Marco Polo 2013: This European grant scheme could be profitable for organizations with any future projects that reduce road transport by eg. switching to greener transport modes for European freight traffic. The European Commission has 66 mio EUR available to support Modal Shift actions or other investments related to road traffic reduction. This is the final call for such activities, since the grant program will be closed in the next EU budget period 2014-2020. For more information, please contact Monique van der Voort or Edwin Aelberts: +31204711111.

1. Marco Polo II Programme Hudson Financial Incentives
Call 2013 Horizon 2020
Joost.holleman@hudson.com
Joost.holleman@hudson.com
Edwin.aelberts@hudson.com Edwin.aelberts@hudson.com
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4. The Marco Polo II programme

5. Marco Polo II Programme
Aims
 Reduction of road transport
 Reduction of freight traffic pollution
 Reduction of congestion
 Shift freight from roads
 Using alternative forms of transport:
o Greener
o Cleaner
o Cheaper

6. Marco Polo II Programme
How?
 Shift freight traffic off the road
 Make use of transport by:
o Rail
o Rivers
o Sea
 Avoide unneccessary transport

7. Marco Polo II Programme
Five actions
1. Modal shifts from road to rail and waterborne systems. Most applications are for
direct modal-shift projects. You do not have to shift all your traffic off the road to
obtain a grant. Inter-modal projects, combining the different transport modes - road,
rail and waterborne transport - are eligible.
2. Catalyst actions which promote modal shift. These must be breakthrough,
technology-driven projects, providing supporting services for modal shift like
management systems, integrated cargo control via GPS, or common IT platforms for
inter-operability between modes.
3. Motorways of the sea between major ports. Motorways of the sea actions offer an
effective way of getting big volumes of freight off the roads and onto ships. They must
be innovative and inter-modal, and operate between category A European ports fully
equipped to handle this traffic. Category A ports are defined in an official EU decision.
4. Traffic avoidance. The cleanest journey is the one that does not take place. Marco
Polo therefore promotes traffic avoidance by funding projects which introduce new
ways of avoiding or reducing road traffic, such as avoiding empty runs or improving
supply chain logistics.
5. Common learning actions. Projects related to enhanced knowledge and cooperation
in inter-modal transport and logistics are a regular feature among funded projects.
Different award conditions apply for this category.

8. Marco Polo II Programme
Modal shift
 Shift transport off the road to rail, waterborne systems / inland waterways
(e.g. rivers, lakes) and short-sea shipping. Combination of road, rail, water
is possible. This is called: Inter-modal shift
 Focus on shifting as much freight from road to short sea shipping, rail and
inland waterways.
 Projects may either propose start-up of new services or significantly
enhance existing services.
 The envisaged route, from which transport is shifted by the action, must
involve the territory of at least two EU Member States/other fully
participating countries or the territory of at least one EU Member
State/fully participating country and a close third country.
 Modal shift shall take place on the territory of at least one EU Member
State or a fully participating country.
 Actions shall not lead to distortions of competition in the relevant markets
 Duration: minimum of 24 months and a maximum of 36 months.

9. Marco Polo II Programme
Catalyst Actions
 Development of innovative systems that make modal shift possible
 Overcoming structural market barriers in European freight transport by
means of highly innovative concepts causing a real break-through. 3-step
process: first the barrier must be clearly defined, then a highly innovative
solution presented, and finally a modal shift service of great growth
potential for freight transport is proposed for timely implementation.
 The envisaged route, from which transport is shifted by the action, must
involve the territory of at least two EU Member States/other fully
participating countries or the territory of at least one EU Member
State/fully participating country and a close third country.
 Modal shift shall take place on the territory of at least one EU Member
State or a fully participating country.
 Actions shall not lead to distortions of competition in the relevant markets
 Duration: minimum of 36 months and a maximum of 60 months.

10. Marco Polo II Programme
Motorways of the sea
 Shifting large volumes of freight from road to ships. Only ship transports
between category A seaports (1.5 million tons of freight and/or 200,000
passengers per year).
 Shift freight from long road distances to a combination of short sea
shipping and other modes of transport.
 The envisaged route, from which transport is shifted by the action, must
involve the territory of at least two EU Member States/other fully
participating countries or the territory of at least one EU Member
State/fully participating country and a close third country.
 Modal shift shall take place on the territory of at least one EU Member
State or a fully participating country.
 Actions shall not lead to distortions of competition in the relevant markets
 Duration: minimum of 36 months and a maximum of 60 months.

11. Marco Polo II Programme
Traffic avoidance
 Reducing road transport by means of:
o new ways of avoiding freight traffic (no traffic at all)
o new ways of reducing freight traffic
o integrating transport into production process
o making the whole supply chain more efficient
 The envisaged route, from which transport is shifted by the action, must
involve the territory of at least two EU Member States/other fully
participating countries or the territory of at least one EU Member
State/fully participating country and a close third country.
 Modal shift shall take place on the territory of at least one EU Member
State or a fully participating country.
 Actions shall not lead to distortions of competition in the relevant markets
 Duration: minimum of 36 months and a maximum of 60 months.
 No support for activities which bear no direct relation to transport or
distribution and activities which adversely affect production output or the
workforce.

12. Marco Polo II Programme
Common learning
 Actions related to:
o Getting and sharing more knowledge
o Co-operate with other partners in inter- modal transport
o sharing know-how
o many projects awarded involved a training component
 Enhancing knowledge in the freight logistics sector and fostering advanced
methods and procedures of co-operation in the freight market, with an
overall objective of promoting intermodal solutions.
 Improvement of co-operation and sharing of know-how is encouraged:
training on how to cope efficiently and in a sustainable manner with
increasingly complex transport and logistics solutions.
 Dissemination of results must be ensured.
 The minimum grant threshold per action is €250,000.
 Actions shall not lead to distortions of competition in the relevant markets
 Duration: minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 24 months.

13. Marco Polo II Programme
Minimum quantities shifted or avoided
A proposal must pass the minimum threshold per year for each
action*:
1. Modal Shift: > 60 million t/km shifted
Pure inland waterways: > 13 million t/km shifted
Single Wagon Load Traffic > 30 million t/km shifted
2. Catalyst actions: > 30 million t/km shifted
3. Motorways of the sea: > 200 million t/km shifted
4. Traffic avoidance: > 80 million t/km avoided
* These averages are measured over the entire duration of the project

14. Marco Polo II Programme
General eligibility criteria
E1: Uniqueness: The type of action must be clearly specified. No mixing of action types
is allowed.
E2: Transport Services: The action must concern transport or logistics services and not
an infrastructure-, research- or a study project.
E3: European Dimension – Undertakings: an action can be submitted by either a
single undertaking or by a consortium of undertakings established in any EU Member
State or fully participating country.
E4: European Dimension – Costs: the budget will only finance costs arising on the
territories of the European Union or fully participating countries (see „Fully
participating third countries‟ in the FAQ on the Marco Polo website).
E5: Type of Legal Entity: all project participants must be legal persons. They must be
privately or publicly owned commercial undertakings. Public law entities engaged in
economic activities in accordance with their national laws are entitled to participate.
Natural persons are not eligible.
E6: Start-up of action: the action must start the proposed service or activity between
1st October 2012 and 1st October 2014.

15. Marco Polo II Programme
Selection criteria (I)
S.1. Financial Capacity of Applicants
The financial capacity shall be demonstrated on the basis of five financial ratios: liquidity
(current ratio), dependency, profitability, solvency and financial autonomy. There are
two joint conditions to be satisfied in order to show the financial capacity:
1. At least one of the project partners should show the minimum values for the following
two ratios:
a. Liquidity ratio (current ratio): Current assets/Current liabilities ≥ 0.50;
b. Dependency ratio: Share of EU grant/Equity ≤ 1.
2. The total score obtained by each of the project partners for all five ratios should be
equal to 4 or higher. The grid for the attribution of points is presented on the next
slide.
S.2. Technical Capacity of Applicants
This capacity shall be supported with evidence of at least a 5-year experience by the
applicants in the commercial and business area where the project will be implemented
or with evidence of at least 5-year experience of their directly involved employees in
the commercial and business area where the project will be implemented.
Documentary evidence of this requirement shall be provided with company records
and CVs.

16. Marco Polo II Programme
Selection criteria (II)

17. Marco Polo II Programme
Award criteria
1. Quantity of freight shifted
This criterion requires a clear definition and presentation of both the old “road” route
and the new “modally shifted” route for Modal shift, Catalyst and Motorways of the sea
actions. For Traffic avoidance actions a clear definition and presentation of the old and
new transport service are obligatory.
2. Environmental benefits and external costs savings
Environmental benefits and external costs savings have quantitative and qualitative
elements and they must be thoroughly described and justified.
3. Credibility of the action
The market research or feasibility study results and a business plan coherent with the
action described, are vital elements to judge the credibility of the proposal as well as
the likely utilization of the service in terms of potential customers (supported by
letters of intent, or even better, letters of commitment), presentation of business
objectives etc.
4. Viability of the action
All actions should be sustainable beyond the project duration. This should be clearly
demonstrated in a solid business plan, including clear profit and loss projections.
5. Innovative approach

18. Marco Polo II Programme
Funding Conditions
For Modal Shift, Catalyst Actions, Motorways of the Seas and Traffic Avoidance
the grant will be the lowest out of:
1. The grant will be limited to 35% of the total eligible costs necessary, and
actually incurred. Ancillary infrastructure costs are eligible up to 20% of the
total eligible costs.
2. The grant will not amount to more than €2 for each shift or avoidance
actually realized of 500 tonne-kilometres or 2000 cubic or 25 vehicle
kilometres in case of traffic avoidance (SSS and IWT €3).
3. The maximum operational loss. The grant shall under no circumstances
have the purpose or the effect of producing a profit for the beneficiary. The
action may not produce an overall profit during the entire duration of the
grant.
For Common learning actions it will be limited to 50% of the total eligible costs
necessary and actually incurred.

19. Marco Polo II Programme
Call 2013 – key dates
 Budget call 2013: € 66,7 million
 Publication of call: 26 March 2013
 Deadline for applications: 23 August 2013
 Estimated date of notification of applications & start of contract
negotiations: December 2013
 Signature of contracts: First half of 2014