On June 28th, the port of HAROPA, the largest port alliance in France, held a luncheon and port promotion meeting at the Villa Barsai, the official residence of the Consul General of France in Shanghai, attended by nearly 100 enterprise representatives, covering automobile, aviation, shipping, logistics, ports and other industries.
Mr. Wang Du, Consul General of France in Shanghai
Mr. Wang Du, Consul General of France in Shanghai, delivered an opening speech. Subsequently, Mr. Kris Danradjou, Vice President of HAROPA Port, and Mr. Cedric Virciglio, President of Strategic Development, gave a detailed introduction to the situation and development goals of the port, and expressed the hope of strengthening the cooperation between France and China in maritime transportation. Ms. Han Zhiyun, Investment Manager of Business France, introduced the advantages and attractiveness of France in the field of logistics and ports.
Kris Danradjou(左)与Cedric Virciglio(右)
In the afternoon of the same day, the port circle (ID: gangkouquan) asked questions to Kris Danradjou and Cedric Virciglio, two senior representatives of HAROPA Port, focusing on the competition and cooperation between HAROPA Port and European ports, as well as the cooperation between HAROPA Port and Chinese port and shipping enterprises.
The largest port alliance in France
THE PORT OF HAROPA FRANCE IS A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE FORMED IN 2021 BY THE PORTS OF LE HAVRE, ROUEN AND PARIS, AND IS THE NUMBER ONE LOGISTICS HUB IN FRANCE AND THE FOURTH LARGEST PORT IN EUROPE.
Among them, the port of Le Havre is a deep-water seaport that can dock the world's largest container ships; The Port of Rouen is the largest grain port in Western Europe, focusing on bulk and dry bulk cargo; The Port of Paris has built a network of 7 multimodal transport platforms, focusing on the "last mile" movement of goods.
The port alliance not only controls the main inland and maritime traffic along the Seine axis, but also has more than 2.5 million square meters of logistics and warehousing space, handles more than 130 million tons of maritime and inland traffic annually and creates more than 160,000 jobs.
As of 2024, the port of HAROPA is connected to nearly 650 ports around the world, providing a strong logistics service for the Seine Valley and the Paris region, France's largest consumer market. THE PORT OF HAROPA IS NOT ONLY A MAJOR EXPORT CENTER FOR CEREALS AND WINES AND SPIRITS IN FRANCE, BUT ALSO A LEADING INLAND PORT AND THE PREFERRED GATEWAY FOR THE IMPORT OF GOODS SUCH AS NEW FURNITURE, HOME APPLIANCES, ELECTRONICS, TEXTILES AND LEATHER FURNITURE FROM CHINA. At the same time, HAROPA Port also provides end-to-end decarbonization services, and is committed to achieving green and low-carbon logistics and transportation.
Expanding China's "Circle of Friends"
In recent years, the cooperation between the Port of HAROPA and China has become increasingly close. In 2023, China will become HAROPA's largest import market, with more than 416,000 TEU of imported containers; At the same time, it is also the second largest export market of HAROPA Port, with more than 72,000 TEU of export containers.
HAROPA Port has established cooperative relations with many ports in China, such as Shanghai Port, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, Shenzhen Port, etc., and has opened express services. It only takes 35 days, 36 days and 26 days from the port of Le Havre to the port of Shanghai, Ningbo Zhoushan and Shenzhen respectively (note: at present, due to the impact of the Red Sea crisis, the time of ship detour has increased by 10-12 days). Recently, CMA CGM Group launched the "French Peak Service" express service, which is the fifth direct route from the port of Le Havre to China, calling at Yantian, Vietnam, Singapore and Le Havre.
At present, HAROPA Port has formed strategic alliances with more than 300 Chinese companies, and 10 large shipping companies connect Europe and Asia through its ports.
Referring to the cooperation with Chinese ports, two senior representatives of HAROPA Port said that the cooperation between HAROPA Port and Ningbo Zhoushan Port is particularly close, dating back to 1990. Ningbo Zhoushan Port transports Zhejiang inland waterway cargo to the seaport for export through multimodal transportation, which is very similar to the operation mode of HAROPA Port. Now, HAROPA Port and Ningbo Zhoushan Port hope to carry out more in-depth cooperation in green and low-carbon transportation, such as learning from each other and exchanging experience in water-water transfer and oil-to-electricity swapping of transportation equipment. In addition, the senior representative of HAROPA Port revealed that HAROPA Port is planning to cooperate with Ningbo Zhoushan Port, Shanghai Port and COSCO Shipping to carry out the construction of green corridors.
On May 29 this year, HAROPA Port received a high-level delegation from Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group in Paris, further consolidating the partnership between the two parties. On June 27th, Cédric Virciglio participated in the Maritime Silk Road Port Cooperation Forum held in Ningbo, and in the afternoon participated in the "Promoting" Innovation, Green Smart Ports and Sustainable Development Forum.
Blessed with abundant and accumulated
In Europe, the Port of HAROPA is inevitably competing with the Port of Antwerp and the Port of Rotterdam. How to stand out in the fierce competition? In this regard, the senior representative of the port of HAROPA said in response to questions from the port circle that on the one hand, the port of HAROPA has become the fastest, economical and environmentally friendly freight option in France by building a comprehensive multimodal logistics network in France; On the other hand, the channel of the port of Le Havre has a water depth of 17 meters, which is a natural deep-water port, which can receive and unload the world's largest container ships, and in the case of congestion in other European and American ports, the port of Le Havre still maintains efficient loading and unloading efficiency, and ships do not need to wait in line to enter the port, which greatly saves time and cost for shipping companies and goods.
In addition, HAROPA Port is committed to promoting green and smart port development in the development process, and is actively building green logistics corridors, realizing terminal electrification, and developing a "new fuel valley" to explore renewable and low-carbon energy sources such as biomethane, electric jet fuel and hydrogen. By 2026, the Seine basin will have 132 electrified stops.
It is understood that from 2020 to 2025, HAROPA Port will spend 1.45 billion euros (about 11.3 billion yuan) on port construction. These include the Port 2000 deep-water port, which is dedicated to container traffic and can handle large container ships around the clock, regardless of the tides, and the "Port of Seine-Metopol-West" multimodal platform in the greater Paris region. Expand its multimodal logistics network to improve customer connectivity and service levels with new infrastructure projects.
Gangkouquan believes that this promotion conference is not only a major way for HAROPA Port to show its strength to the outside world and attract Chinese shippers and port and shipping companies to establish a connection with it, but also an important window for France to attract foreign investment. HAROPA port is the first port of call and the last stop of the export of the Nordic route, and connects the vast hinterland of France through the developed inland water system, and its economic and fast green channel is an important reason to attract foreign investment and settle in the logistics park, and when the influx of foreign capital, it will effectively feed back the port cargo volume, killing two birds with one stone, and releasing a positive signal in the unstable global economic situation.