The inland freight transport in the European Union is characterized by the domination of road transport. As the most used, road transport generates the most significant external costs. It is primarily responsible for traffic congestion and CO2 emissions which are the two major problems of the European system of freight transport. To fight against these problems, the EU invests public funds dedicated to the construction of new infrastructure to increase capacity and meet the demand for transport. In addition, it promotes solutions to alleviate road traffic as a modal shift from road traffic saturated to less polluting modes. In this context, the EU has promoted the motorways of the sea (MoS). We analyzed the development context MoS, their position in the transportation system and development prospect in the European Union to clarify its concept and its relevance. In order to meet the objectives of the EU to eliminate congestion and reduce CO2 emissions, MoS are developed to reduce the heavy vehicle driven on the road. In this case, the technique of rollon/ roll-off to carry heavy weight seems appropriate. MoS are new routes for the construction of routings goods hauliers. They offer a less expensive than the "all roads" solution. Using MoS, hauliers can reduce CO2 emissions thank to reducing the roadway travel. For this reason, the MoS are a complementary mode of road transport. In France, road freight traffic accounts for a large number of transit flows. Also, the number of border crossings is limited due to natural barriers of the Pyrenees, the Alps and the English Channel. Congestion is therefore serious on two main roads: one from north to south of France and the other go along the Mediterranean Sea. Promoting modal shift from road to sea by the implementation of MoS, part of the traffic of these axes and points of saturated transition could be carried over the sea. Ports thus play an important role to make the shift from land to sea. Located in northern France, the port of Le Havre can be involved to ease the traffic from north to south of France. We studied the case of the port of Le Havre to assess the feasibility of this modal shift.

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   |wiki=    Wicri/France
   |area=    LeHavreV1
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   |étape=   Exploration
   |type=    RBID
   |clé=     Hal:tel-01328716
   |texte=   The motorways of the sea
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