Transportation is vital to any economy. Without rail, road, sea or air transport, our economies would be reduced to isolation and failure. Overpriced, poorly regulated transport markets severely impact on the economy and on the well-being of people.

The European transport markets have undergone major regulatory changes over the past decades and substantial investments in transport infrastructure lie ahead.

We have extensive competition policy expertise and an in-depth understanding of different transport network services.

We help with design or implementation of economic regulation, measuring of economic impact, and in antitrust or competition policy matters and cases of state aid.

Our expertise includes market power assessment, regulatory design, price reviews and charging structures, benchmarking, and cost of capital assessment.

Our Transport team helps clients to make transportation markets run smoothly within all types of transport.

We help our clients with

Rail transport can become faster, cheaper and better with the right regulation and incentives for operators. Well-running trains reduce travel times and get people to work faster, they allow for more business travel and reduce emissions and congestion. The same applies to transporting goods. Efficient allocation of rail track capacity and optimal location and operation of road-to-rail terminals can improve transport conditions, increase export capacity while at the same time reducing environmental impact and road congestion.

Air transport has grown rapidly and airfares have dropped significantly in recent decades following the massive proliferation of European and international air transport. Airlines are competing more vigorously than ever before and are becoming more and more independent. This poses questions about how governments should react to safeguard their economy and capture the most of the economic benefits from air transportation.

It also gives rise to a new competitive situation for airports. An airport may or may not have significant market power, or may only have market power over part of its business. Market power should be assessed, not assumed. If significant market power is found, the appropriate economic regulation should be adopted and careful consideration made whether a full-blown price cap regulation is warranted.

Sea transport is the engine of our global economy. For economies to reap the benefits of international trade they are deeply dependent on efficient sea transport services. Port efficiency and the mechanisms for allocating berthing time in ports is essential for the overall import and export capacity of a country or region.

Road transport is facing more and more congestion and in combination with increased focus on the environmental costs, it becomes more and more important to review the pricing of road usage.

Copenhagen Economics made a substantial contribution in an important and complex area, and I am very impressed with their work
Jos Nijhuis, President and CEO - Schiphol Group
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