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EU Multimodal Transport Hubs

Jun 8, 2017

Start Date: 2010
End Date: n/a.
Participating Countries: AT, BE, CZ, CY, DE, EL, FI, FR, HU, IT, NL,PL, SE, SI
Other partners: n.a.

To establish a coordinated EU Multimodal Transport Hub system in Europe and to harmonize national procedures to facilitate cross border and movement of troops and military goods across Europe.

Project goals

Develop a Multimodal Transport Hub System for serving Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and Member States (MS) purposes through harmonised regulations, procedures and process as well as, pooling and sharing of assets and infrastructure in Europe
Identify harmonised and simplified procedures for border passing with military personnel and equipment
Promote more cost-effective use of European transport assets, best use of existing air/sea/inland infrastructure as well as increased civil military transport synergies
Analyse and implement cost saving options for combining a range of logistic facilities and systems
Provide access to existing and develop future IT-systems and software for planning and execution of multi-national transports

Detailed description of the project

At present, military transportation and sustainment is considered to be a national responsibility. This includes planning and execution as well as timely provision of assets, services and infrastructure. Due to the almost exclusive multi-national character of today’s CSDP operations, there is an increasing need for coordination and cooperation between Member States to avoid unnecessary duplications and associated inefficiencies. Depending on circumstances, in many cases, best economic practice would be to use Multimodal Transport Hubs that can manage a range of transport means. A smooth passage through borders from the sending nation to the hub is a fundamental requisite for the hub system itself to be used by Member States.

To this end, the EDA launched a work stream and convened a Project Team Movement and Transport (PT M&T) under IDT Deploy to cope with the demand of Member States in establishing an EU Multimodal Transport Hub system in Europe. The EDA’s work in Europe is complementary to the NATO worldwide hub approach.

A Project Team Movement and Transport with subject matter experts from Member States (and EUMS, EATC, AMSCC, MCCE, etc. as observers) has been established. The Project Arrangement was signed in 2017 by 13 Member States and a Technical Agreement on surface movement, border crossing and transiting is expected to be signed by mid-2018. EDA’s aim is to provide contributing Member States with a platform for discussion/ improvement of the overarching and flexible legal framework to support the development of EU Multimodal Transport Hub system.