Maritime ports – studies, works or mixed

Topic updates

15 July 2025
Information update on the 2024 CEF Transport CORECOEN call

Call published: 24/09/2024

Call deadline: 21/01/2025

Indicative budget: EUR 1 080 000 000

Total budget requested by the applicants: EUR 7 208 910 738.43

Number of admissible and eligible proposals: 70

Number of inadmissible proposals: 4

Number of ineligible proposals: 2

Number of successful proposals: 13

Total budget for the successful proposals: EUR 1 589 626 047.33*

* The budget flexibility provided in the 2021-2027 Work Programme has been applied in this call

12 February 2025

The nine CEF Transport calls for proposals closed on 21 January 2025. In total, 258 proposals were submitted requesting over €9.5 billion co-funding from the CEF Transport budget. It is nearly 4 times more than the €2.5 billion available for these calls

The CORECOEN call received 76 applications for a requested funding of over EUR 7.2 billion from the CEF Transport budget.

CINEA will first check the admissibility and eligibility of the proposals. The evaluation will continue with the support of independent external experts. The results will be made available to applicants in July 2025

Maritime ports – studies, works or mixed

TOPIC ID: CEF-T-2024-CORECOEN-MARP-WORKS

Type of grant: Call for proposals

General information

Programme:

Call: CEF 2 Transport - Projects on the Core Network – Cohesion envelope (CEF-T-2024-CORECOEN)

Type of action: CEF-INFRA CEF Infrastructure Projects

Type of MGA: CEF Action Grant Budget-Based [CEF-AG]

Status: Open for submission

Deadline model: single-stage

Opening Date: 24 September 2024

Deadline dates: 21 January 2025 17:00 (Brussels time)

Topic description

Objective:

The objective is to develop transport infrastructure projects in maritime ports on the TEN-T core network.

Scope:

Studies and/or works on core maritime ports related to:

• port access aiming at providing safe maritime access in the form of breakwaters, access channels, fairways, locks and navigational aids (e.g. radar, buoys);
• basic port infrastructure, with a priority on:
  • development of zero or low-emission multimodal solutions;
  • development of ports capacities and facilities in relation with the transportation activities of the offshore wind farms. The involvement of the maritime port in the transportation activities of the offshore wind farms and the need for the basic port infrastructure for those activities should be demonstrated in the proposal; and/or,
  • improving connectivity of remote, insular or outermost regions or of Member States with no land border with another Member State.

Such basic port infrastructure may be in the form of turning basins, quay walls, berths, jetties, backfills, land reclamation, which improve the efficiency of the maritime ports and their integration within the TEN-T network. The backfills and land reclamation could be supported as interventions to create space for construction of other basic port infrastructure, e.g. a berth, quay walls, etc., but should not lead to significant added capacity (i.e. increased surface of or creation of new terminals, logistics/cargo/multimodal handling areas, etc.).

• shore-side electricity supply (including an upgrade of electrical grid within the port if it is needed for the shore-side electricity supply, and excluding related installations on vessels);
• fixed port reception facilities for oil and other waste from ships (including residues from exhaust gas cleaning systems) to meet environmental requirements;
• ensuring year-round navigability by means of capital dredging and ice-breaking facilities. The capital dredging will be supported only as an intervention to remove bottlenecks for the EU short sea shipping. This must be demonstrated in the proposal and accompanied by appropriate Cost Benefit Analysis (if applicable) justifying the short sea shipping traffic and corresponding dredged depth.
• providing or improving inland waterways/rail access and connections within maritime ports. The rail access could cover rail infrastructure e.g., new rail tracks, upgrade of existing rail tracks, adaptation for 740 meter long trains and connections within the maritime ports, necessary utilities installations (e.g. electricity) needed for the railway operations. Road access and connections to/within maritime ports will not be supported, except for projects located in Member States with no land border with another Member State.

Works projects may include on-site renewable energy generation (synergetic element in accordance with Section 10.6 of the Work Programme) such as grid connection from the port to the grid outside of the port needed for the shore-side electricity supply, photovoltaic power plants, wind turbines, etc. that is primarily used for example for the shore-side electricity supply, for the need of the basic port infrastructure and for diverse port operations. Such synergetic elements must improve the socio-economic, climate or environmental benefits of the project and may not exceed 20% of the total eligible costs of the project.

Support will not be given to:

1. Infrastructure dedicated for cruise ships, except as regards shore-side electricity supply;
2. Infrastructure in shipyards including shore-side electricity supply;
3. Maintenance dredging, dredgers and/or dredging equipment;
4. Digital port solutions (digital port systems/ICT platforms and/or IT equipment);
5. Utilities installations (e.g. water, electricity, lighting), auto-mooring, fixed ramps, dolphins, bollards, fenders, and other fixed auxiliary port infrastructure, unless such interventions are proposed as an integral part of a relevant basic port infrastructure which is the main element of the project;
6. Fixed and/or mobile superstructure, e.g. cargo/passenger terminals, parkings, check-in buildings and areas, storage/stacking areas and facilities, logistics/cargo/handling/ loading/unloading areas and facilities, warehouses, multimodal logistics platforms, access control gates, port/terminal equipment and vehicles, crane foundations and rails, beams, security related interventions (e.g. fencing, CCTV equipment), etc.

Hinterland connections to the maritime ports are covered by the respective transport mode priorities but may be part of a single project (for instance a project improving the rail access both within and outside the port area). Projects combining hinterland access both within and outside the port area may be submitted either to the maritime ports or to the inland waterways/rail topics as appropriate.

Any internal service road, maintenance road, access road, etc., from/to/on quays, berths, terminals, rail yards, or any other location within the maritime port, even if needed for the Action implementation, will not be supported.

The basic port infrastructure for development of zero or low-emission multimodal solutions could include basic port infrastructure for improving the interconnection between the maritime transport and inland waterways.

For merged port entities or entities managing more than one maritime port, only the geographic area of the maritime port indicated in Annex II to the revised TEN-T Regulation must be included in the project. This does not affect the relevance of hinterland rail connections to the maritime port indicated in Annex II.

In case of a project taking place in more than one port, the activities of the project in the different ports should contribute to a common objective of the project.

In accordance with Article 9(2), point (a)(i) of the CEF Regulation, projects addressing the core network may include related elements on the Comprehensive Network, when necessary to optimize the investment. These elements may form up to 10% of the total eligible costs of the Action and should be presented as a separate work package.

Facilities and infrastructure supported under CEF must be accessible for use by all operators on a non-discriminatory basis.

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