Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to provide a replacement for the EU Motorway of the Seas funding that was available to ports and ship operators for the establishment of ferry services.
EU Motorways of the Sea funding is provided by the Connecting Europe Facility Transport programme (CEF-T), which focused its funding on major cross-border links for surface transport. Given the limited nature of cross-border surface routes between the UK and EU, CEF-T receipts for UK entities have been far less than for EU Member States. Consequently, the Government decided to end participation in the CEF programme.
The Maritime sector is largely private in the UK so decisions on establishment and funding of international ferry routes are for individual companies operating in the market.