Make up your mind

摘要

EU politicians are a funny lot: one moment they are extolling the virtues of so-called Motorways of the Sea - even to the point of giving subsidies to operators willing to establish new lines - and the next they are bemoaning the fact that too much cargo is being shipped by sea.rnLast month at an ESPO conference in Marseilles EU legislators were highly critical of the way containers are moved on east-west trade routes. Apparently 70% of boxes that enter the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal are shipped past the southern European ports and taken all the way to northwest Europe. "It is a waste of bunker oil, bad for the environment and contributes greatly to congestion in north European ports," they said.