48. Stresses the importance of protecting and securing the highest possible level of training for port workers; supports the Commission’s desire to provide port workers with a mutually recognisable basic qualification so as to foster flexibility in the sector; hereto and, as a first step, a comparison should be made between the different existing systems of professional qualifications for port workers; considers, however, that this basic qualification must not have the effect of lowering the average level of qualification of port w ...[+++]orkers in a Member State;

9. Calls on the regional authorities concerned to implement a more multimodal transport policy to ensure that, in addition to motorways, more traffic goes by rail and internal waterways, to connect port areas effectively with the trans-European transport networks and to give ports more effective hinterland connections, in particular through the use of railways and inland waterways; calls, furthermore, on the Commission to make use of the 2010 mid-term review to release more resources to enable greater use to be made of intermediate ports by unloading cargoes in one or more feedering steps so as to reduce congestion in the main ports and ...[+++] their environs and bring the cargo as close as possible to the recipients; stresses, therefore, that it would be useful to diversify unloading points with a view to significantly reducing road traffic and addressing a recurrent congestion problem in the environs of the port zone; calls at the same time, during the planning of port facilities, for an in-depth evaluation of whether these unloading points, which are smaller and closer to the recipient, are nevertheless capable of handling a larger number of unloadings, partly in the light of their infrastructure and road network, so that the problem is not simply shifted to other port areas;

48. Stresses the importance of protecting and securing the highest possible level of training for port workers; supports the Commission's desire to provide port workers with a mutually recognisable basic qualification so as to foster flexibility in the sector; with this in mind and, as a first step, considers that a comparison should be made between the different existing systems of professional qualifications for port workers; considers, however, that this basic qualification must not have the effect of lowering the average level ...[+++]of qualification of port workers in a Member State;

42. Takes note, in particular, of the Commission's analysis of port concessions and calls on it to bear in mind the importance of some flexibility for port authorities in this area, particularly as regards the renewal of concessions linked to major investments, but believes that this flexibility should not be used to prevent competition within ports;

3. Where a ship at a port facility is to be inspected and the flag State of the ship is not the Member State of the port facility, the Member State of the port facility shall ensure that the Commission inspectors are accompanied by an officer of an authority referred to in Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 725/2004 during the inspection of the ship.

– (NL) Mr President, as a former member of the Amsterdam City Council Port Committee and as a current inhabitant of Rotterdam, I know what is wrong with competition, expansion and labour relations in ports.