Major upgrade planned for le Havre cargo terminal

/ 11th July 2022 /

Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) has announced a €700m investment programme for the le Havre cargo terminal in France.

TiL said the investment will lead to the creation over the next six years of 900 jobs for dockers and 200 for maintenance workers. It will also prepare the port for processing of the world’s biggest cargo ships, including the new generation of 24,000 container vessels.

TiL is owned by US Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Singapore Government Sovereign Wealth Fund.

The installation of new gantry cranes will double the number at the terminal to 20. TiL will also be tripling the terminal’s storage capacity with the installation of fleet gantries at six berths.

TiL CSO Ammar Kanaan commented: “Thanks to the assurance of cargo volumes from the world’s No. 1 container line MSC, to the local labour force’s agreement to provide people to support the growth and productivity of the port, and thanks also to TiL’s financial commitment to such a significant investment, this extraordinary endeavour has come to fruition.

“By implementing this initiative we will be able to help Le Havre become an even more significant access point for the French cargo market, and beyond.

“In order to realise Le Havre’s full potential as a gateway to Europe we are counting on the French government’s support for the development of the related intermodal rail infrastructure that will further enhance the link between our container terminals and European supply chains.

“Le Havre is already in an ideal position geographically to provide import and export facilities for continental Europe. We consider that the development of new rail and waterway links will make it even more attractive, driving up the volume of cargo we expect to handle in the coming decades.”

HAROPA PORT came into being in June 2021, when the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris formed the ‘major Seine Axis river and seaport authority’.

le Havre cargo terminal — HAROPA PORT came into being in June 2021, when the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris formed the ‘major Seine Axis river and seaport authority’.Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As the fourth largest North European port, HAROPA PORT serves an extensive hinterland centred on the Seine Valley and the Paris region.

From Le Havre to Paris, the port complex can point to 2.5m sq. m. of logistics warehousing currently in service and over 1m sq. m. of available warehousing space. It generates annual maritime and river traffic of nearly 110m tonnes.

Stephane Raison, HAROPA’s CEO, commented: “We are proud to have worked with TiL to make Haropa Port a reference container hub in Northern Europe for MSC and its customers.”