LISA: Linking Sea & Land – A Flagship process

Anders Berg,
Innovation Manager,
Swedish Maritime Administration,
Sweden

Johannes Betz,
Project Manager,
Hafen Hamburg,
Germany

A Flagship process. These processes are operational concepts that take initiative and responsibility for elaborating and implementing measures aiming to the realization of one or two objectives of the Policy Area Transport Action Plan. As ongoing initiatives and projects often overlap, and projects run over several years there is a need to establish networks to increase coordination. Lack of coordination and fragmented approaches run the risk becoming a bottleneck for further development and improvements in efficiency. A more harmonized and coordinated approach would make it possible to offer streamlined services throughout the region, make better use of current project results and give these results a chance to become adopted and scale.

By engaging stakeholders from port related businesses, logistics businesses along the supply chain, administration and policy, LISA aims to create a large partnership around the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). The focus lies within the facilitation of innovative technologies and solutions, digitalization and optimization of port calls linking sea and land and serving the stakeholders as a creative platform for projects, initiatives, and dialogues with other relevant stakeholders. The overall goal is to steer and manoeuvre towards the realization of EUSBSR Policy Area Transport Action Plan and its three actions: to improve connectivity of the region and cooperation with third countries, developing measures towards a climate-neutral and zero pollution transport, and the facilitation of innovative technologies and solutions in the Baltic Sea Region. Through that, LISA will help to help the EUSBSR goals of increased prosperity and affordable, sustainable cross-border connections, and in the long run increased global competitiveness.

LISA focuses on these areas to support the cross-sector harmonization process towards a European Maritime Single Window (e-MSW) and other digitalization processes along the logistics- and supply chain that optimise the port calls and link land and sea.  A stakeholder workshop LISA held provided feedback suggesting that the LISA process should focus on digitalisation topics such as: digital port assets, port call standards or maritime informatics more generally, just to name a few. The idea with LISA is to establish a long-term Flagship Process to support these cross-sectoral digitalization efforts in transport and logistics in the BSR. All under the consideration of TEN-T interconnectivity, the Motorway of the Seas Detailed Implementation Plan, and the EUSBSR Transport Action Plan goals. This process will help to facilitate joint initiatives and joint project applications linking land and sea in the BSR, utilising multi-level-governance (MLG) stakeholder networks and through that help uplift EU co-financed project activities beyond their project- and beyond the upcoming multi-annual financial framework lifetime. This will help to increase connectivity and intermodality and thus support a greener and more efficient transport system in the Baltic Sea Region.

There is a fragmentation among the Baltic States as well as in industry and shipping in how digitalization best can be used to assist effective, seamless, and secure transport flow through Baltic ports and the linking of shipping with connecting rail and road transports.  This fragmentation can be de-fragmentized with the assistance of suggested Flagship process by contributing with the neutral platform that supports and guides stakeholders, projects and initiatives. To steer stakeholders clear to avoid becoming isolated digitalized islands.

The European Commission also points to the need for coordinated and optimized port calls. Alongside the introduction of e-MSW, other possible efficiency gains need to be carefully examined which favours freight and passenger transport at sea. LISA the Flagship process would function as a network for coordination and discussion of present and future joint endeavours.

The Flagship process is not limited in time and is expected to continue until the specific challenge has been satisfactory solved. The Flagship process should especially be characterized by inclusiveness, flexibility, and endurance. The Flagship’s nature of inclusiveness, flexibility and endurance ensures that the Flagship can adapt to policy change, especially since one of its core values is the actual impact on macro-regional policy. The co-funded projects are focusing on aspects that are part of the cooperation programmes, adopted for the relevant multi-annual financial framework.

Processes on the other side, can react to changes in policy focus or developments, outside of the cooperation programmes. Therefore, a more agile response to technological-, environmental-, societal changes can take place. This agility also helps to consider aspects for the Baltic Sea Region and the EUSBSR Action Plan, that may be considered under other EU co-funding programmes such as Horizon Europe or Connecting Europe Facility II. Through that, aspects such as the electronic freight transport information legislation or developments within the EU Green Deal or React-EU can be included into the activities and policy support of Flagship Processes. This in turn will help Baltic to stay at the forefront of being a sustainable, advanced-, and well-developed Baltic Sea Region.

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