Following the definitions of usage of a territory with so many varied assets established thanks to the association Paris Seine Normandie, let’s continue our travel journal dedicated to telling the Seine’s economic story, focusing on one of its crucial characters, HAROPA. An alliance created by the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris, HAROPA, which is constantly evolving, now ranks as the 5th-largest port complex in Northern Europe.
Meet Antoine Berbain, Chief Operating Officer for HAROPA PORTS.
HAROPA is the alliance created by the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris, managed by three State public institutions (two major maritime ports and one river port). Since 2012, this alliance has taken the form of a GIE* (Groupement d’Intérêt Economique, or grouping of economic interest), in charge of strategy and commercial, multimodal and communications development on behalf of the three ports combined. Back in 2012, this constituted a first step towards integration. We had a long way to go.
Our collaborative work has borne fruit; HAROPA, the 5th-largest port complex in Northern Europe, has won market share in several sectors since its creation. But we still have a great deal to achieve and we need to speed up the changes – that’s why a more fully-developed model of integration is being worked on now, driven by Catherine Rivoallon, in anticipation of the creation of a single public institution encompassing both maritime and riverine aspects of the alliance, for 1 January 2021 at the latest.
Our three ports already complement each other extremely well, each having its own specialities and areas of expertise. The port of Le Havre is the only one capable of receiving large container vessels used for major international trading in goods. Rouen is a maritime estuary port, open to many forms of vessel, and a European leader in the cereal trade. Paris is a river port specialising in distribution ensuring the specific needs of the Ile-de-France Region, Europe’s leading market [taking in Paris and its surrounds]. These ports boast assets that overlap and that we’ll continue to develop. Among other things, each port can be supported by the other two to improve its offer in its areas of excellence, notably by facilitating pre and post transport by land of goods going by rail or river.
After the records set in 2017 (and that for a second year in a row), in 2018, HAROPA posted an overall growth in goods traffic of +2%, at 94.74 million tonnes in the maritime sector, and of + 4.5%, at 22.1 million tonnes as far as Ile-de-France waterways traffic was concerned, mainly lifted that year by DRY BULK COMMODITIES.
HAROPA confirmed its progress in the business of CONTAINERS. For the second consecutive year, HAROPA, generating 28.75Mt in traffic, attained 3 million EVP* and posted an historic new record, as regards the port of Le Havre, for related activity in its hinterland. CEREALS accounted for an historically high share of the market. Volumes dealt with for export in fact posted one of the best performances in the last 15 years.
In addition, traffic, both maritime and on the waterways, linked to the construction and public works sector (BTP in French), the roll-on roll-off* sector and CRUISESHIP activity grew considerably, the last beating records both in the number of stopovers and of passengers.
The Axe Seine Territoire d’Industrie, or industrial area, has a significant commercial, tourist, heritage and industrial potential. It also has a concentration of major environmental issues on which to focus, in particular in the Seine Estuary. This ecological corridor is an indispensible element in the proper functioning of Europe’s ecosystems, in particular concerning the wetlands stretching either side of the great river. Since it was created in 2012, HAROPA has been focusing on reconciling its port activities with environmental protection.
We’re actively working on the development of multimodal transport in particular. Important economic and ecological issues are at stake. We’re investing in this area in several ways, through infrastructure and services. For instance, in Le Havre we’ve set up a multimodal terminal enabling the development of transport via river and rail, rather than roads. Among other things, we’re working alongside companies to develop new transport services, as was the case in 2018 with Bolloré Logistics, that put in place a river barge between Le Havre and the port of Bonneuil-sur-Marne.
Another recent initiative is our partnership with Voies Navigables de France, for whom we launched, end 2018, a service for the distribution of water and electricity along the Seine for commercial vessels, by installing nine dedicated intelligent services terminals.
Indeed, HAROPA was a founding partner of the Environmental Ship Index (ESI) initiative, set up in 2009 by the ports of the Northern European range, encouraging shipping companies to reduce their vessels’ air-polluting emissions. Since 2013, HAROPA has awarded annual trophies to the maritime companies that have proved to be the cleanest. And in 2016 we extended this trophy to the whole Axe Seine area by launching an environmental trophy for river vessels.
We want to work on the transition to a green economy by using cleaner fuels and energy for the modes of transport used to go to and from our ports. We allow cruiseships to refuel using LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas); this has been the case since 2016, with the refueling of the AIDAprima vessel. We’re also installing electricity provision along the quays for river vessels and river ports, as well as compressed natural gas (CNG) at Bonneuil and Gennevilliers for trucks. From 2020, at Le Havre, we’ll also be able to welcome the first container vessels that run on LNG ordered by shipping company CMA CGM. Finally, we have as a further ambition to develop the usage of the cleanest possible energies as far as it’s possible.
In the container sector, the main investment is in the completion of Port 2000 at Le Havre, with, firstly, the extension of the quays by an extra 700m, work commencing in summer 2019 and, in addition, the creation of direct access to Port 2000 via a waterway – a channel known as a chatière – with a seawall to protect barges going directly between Port 2000 and the inland waterway network. The next stage in this project is the carrying out of the public enquiry before it can be authorised.
With regards to liquid and solid bulk, we have completed the deepening of the access channel leading to the various terminals in the port of Rouen. This was a massive project, enabling a gain of one metre in the draught of vessels travelling along the whole Seine navigational channel, and engaging almost €200 million in expenditure. We now need to continue investing in the quays to complete the offer and feel its full benefit.
As regards the construction sector, we want to create a new river port, called Paris Seine-Métropole Ouest, at the confluence of the Seine and Oise Rivers. This site will be around a quarry that’s still in operation and will be able to respond to the needs of the construction sector. The public enquiry that needs to be held for its authorisation is scheduled to take place in 2019.
The main one is the smart, or connected, port. Ports are often considered as infrastructure, but the exchange of goods that takes place in them often generates a lot of data. We have as objectives to encourage the exchange of information, and the use of the internet of objects and blockchain [digitally recording transactions]. The logistics chain, in terms of data, is going paperless, being digitally connected to the customs services and the harbour master’s office. This makes the average time that goods spend going through customs clearance very competitive, taking something of the order of four minutes. This also makes it possible to limit the number of physical customs controls that need to be carried out, thanks to prior targeting.
Smart technology is in our DNA. To encourage digital innovation, for example, every year we organise hackathons. In partnership with those involved in local digital networks, we provide some of our data to encourage various parties to get together to solve digital challenges. After Le Havre and Rouen, Gennevilliers hosted, in November 2018, the third edition, its aim to come up with solutions using innovation to respond to present-day and future challenges for France’s leading river port. The Cross Road team was awarded the HAROPA Grand Prix for its chatbot, a tool to connect companies looking to recruit with people looking for work.
Shipping companies, terminal operators, customs, transporters, etc… the multiplicity of participants makes the logistics chain complex. At the heart of this ecosystem, HAROPA appears like a geographical space similar to a vast corridor, able to connect up the entire range of parties involved.
The challenge, therefore, is to work on the link between each port and its wider territory. Our ambition is to turn ourselves into something of an orchestral conductor in the development of the Axe Seine, in order to create a new model for urban and industrial port territories integrated through innovation, as well as to become a smart corridor serving our clients and our territory.
This ambition revolves around four challenges: to make the flow of goods much more fluid thanks to cutting-edge technologies; to propose green, innovative, sustainable solutions, notably through making use of renewable energies, encouraging a circular economy and developing multimodal transport…; to become an innovations incubator, bringing together talented people within areas, and creating a community that includes companies, schools, universities, development agencies, researchers and laboratories; and to develop a ‘territorial hub’ on a human scale, forming links with town and their inhabitants.
This project, supported by Le Havre Seine Métropole, the port of Le Havre and other parties too, was one of the successful candidates in the [French Government’s] call for expressions of interest in its Programme des Investissements d’Avenir, or Territoire d’innovation de grande ambition (PIA 3 TIGA) [Programme for future investments, or ‘‘Territory of innovation on a major scale’’]. Between smart town and port of the future, the project should enable a profound transformation, through innovation, across the town of Le Havre and its suburbs.
Several specific projects are under consideration, among these, imagining the harbour master’s office of the future and encouraging the smooth transfer of goods while ensuring a high level of data security between all parties involved. Our partners are also considering installing sensors enabling improvements in biosurveillance of the port zone (air and water quality, levels of pollution, etc). HAROPA is further considering how to make use of blockchain to create safe chains for information exchanged between the various parties involved in the transport of dangerous materials.
GIE : Groupement d’intérêt économique, or grouping of economic interest: a grouping of already-existing companies whose aim is ‘‘to facilitate and develop its members’ economic activity, as well as to improve and grow the results of this activity’’ (clause 2 of article L. 251-1 of the French Code de Commerce). The aim to facilitate development is effected by pooling resources, be they material or human.
EVP: Equivalent Vingt-Pied (equivalent to 20 feet) a French measure, in the area of container shipping, expressing transport capacity in multiples using the standard volume of a 20-foot-long shipping container
Roll-on roll-off vessel: this type of ship is adapted to transporting lorries, trailer trucks, tractors, farm machinery and machines used in the construction sector. It can also be useful in transporting containers and swap bodies.
