The paper aims to investigate short sea shipping services as a competitive, sustainable freight transport system which is able to respond to economic, social and environmental needs. An assessment methodology is proposed which considers an aggregate discrete choice model, simulating the split between the competitive transport alternatives in the Mediterranean basin. The proposed methodology was used to assess the potential of short sea shipping (SSS) and the net benefits deriving from lower external costs in the north-western Mediterranean basin. Two future scenarios are considered: introduction of new SSS services as envisaged by current EU projects and plans, and the introduction of new SSS routes and an increase in frequencies of existing services. Significant results were obtained in terms of shifting freight traffic from the road network as well as external benefits.

中文翻译：

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评估短海航运的潜力和外部成本方面的收益：适用于地中海盆地

本文旨在研究短途海运服务作为一种能够满足经济、社会和环境需求的具有竞争力的、可持续的货运系统。提出了一种评估方法，该方法考虑了聚合离散选择模型，模拟了地中海盆地中竞争性运输替代方案之间的分裂。提议的方法用于评估短途海运 (SSS) 的潜力以及地中海西北部盆地较低外部成本带来的净收益。考虑了两种未来情景：根据当前欧盟项目和计划的设想引入新的 SSS 服务，以及引入新的 SSS 路线和增加现有服务的频率。