SASEPOL represents an opportunity for the beneficiary countries to capitalise on international experience available from international experts provided by the EU and, with their national experience, develop and realise relevant maritime transport strategies and programmes, and implement ‘joined up’ policy packages at regional and national levels in the areas of maritime safety, security management and ship pollution.

A Mott MacDonald›-led consortium with Ramboll›, Tethys Environmental Consulting› and Milieu› has been awarded a two year contract by the EC’s EuropeAid Cooperation Office to support the development of the project.

The desired output of this technical assistance project is the enhancement of knowledge and experience required by the national and regional bodies responsible for maritime safety, security and protection of the marine environment. A further aspiration is to assist the beneficiary countries in the completion of their accession to relevant IMO conventions and to improve their implementation in a national and regional context.

The project recognises safety, security and pollution prevention as basic elements for the development of maritime transport, of particular relevance to some of the latest innovations on transport networks such as the development of ‘motorways of the sea’, short sea shipping and multimodal/co-modal transport, which are being applied in the Caspian and Black Seas region. It is hoped that that these innovations will contribute to the creation a fully integral multimodal transport corridor under the TRACECA initiative and that the principles of safety, security and pollution prevention considerations are embedded in that process.

For more information, please visit the project web-site at: www.sasepol.eu