Freight Transport in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Freight Transport in Europe - Essay Example In the modern era when every field is shaping itself, European freight transports have had to update according to globalization practices. However the hope of 2010 is there according to which it is expected that EU would take serious measures to half the road distance. According to Pompeo and Sapountzis (2002) one of the major reasons that could be count towards a constant rate in freight growth is being over confident in taking risks. (Pompeo & Sapountzis, 2002) Of course, the risk factor is there when ERTRAC is keen to achieve the following by 2010: During 1973 to 1976 and 1977 to 1981 the priority of the EU was to avoid damaging policy impact; and in 1982 to 1986 and 1987 to 1992 the emphasis was on risks and benefits of environmental policies for the internal market of cargoes. Even the European Environmental Agency held responsible the EU for the road static transportation infrastructure and for the exposure to the pollution of water and air. However, during 1992 to 1999 there was a stronger accent on 'paradigmatic change' to reflect global environmental risks, with proposed structural change in favour of public transport, energy efficiency and waste prevention. (Carter & Turnock, 2002, p. 57) It started with the UK publication, when in 1989 UK Transportation department concerning continuous growth of roads made some sentimental remarks. The remarks were emotional enough to jerk the Government to think seriously about the then transportation system which consisted of a developing European market in terms of logistics and freight. Therefore a program initiated which required heavy investment in motorways and trunk roads. It was announced that UK Government has decided to make the roads better. The program was so successful that it effectively doubled the existing investment plans and was seen as a commitment to the provision of infrastructure 'suited to the single market and other competitive challenges of the 1990s and beyond'. It was also argued that the investment was necessary for industry and to improve the country's economic geography, through increasing opportunities for less favoured regions, assisting urban regeneration and helping more prosperous areas to cope wi th growth. The programme had resulted from a substantial increase in road traffic (35 %) in the 1980s and the prospects of a doubling of road traffic from 1988 to 2025. Something had to be done and the government decided that road building was the main alternative to be pursued. (Berechman & Banister, 2000, p. 3) The past two decades in EU freight The past 50 years of European market has gone through tremendous ups and downs, where ups have been mostly initiated by the growth of free trade which liberalize the European market. The free movement and removal of transport barriers provide the EU with the motivation to create and groom their economic market. However in the initial 90s the growth through road transport was at little as 3%. There were many transport problems, among which the most