Meeting of the Ports, Intermodal Terminals and Inland Waterway Working Group of the European Transport Corridors for the Atlantic and the North Sea-Mediterranean

Paris, 9 and 10 March 2016

Preamble

On 9 and 10 March 2016, Péter Balázs, coordinator of the Atlantic Corridor and Carlo Secchi, coordinator of the North Sea /

Mediterranean Corridor chaired the fi rst joint meeting of two European transport corridors. These corridors are specifi c in that

they cross on the logistics node of Greater Paris. 21 French and European speakers presented the opportunities, innovations and

constraints of the Seine Valley transportation systems to an international audience of around sixty people.

Summary of work

Four key messages:

- HAROPA was identifi ed as the legitimate leader

for a productive organization of the logistics and

industry in the regions, from the Seine Valley to the

ends of the commercial catchment area of the three

ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris.

Increase the institutional lobbying by HAROPA

of the European Commission to jointly pro-

mote developments in the logistics and indus-

trial ecosystem beyond the Seine corridor.

- HAROPA asked to optimize the interconnections

needed between the main mass transport paths

for European transport and the smaller branch

networks that supply both metropolitan consumers

and isolated rural shippers.

Strengthen collaborations with shippers and

transport organizers to co-build the infras-

tructures and services in phase with the needs

of the market sectors.

- HAROPA encouraged the promotion of a «global»

strategic vision to combine the 2030/2050 fore-

casts of the European Commission with the short

and medium-term goals of the logistics companies

in our regions.

Report to Brussels the expectations of the

stakeholders in our regions to base the stra-

tegic forecasts on the facts on the ground

concerning the exchange, storage and pro-

cessing of products. Proposal to launch expe-

rimentation contracts to test integrated modal

solutions in close conjunction with the private

sector in short periods of time.

- HAROPA was invited to take the «lead» to promote

the need for a planned strategic integration of the

Seine Corridor in the pan-European east-west corri-

dors for mass transport.

Work together with Brussels on an integrated

approach that includes the Seine Valley in the

medium and long term in order to optimize the

fl ow of international freight in Europe. Push

the approach that makes HAROPA the logis-

tics link between the peripheral areas of

Western Europe and the industrial-logistics

core at the centre of the European Community.

- HAROPA was identifi ed as a dynamic and intercon-

nected network to promote innovative solutions for

local supply.

Encourage private initiatives to fully use the

potential for rail / river / road interconnection

offered by Ports. Also establish strategic par-

tnerships with stakeholders in local supply to

adapt the infrastructures to innovative solu-

tions to meet the new needs of logistics.

Summary of the items discussed during the interventions of the morning session

Nicolas Bour, from the French Inland Waterway Board

(VNF), opened the discussions on the waterway link of the

Seine-Nord Canal for a future integrated network between

the Seine, the Oise and the Escaut rivers. The analyses tend

to demonstrate the logistics potential with the establishment

of platforms between northern Paris, the Lille region and the

ports in Belgium. The VNF recalled that the river connection

is a missing link in the consistency of the major European

networks. For Nicolas Bour, the economic dividends seemed

proven for all the regions crossed by the future connection. The

heavy cargo from the construction industry and agribusiness

would be added to the containerized cargo on a wide-gauge

canal. The VNF concluded with the modal shifts possible with a

promising environmental approach to supply all the economic

area of northern and western Paris.

Juliette Duszynski, from the Town Planning Agency

of the Le Havre Region and the Seine Estuary (AURH)

focused on the work that the AURH had carried out within the

framework of the European Weastfl ows project (Northwest

Europe). Given the context in which the hinterlands of the two

major gateways on the continent, Antwerp and Rotterdam,

were facing structural problems of congestion, the future of

the industrial basin of the Seine and the power of the HAROPA

port system lied in creating a major gateway for the European

continent. This was all the more so the case in that the exis-

ting corridors and entry and exit gateways in Central Europe

were insuffi cient to support the economic development of the

countries in Eastern Europe. The inclusion of the Le Havre -

Paris link in the Atlantic corridor was a fi rst step. The Seine

Valley had to see itself as an integrated part of the European

East-West logistics reaching as far as the Eastern markets of

France and South-western Germany. Juliette Duszynski de-

monstrated that the Seine Valley was a solution for prioritizing

a virtuous and effective European supply system, an environ-

mental and economic response for a better modal balance to

the benefi t of rail and river transport. The regional approach

merited attention with its effects on the creation of jobs and

added value. To achieve that aim, European investment should

enhance the overall performance of the HAROPA transport

system. JD’s forward-looking conclusion put forward a vision

of Pan-European transport with an integrated multi-modal

corridor, including the British Isles using the Seine Corridor

and projecting as far as Central Europe.

Rémi Mayet, «Ports & Inland Navigation” European

Commission - DG MOVE, recalled the central role of ports in

the international economic effi ciency of the European Commu-

nity as a whole. The adaptation and fl exibility of the European

regulatory frameworks should be promoted to meet the chal-

lenges of mega-shipping and the density of overland traffi c.

Port governance also required that reforms be continued at

the community level. Rémi Mayet listed the various European

programs already available to support improvements in the

performance of the major transportation corridors. In conclu-

sion, he recalled that transport, ports and logistics cannot dis-

sociate themselves from European ambitions for clean energy,

digitized procedures and technological innovations.

SOGARIS, a company dedicated to urban logistics asso-

ciated directly with HAROPA, concluded the morning with a

feedback on various logistics operations and experiments that

intertwine consolidated fl ows and the distribution of small pac-

kages on the Parisian mega-centre. The establishment and

development of logistic platforms in the centre of Paris had led

to the development of the operational concept on an integra-

ted logistics hotel. Combining the management of block trains

with the intra-urban distribution by trucks and light vehicles, a

logistics hotel optimizes both the mass transport approaches

of the major European corridors and the necessities involved

in managing the last few kilometres within metropolitan areas.

Its construction in functional layers reduced noise and enabled

a successful visual integration into the urban landscape. SO-

GARIS and HAROPA concluded with the deployment of another

concept already in place: urban distribution centres. Supplied

by trucks, the lots are unbundled for distribution by electric

vehicles to the neighbouring districts.

The interventions of the morning highlighted the two main the-

mes for work on corridors:

- The integration of east-west fl ows on a macro-European

scale on effi cient corridors for high-volume transport

- The importance of meshing the network on a local

scale to offer service solutions from the fi rst to the last

kilometre in order to result in effi cient «door to door»

transport solutions.

Lydia Mykolenko - Institute for Urban Planning and De-

velopment of the Ile-de-France region stressed the key

role of the Greater Paris area, a geographical convergence of

several major north-south but also east-west transport routes.

LM evoked the major strategic challenge of the Logistics

Crescent to optimize fl uidity and interconnections in the outer

suburbs from North to East and then South of the Greater Paris

area. LM recalled that transport corridors play an essential

role in re-industrialisation with infrastructures and ser-

vices serving the real and potential fl ows. LM concluded with

the structural projections of transport networks towards the

East of France and the centre of industrial Europe, echoing the

prospective strategic vision proposed by Juliette Duszynski of

the AURH.

Jean-Paul Lafi tte - Paris Seine Normandy recalled the

importance of the global legibility of what is being orga-

nized and offered in and by the Seine Valley. Over and above

lobbying, PSN was taking part in the optimization of trans-

port solutions by encouraging collective synergies alongside

HAROPA and the shippers. JPL insisted on the dynamic

interconnection between networks, people and informa-

tion. Clustering made it possible to jointly promote claims for

improving the general conditions of the HAROPA ecosystem.

JPL evoked the project of the Seine Valley Community System

for the optimal processing of information to be a core feature

of the region’s attractiveness synonymous with economic per-

formance and sustainable employment.

André Thinières - Objectif OFP explained the slow transfor-

mation of the rail system in France with the on-going erosion

in SNCF freight traffi c and how local rail operators (OFPs) were

taking over that traffi c. AT highlighted the resilience of unu-

sual networks reactivated by a shipping service from local

rail operators in tune with the needs expressed by stakehol-

ders in the regions. AT mentioned the importance of accessi-

bility to major European transport networks through a multi-

modal, fi ne meshed system. AT explained the appropriateness

of meshing on a scale suitable for use by branch rail lines to

supply goods direct to shippers… and consumers. The case

of the Logistics Hotel backed by SOGARIS and HAROPA illus-

trated the utility of this combination between the consolidating

effects of rail transport and the capacity of services closer to

shipper clients and consumer customers. AT discussed the

importance of market intelligence to maximize the unde-

rexploited potential of the Supply / Demand equation.

Arnaud Colson - French Aggregates Association (UNPG) noted that transport and logistics services increasingly took

into account the exact needs of the heavy goods they trans-

ported. AC put into perspective the importance of aggregates

in the effectiveness of the modal complementarity enabled by

piggybacking.

The issue of the fi rst kilometres was crucial with the

imperative need to respond on the commercial and strategic

levels to the optimized management of the transfer breaks. AC

insisted on the simplifi ed applicability of the measures

advocated by the European Commission in its planning vision

of multi-modal transport regions. Maintaining intra-metropo-

litan platforms was decisive to ensure the deliveries of heavy

cargo as close as possible to construction sites. For bulk cargo

such as aggregates but also for grain or chemical products,

rail-river-road combinations had to be central to strategic

planning for the short and medium terms. This meant saving

branch lines and interconnections, equally because of their

use for consolidating oversize loads and for their structuring

effect on local line networks. Europe must be in line with these

pragmatic requirements of the producers of traffi c.

Steve Labeylie - CFT stated that inland waterways transport

was highly dependent on market conditions and the health of

the production regions it supplied. River transport also remains

constrained by the physical geography and civil engineering

structures in particular that constrained the optimization

of loading heights. These factors continued to be important

when SL mentioned the strategic planning of the inland

waterways network. The diversity of the products transpor-

ted required structuring approaches based on the main

market sectors and industries. With regard to container

traffi c, the waterway links at Port 2000 had to be promoted

by HAROPA and Europe. In the same way, the strategic deve-

lopment of the Oise region is essential to optimize the use of

the waterways north of Paris, particularly for the bulk cargoes

of the construction industry. SL, as Arnaud Colson and André

Thinières, highlighted the importance of managing the last

kilometres, as close as possible to the initial sources of the

traffi c and the fi nal destinations of the products.

The maintenance and even the development of branch river

Summary of the items discussed during the round table

systems are the backbone of a dense, ecologically clean

network to the centre of the largest urban areas as evidenced

by the case of Paris and the developments backed by Ports

of Paris.

Michel Valache - VEOLIA emphasized as had Arnaud Col-

son the needs expressed by the main producers of traffi c. Veo-

lia had wide-ranging experience in the strategic management

of waste transportation and logistics. MV took the example

of the waste industry to emphasize the rapid development of

the business lines and practices, and thus their needs. MV

requested Europe and HAROPA be more fl exible and adap-

table in making multimodal transport networks more resi-

lient and more agile.

Having long-term strategic forecasts was good in MV’s opi-

nion, but there also had to be fl exible systems to protect

the most fragile networks with the deepest roots in the

regions. Veolia used the European area in all its geographic

dimensions, seeking to favour mass transport modes by rail

and river. Waste collection required sidings on industrial sites.

De-industrialisation could represent an opportunity to optimize

transport / logistics solutions. MV concluded by illustrating

his comments with the case of waste management by Veo-

lia between the Lyon region, Gennevilliers and the port of Le

Havre: all of the transport modes were actively used on almost

all the network gauges. MV urged Europe and the authori-

ties to engage and support experimentation contracts in

direct partnership with the private sector.

Benoît Melonio - CDISCOUNT confi rmed the strategic im-

portance of the Greater Paris urban area, as the crossroads

of mass transport dynamics and a vast region of logistics

innovations for ‘green’ management of the kilometres. BM

insisted on collaborations with transport organizers who favour

the Seine Corridor to import and export goods for the Casino

group. Gas trucks, electric cars, urban river services: Cdis-

count combined its modal integration with optimal control of

its environmental impact. The example of Franprix and barges

shuttle in the centre of the Seine highlighted the collabora-

tive approach between a logistics integrator (XPO Logistics), a

developer (HAROPA - Ports de Paris) and a shipper (the Casino

Group). Europe and HAROPA could act as facilitators so

that logistics services were fi ne-tuned to comply as close as

possible with the constraints expressed by the main «multi-

cargo» shippers. BM concluded by evoking the innovative idea

of European environmental value so that the logistics solu-

tions most respectful of the environment were also recognized

on the economic level. The European Commission should start

to analyse environmental performance compensation systems

to encourage transport services that were economically sus-

tainable.

In conclusion

Since its creation in January 2012, HAROPA had continued to mesh the port and logistics assets of a region that extended far

beyond the Valley of the Seine. The community of interests formed by the ports has a double strategy:

- Be as close as possible to the needs of all industrial and manufacturing stakeholders of our productive regions

- Go as far as possible in creating or developing the connectivity needed to continually improve the integration of the logis-

tics system of the Seine Valley in European transport corridors.

Seine Gateway expressed this strategy on several scales in a highly favourable environment since our regions combine high

capacities for industrial production-processing and unique sources of consumption with almost a fi fth of the French population.

However, the commercial infl uence of our transport system still suffered from a lack of connectivity and functional integration

with the major European transport networks. The effi ciency and power of our transport networks required analysis at the local

and global levels. As evidenced by the various testimonials from the private sector, the optimized integration of our main trans-

port corridors had to be included to a greater degree in the strategic vision and planning of the European Commission. This had

to be achieved by analysing the networks down to the smallest levels, integrating the tributaries, sidings and branch lines in

order to provide rail and waterway transport solutions that corresponded as closely as possible to the industrial needs of ship-

pers. The transport system backed by HAROPA has to be extended to the east in an East-West corridor approach,

complementary to the logistics corridors that are already saturated on the North-South and North Sea-Mediter-

ranean links.

This would result in better connectivity of the peripheral regions of Western Europe while providing multimodal mass transport

solutions for shippers located in the geographical centre of Europe.

BASED ON THE OUTCOME OF THE INFORMAL TRILOGUE OF 27th JUNE 2013