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Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe, ALICE

ALICE

1.

Lobbying Activity

Response to EU Ports Strategy

28 Jul 2025

ALICE supports embedding ports as drivers of green and digital logistics in the EU Ports Strategy. 1) Research Vs Real-World: Port innovation often stalls at the pilot stage. The EU should support shared testing environments, such as regulatory sandboxes and living labs, to enhance interoperability in digital, energy, and transport systems. Incentives are needed to overcome barriers including regulatory fragmentation, insufficient logistics support, and poor data integration. Bridging funding gaps between research and market uptake is vital, as many collaborations do not advance beyond TRL 8. This includes addressing gaps in cybersecurity, dual-use infrastructure, and other mission-critical areas. 2) Innovation for All Ports: Medium and smaller inland and peripheral ports are key to multimodal logistics but often lack resources to innovate. The EU should support scalable solutions as modular PCS, shared data platforms, federated digital twins, regional hubs to cut or minimize integration costs. Organisational models, stakeholder engagement and tailored support mechanisms, alongside collaborative innovation, joint procurement, mentoring, skills development, social dialogue and inclusive capacity building, are all vital to ensure that all ports benefit from technological progress. 3) Policy Alignment for Port Innovation: Ports lie at the intersection of multiple EU policy domains (climate, transport, energy, digital, security) yet coordination across these remains weak. A coordinated framework is needed to connect energy transition, resilience, and innovation, ensure strategic autonomy, and avoiding regulatory overlaps. Obligations such as OPS must match grid availability. Voluntary, thematic collaboration should be encouraged, especially on digital corridors, energy hubs, and data spaces, aligned to EU priorities. 4) Ports as Energy, Data and Innovation Hubs: Ports must be recognised also as energy, data and innovation hubs. They need policy tools to be acknowledged as key energy players. EU support should prioritise port infrastructures for energy transition, including cold ironing, smart grids integration, and interoperable logistics data sharing. Funding should also support AI applications, drones and last-mile logistics, while fostering community engagement in transition plans. 5) Reinvesting Fit for 55 in Port Innovation: Ports are drivers of sustainable logistics, both maritime and hinterland. Revenues from Fit for 55 tools (e.g.: EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime) should be reinvested into the green and digital transition in ports, including cold ironing, hydrogen, batteries, smart-grid connectivity, and low-emission cargo handling. The Innovation Fund and CEF should also support mature solution deployment. These investments must also support dual-use applications, reinforcing EU resilience and strategic autonomy. 6) Barriers to Innovation at Port Level: Technological readiness alone does not guarantee innovation adoption; organisational rigidity, procurement obstacles, fragmented governance, and skill gaps continue to hinder innovation. The EU should support skills development, capacity-building, flexible concession models, and streamlined procurement rules to enable faster deployment, especially with SMEs and start-ups. Standards and guidelines must promote data sharing and interoperability. 7) Urgent EU Actions to Support Innovation: To ensure the Ports Strategy delivers real impacts, a shift is needed from isolated pilot funding to systemic innovation support. Based on port input: a.Regulatory sandboxes to allow controlled testing of new technologies and models; b. Dedicated EU funding for both pilot and mature solution deployment; c. Recognition of ports as energy and data hubs, aligned with EU climate, transport and digital goals; d. Procurement reform to enable co-development with SMEs and faster implementation; e. Collaborative procurement and new funding models adapted to port innovation cycles
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Meeting with Pablo Fabregas Martinez (Cabinet of Commissioner Adina Vălean)

8 Feb 2024 · transport and logistics

Meeting with Henrik Hololei (Director-General Mobility and Transport)

14 Sept 2021 · Multimodal transport

Meeting with Diederik Samsom (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans), Sarah Nelen (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and

19 Mar 2021 · European Green Deal and carbon-neutral transport

Meeting with Henrik Hololei (Director-General Mobility and Transport)

17 Jan 2020 · Clean Transport

Meeting with Friedrich-Nikolaus von Peter (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc)

22 Sept 2017 · Meeting to discuss the Transport European Technology Platforms (ETPs)

Meeting with Friedrich-Nikolaus von Peter (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc)

22 Sept 2017 · Multimodality topics

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

19 Jul 2016 · Meeting with European Technology Platforms