SHORT SEA SHIPPING IN EUROPE FACTOR OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM OF CROATIA.

The increase in traffic, freight and passengers has led to an overload of road routes that were no longer able to absorb the growing amount of traffic, and this resulted in unexpected problems related to traffic jams, increased costs and environmental pollution. It was very important to find a suitable alternative that would fully meet all users' criteria and would be able to follow current and future economic expansions, increase in trade and population growth. As a possible solution, the European Union proposed a program of short sea shipping connections, which represents a certain type of innovation. Its aim is to unburden the overloaded road routes and offer sea routes as an alternative. On its path of development the implementation of the program meets many obstacles. Firstly, it is necessary to identify these obstacles, and then to remove them, in order to enable faster and better progress. Therefore, this paper gives a special attention to identifying obstacles that impede the implementation of short sea shipping connection in developed countries of the European Union, and also in the Republic of Croatia. The paper also presents a part of the 'Motorways of the Sea' program, which refers to the introduction of a new intermodal logistics chain, based on ship transport, which should bring structural changes into the organization of European transport. Thus allow for successful functioning of the short sea shipping connections and overcoming the obstacles which impede its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]