Denmark

Interviewees

Kristen D Nedergaard, The Danish Transport Council

Niels Selsmark, Ministry of Transport

Christina Engholm, Ministry of Transport

John Jensen, The Danish Port Association

Steering Committee Representative

Kristen D Nedergaard, The Danish Transport Council

Links

Ministry of Research

Ministry of Transport

The Danish Transport Council

An estimated 10 MEURO a year is spend on Danish transport research. The main part of the national freight transport research is co-ordinated by the Danish Transport Council an independent research body founded in 1993. The selected projects are financed on a yearly basis with the possibility of extensions. The total yearly research funding by the Transport Council is app. 2 MEURO and primarily allocated to universities. Research projects are supervised by a Steering Committee consisting of representatives from the research sector, public bodies and the industry. The research results are disseminated through seminars, publication and can be downloaded from the Home Page of the Transport Council. The Council was represented in the Transport Research Committee and the TAP Programme Committee and participates in some COST actions. The Transport Council promotes the European research programmes through seminars linked to the calls for proposals. Last seminar was held 5 March 1999 and linked to the first call of FP5. Co-financing is given to Danish participants in European research projects but the funds used for this purpose have yet been fairly limited.

The Danish Parliament decided in the beginning of 1999 to use 2.7 MEURO the next three years to enhance the national transport research environment. The funds will be allocated to the creation of an open research centre for transport and logistics. Until now no dedicated intermodal research has been mentioned in relation to the research centre. National intermodal transport research has received little attention, which relates to the difficult market conditions due to the fact that the distances in Denmark, the volumes and the international trade relations are all favouring road transport solutions. There is no specific programme within the Ministry or the Transport Council dedicated to intermodal transport research. The Ministry of Transport use app. 200 KEURO a year on intermodal transport projects. Most funds are used to support projects internally in the departments. Funding decisions are taken through parliamentary hearings and in some case public debates. The national policy development has been clearly influenced by the proposals presented by the European Commission and the transport related White and Green Papers. The goal is to secure the development for intermodal freight transport even though the national environmental benefits are limited. The national terminal policy is taking a bottom up approach with decisions taken locally. The role of terminals in the transport chain was investigated in the FREIA project (first call in FP4) but a more extensive analysis is needed.

The participation of Danish ports in European research and policy development has been moderate. Only the largest ports participate (Fredericia, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg) through the work in the Committee of the regions, the Danish Transport Ministry or through European organisations like ESPO and FEPORT. The terminal policy development in the ports has been lacking as the organisation of the users has been too fragmented.

Policy and research priorities:

• More efficient freight distribution (city logistics etc.) through a combination of push and pull parameters;
• The political support for improving intermodality on a European level is too limited; Improved co-operation between operators is needed;
• Improved co-ordination of timetables between waterborne transport and inland transport is needed on a European scale; Improved knowledge of the driving forces behind transport demand;
• Data obtained through European research is not sufficiently detailed;
• Difficult to obtain the necessary information on European transport research results.