Bollore Logistics is launching its brand new river transport solution today, with the first commissioning of a river unit service running between Le Havre and Bonneuil-sur-Marne via Gennevilliers, near Paris (France).
This new service is fully consistent with the development strategy undertaken by Bollore Logistics for the Seine Valley and its drive to develop innovative and eco-friendly solutions to meet customers’ needs.
Designed as a flexible solution, the service offers several advantages. First of all, the environmental benefits of waterway transport, which is low in pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Bollore Logistics will thus be reducing the share of road transport in favour of a barge service, allowing it to ship deliveries to its customers located in the Paris consumer basin. A “last mile” service, primarily operated by trucks running on natural gas, will round out this new logistics solution.
Bollore Logistics also wants to offer its customers the benefits of optimized cost management by taking advantage of the best port franchises offered by the Seine corridor. “The river corridor solution can help optimise the costs of parking import containers in Le Havre. Our goal is to offer our customers a flexible solution that reduces these costs.” says Laurent Foloppe, Director of the Normandy Region at Bolloré Logistics.
The Bollore Logistics motor barge will provide a shuttle service every Wednesday, running between the multimodal terminal of Le Havre and Bonneuil-sur-Marne to the south west of Paris, offering additional stops at the ports of Gennevilliers and Rouen. This solution allows Bolloré Logistics to offer a capacity of more than 5,000 TEUs to Paris’ Ports (Paris port and waterways authority). The motor barge will depart loaded from the two Parisian ports to Rouen and Le Havre.
Supported in this new project by HAROPA-Ports de Paris and the Normandy Region, this Bollore Logistics’ investment is part of a wider effort to develop the Seine Valley. According to Régine Bréhier, Managing Director of HAROPA-Ports de Paris and Vice-President of HAROPA, “This new shuttle confirms Bolloré Logistics drive to place the waterway (Seine) at the heart of a transport plan connecting the Greater Paris’ consumer markets to more than 700 ports worldwide.”
HAROPA also welcomes the decision to serve the Bonneuil terminal: “Located on the east side of Paris, close to the major logistics bases of the Greater Paris region, the terminal is trimodal, connected to rail and river. It provides a final link in the chain and is strategically placed as close as possible to consumer markets” says Bréhier.
