Such decision will be based on the advantages in practical terms, depending on whether the vessels carry mainly Union goods (in which case regular shipping service may be an option since no proof of Union status is required) or mainly non-Union goods (in which case the use of regular shipping service may not be an option because there is no obligation to use the transit procedure outside the service).

One of the existing trade facilitation measures is the regular shipping service scheme, a customs facilitation scheme for vessels that call on a regular basis in EU ports only carrying mainly Union goods. Nevertheless, according to the maritime transport industry, only 10-15% of maritime traffic, mainly ferries, is operating under this scheme.

An operator, wanting to offer a regular shipping service between Felixstowe in the UK, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Copenhagen in Denmark and in the future perhaps to Gdansk in Poland, will be able to profit from the enhanced regular shipping service scheme.

2. In respect of activities undertaken by shipping agencies for the provision of international maritime transport services, including inter-modal activities involving a sea leg, each Party shall permit to the companies of the other Party their commercial presence in its territory in the form of subsidiaries or branches, under conditions of establishment and operation no less favourable than those accorded to its own companies or to subsidiaries or branches of companies of any third country, whichever are the better. Such activities include, but are not limited to:

The Community shall support, through national and regional development strategies as defined in Title I and in conformity with Article 35, the ACP States’ efforts to develop and promote cost-effective and efficient maritime transport services in the ACP States with a view to increasing the participation of ACP operators in international shipping services’.

4. The Community shall support the ACP States' efforts to develop and promote cost-effective and efficient maritime transport services in the ACP States with a view to increasing the participation of ACP operators in international shipping services.