Malta’s ATTO lobbying for fairer EU transport rules for islands

A delegation from Malta’s Association of Trailer and Truck Operations (ATTO) recently visited Brussels for high-level talks about the Combined Transport Directive.

ATTO is lobbying for a reform to the law, which was introduced way back in 1992, to increase the competitiveness of intermodal transport (road transport plus rail, maritime or inland waterways) against road-only transport.

It provides regulatory support for intermodal transport, including exemption from cabotage restrictions for the road legs and the permission of higher weight limits for vehicles on intermodal legs. 

However, these incentives are only provided for intermodal transport when there are parallel road-only alternatives. 

Islands like Malta, which have no road connection to mainland Europe, are therefore excluded. 

That effectively means that while goods transported using a mix of road and water transport within continental Europe benefit from incentives, the same goods using the same multi-modal mix transported to Malta do not benefit from the incentives.

While the Maltese government, including via Transport Malta, has proposed revisions to the directive over the years to make it fairer for Malta, its efforts have been blocked by other member states.

With the European Commission now proposing a revision to the directive, the International Road Transport Union (IRU), which ATTO is a member of, has issued a position paper which includes a playing field for island states.

“IRU is in favour of a fair revision to the Directive that would allow island member states like Malta not to be penalised,” ATTO chairman Joseph Bugeja told MaltaCEOs.mt. 

“These revisions would give Malta benefits, such as the way we can trade and the way cargo can circulate.”

ATTO recently discussed these proposed revisions in Brussels with IRU, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, and MEPs DanieL Attard, Peter Agius and Alex Agius Saliba. 

Cover photo: ATTO