New port: a more appealing way for Italians to reach Barcelona than by road. Photograph: Achilles/Dreamstime.com

The economic development and prosperity of large parts of Europe was for many centuries bound up with the sea. Yet Europe’s shared maritime space has somehow slipped from our consciousness. When did you last make a journey that included a day or two on a scheduled service passenger ship?

In November 2009, the European Commission was busy issuing calls for projects supporting its “Motorways of the Sea (MoS)” initiative. With MoS, Brussels is playing the environment card, reminding freight hauliers and travellers alike that ferries and ships are less polluting than many other modes of transport. Along the way, sea routes ease road congestion and, in providing access to peripheral regions and island communities, they are vital components of Europe’s transport infrastructure.

A decade ago, as budget airlines expanded their networks across Europe, it was fashionable to write off passenger sea transport. Yet freight routes thrive and in some parts of Europe, over the last year or two, passengers have been rediscovering that long hops on ferries and ships are infinitely less hassle than flying – and much more relaxing than long hours pounding the tarmac on Europe’s crowded motorways.

Last year saw many new long-distance passenger routes launched in European waters. But the picture is patchy – in the North Sea market, for example, there is little sign of any recovery, with the former passenger quays on the Tyne downstream from Newcastle looking decidedly empty these days. Four years ago, the port in north-eastern England enjoyed regular car-ferry services to five Scandinavian ports. Now it has none.

Look to southern Europe, and the picture is more positive. A year or two ago the Grimaldi Group presciently incorporated a Malta-based subsidiary, calling the new company “Malta Motorways of the Sea” (MMS). Although the emphasis is on freight transport logistics, passengers benefit too. In 2009 Grimaldi launched three new passenger routes from Italy to Malta under the aegis of MMS.

Last spring, Barcelona opened its sparkling new ferry terminal. Italian shipping company Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV) is one of several ferry operators enthused by the new facility. Antonio Pedevilla, manager of international ferry operations at GNV, suggests that his company wants to make Barcelona into a second Genoa. No surprise therefore that......