The Focal Point for Short Sea Shipping - person of reference - are representatives from national administrations within each Member State (for Italy it is the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport).They were designated, or nominated, on the bases of a letter from the DG TREN drafted 9^th October 1997 of the European Union (EU), in accordance with the recommendations made by the working group, Short Sea Maritime Transport – TMCR (Trasporto Marittimo a Corto Raggio), of the Maritime Industry Forum (MIF) of the 22^nd September 1997.Currently, all the Member States having a coast line, have a Focal Point - person of contact.

Focal Point work in co-operation with other administrations (e.g. The ministry of the Economy, Custom Policy, etc.,) ensuring co-operation among them and resolving problems that prevent the development of Short Sea Shipping, as mentioned by suppliers and users of the service.

In all these activities, the Focal Point work along side the Contact Points, forming the Office of the Focal Point.

Some of the activities carried out relate to the coordination of the functions of the various Round Table associations, and the equivalent organizations at the national, regional, and/or local level.These constitute forums of discussions to identify the actual problems, and the solutions between the interested parties (Administrations, Suppliers, and the Users of the service).

The Italian Round Table represents precisely the attempt to create a forum, in which the parties participating in the various phases of the Short Sea Shipping chain, can discuss and analyse problems, while aiming to their find solutions.

The Round Table was established on 30^th March 2000.The association participating are the associations representing:

• Ship Owners
• Ports
• Terminal Operators
• Shipbrokers and Agents
• Freight forwarders

In order to improve the performance of this function, the National Round Table was set up in work groups that consent a thorough monitoring of the national specificities.

Network of contact for the co-operation and co-ordination at the European and pan-European level.

The network of contact between the Focal Points of the various Member States has just been completed.The exchange of information/data is carried out by e-mail therefore, the EU developed two Web Sites: the first for the exclusive use of the national Focal Points, and the other for public use.