ABSTRACT
SSS has been growing signifi cantly over the past 40 years mainly due to the growth of intra-regional trade and the boost of hub-and-spoke maritime transport. Its importance is high in the South-East Asia and Europe but other regions of the world are also considering it. The American continent, particularly North America, and Australia are looking carefully at the European experience as a learning process so that they can also implement SSS or coastal shipping as it is called in some regions of the globe. Yet, there seems to be a gap between present growth rate and the goals of policy makers, namely in the European Union (EU). So far, growth seems limited to captive markets, i.e. connections of mainland with islands and deep-sea shipping (DSS) feeder services. SSS does not appear to be a real alternative to land transport, namely road haulage, when intra European trade is being considered. The logistics needs of shippers and just-in-time production philosophies have fostered the road transport usage due to its inherent advantages in detriment of waterborne transport services.
