrastructure investments in Ports, including infrastructure for clean fuels Capacity upgrades, safety, LNG bunkering or feeder vessels, shore-side electricity Tools are being developed to finance in particular greening of fleets For projects/companies that cannot access commercial banking support or EIB standard lending Because banks are not willing to cover the additional costs and risk related to alternative propulsion systems (LNG, electricity, )
Next steps CEF grants Result of the 2014 call to be announced early July New call at the end of 2015 CEF & EFSI financial instruments Final text of EFSI to be adopted by European Parliament next week CEF financial instruments to be available from July EFSI to start from September EC/EIB working on infrastructure pilot projects EC/EIB exploring interest of shipowners for financial support & working on the design of dedicated instruments
Thank you for your attention! Matthieu.bertrand@ec.europa.eu Transport