A ‘smart’ approach for Indo-French trade
To facilitate quick and easy logistics solutions, HAROPA plans to present its ‘smart corridor’ approach and the benefits of ‘ease of doing business’
Handling more than 94 million tonnes of cargo by sea and more than 22 million tonnes of river traffic each year, HAROPA is the fifth largest port complex in Northern Europe. Herve Martel, CEO, Port of Le Havre & Director, HAROPA Ports, explains why the French port is looking to further strengthen its relationship with India. What was HAROPA’s objective behind the India visit?
The idea was to meet key players in the Indian EXIM trade, key officials of port authorities, and members of the Indian government to discuss maritime issues such as development of the Indo-French trade. To facilitate quick and easy logistics solutions, HAROPA plans to present its ‘smart corridor’ approach and the benefits of ‘ease of doing business’.
How has business from India grown?
India is a long-trading partner of France and the country needs HAROPA’s attention. It is the fourth powerful agricultural economy in sectors that are directly competitive or complementary with the French. The maritime traffic between the Indian subcontinent and HAROPA is quite stable. Focusing on India maritime traffic with HAROPA, we have attained a growth of 13 per cent in 2018 over 2017. All signs claim a continuous and prosperous trade relationship. Three-fourth of the container trade is concentrated in only three ports - Nhava Sheva (33 per cent), Mundra (23 per cent), and Chennai (20 per cent).
Why should HAROPA be considered a gateway port to Europe?
The first reason could be an outstanding geographical location. Situated along a unique river, HAROPA ports benefit with the shortest transit times between Europe and Asia. Being the leading French port for containers, Le Havre enjoys a privileged location at the entrance to the north-western range of Europe and irrigates the Paris and European markets. From the mouth of the Seine to Rouen, the maritime terminals of HAROPA serve as an international opening to the regions of western France. The joint venture of HAROPA ports offers some 115 commercial offers spread over 14 Indian ports. It offers competitive transit times, that is 25 days from HAROPA to Mundra, 22 days to Mumbai, and 29 days to Chennai. The port of Le Havre handles most of the containerised goods trade. The port of Rouen, specialising in West Africa, is involved in groupage containers, break-bulk, conventional lots, and bulk agri-food. Second, HAROPA is one of the must-have platforms for temperature-controlled goods traffic with accommodation of the largest reefer vessels in operation,
50 specialised freight forwarders for reefer products, 550,000 m3 of positive and negative temperature storage capacity, 3000 reefer plugs in the container terminals, and 24-hour remote monitoring of containers equipped with a modem on the terminals. The HAROPA alliance and its partner ports offer a land and property offering with nearly 1000 hectares of land reserves and 2.7 million sqm of premises. HAROPA also offers a premium maritime service with more than 660 ports connected, served by 60 shipping companies proposing 3750 weekly commercial offers. Asia is the most important market, but HAROPA strengthens the trading relationship with Africa and is a geographically well-placed transhipment port for this destination. At present, HAROPA accommodates the biggest vessels 24x7, without any tidal constraints and is located close to the most important European consumer market and is linked to the UK with maritime services. HAROPA has implemented a new PCS/CCS with its partner SOGET, to improve and secure cargo transit. In the meantime, it has begun a ‘smart port corridor’, prompting several initiatives in logistics, technologies, and sustainable development.
What type of cargo is HAROPA targeting from India?
Cargo exchanged between HAROPA and India was around 1850 metric tonnes including 35 per cent of bulk (solid bulk, crude oil and liquid bulk), 64 per cent of containers, and one per cent of others (including RO-RO activity). For container trades, the top commodities shipped from HAROPA to India are synthetic rubber, latex, paper, and carton for recycling, vehicles and transport material (CKD, chassis, and parts), used clothes, textile and baggage. Major goods coming from India and going to HAROPA are textiles, clothes and baggage, vehicle and transport material (CKD, chassis, and parts), chemicals (pharmaceuticals, medicines, etc.), machinery and accessories, tiles, bricks, and slates. We have developed tailor-made offers for the chemical sector, automotive, pharmaceuticals, industrial projects, luxury and cosmetic specialists to answer the Indian shipper’s and freight forwarder’s need and back the development of the Indian economy.
Is HAROPA ready for Brexit?
The port of Le Havre has the necessary tools to cope with Brexit. For containers, HAROPA and the stakeholders in the sector have the know-how to manage additional flows coming from a new third country without any impact on port transit times. Despite the uncertainty about Brexit, ferry business increased in 2018, which grew by over one per cent for passengers and over two per cent for freight vehicles. In customs controls, dematerialisation solutions for procedures proposed by SOGET are in the process of being set up for the heavy goods vehicle crossing the Channel. In logistics, HAROPA has a land and real estate reserve available to host logistics bases associated with traffic between the UK and continental Europe.