The TransBaltic project was a strategic Baltic Sea Region (BSR)-wide project to find transport solutions for the Baltic Sea Region and its countries. The macroregional project was aiming for a better harmonisation and coordination of transport planning and policy-making in the BSR to build a consistent transport system area.
New solutions needed to be identified, due to old and inefficient transnational components as well as fast growing freight volumes. In its process, TransBaltic gathered together regional authorities, transport and logistics-related research institutions, transport operators, logistics associations and pan-Baltic networks. The partnership of 20 organisations was backed up by further 31 entities, including several national transport ministries around the Baltic Sea.
TransBaltic was part of the EU Baltic Sea Strategy (flagship in PA Transport). By enhancing the BSR gateway as recognisable brand it was used as implementation tool for the strategy in general.
The project was considered as a sharing and exchanging area to communicate new knowledge and ideas to develop a sustainable multimodal transport system. The whole BSR was used as a testbed for new business solutions in greening the transport. Road, rail and sea infrastructures were aimed to be more integrated with each other, to stimulate sustainable regional development and growth as well as territorial cohesion. Therefore, joint transport development measures and jointly implemented business concepts were developed.
Moreover, TansBaltic functioned as an initiator of an umbrella cooperation between green transport projects and pan-Baltic transport development initiatives. It generated territorial development scenarios for 2030 and provided impact analysis of future transcontinental freight flows on transport patterns in the BSR.
A second major aim of the project was the improvement of the external accessibility of the BSR and an increase of the quality of cross-regional connections. Subsequently, TransBaltic generated preparedness measures for the expanding intercontinental transport flows across the BSR as well as the flows between the BSR and other European macro/regions. Furthermore, the outcomes of already completed transnational transport projects in the BSR and past pan-Baltic initiatives were analyzed, refreshed and structured into a consistent framework. Some were upgraded with some pilot business actions.
To fulfill its goals, the project acted on different levels: Management and Administration, Communication and Information, BSR as a Transport Gateway Area, Horizontal Measurements and a Key Business Action Plan. Hence, specific business concepts could be developed (e.g. dry port concept, empty container management, ICT tools for better use of intermodal transport, competence management system in harbour logistics, solution to increase the use of rail freight etc.) as well as several conferences and meetings were held to exchange knowledge and contacts. Moreover, TransBaltic Policy Reports were produced in 2010 and 2011 as well as thematic reports on transport and logistics issues of transnational relevance. Newsletters and a video to spread the ideas and achievements to the public and partners.
The final product of the strategic process is the Macroregional Transport Action Plan (MTAP): It was prepared by TransBaltic in cooperation with several transport corridor projects, the pan-Baltic networks, the national governments of the Baltic Sea countries and the European Commission. It contains very detailed policy actions needed to create better interfaces between national transport networks and to make the BSR transport system more resilient to future changes. MTAP is a pro-active and future-oriented policy support instrument, which afterwards will be systematically updated and extended by ongoing projects. Among others, some specific stakeholders declared that they will use and develop TransBaltic results further.
Moreover, the follow-up project – BSR TransGovernance – will attempt to streamline all resultstowards a harmonised national/regional perspective.
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