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Back in India for the first time since the COVID pandemic, France’s leading river and seaport – the Haropa Port – completed its visit to the country that started in Delhi and ended in Mumbai. In the presence of former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Haropa Port provided a presentation of the latest developments since the merger of 2021, in addition to its goals likely to be of interest to Indian organisations in the industrial, logistics and shipping sectors. The aim is to strengthen the already close ties between the two countries.
Cédric Virciglio, Haropa Port’s Strategic Planning Director, and Kris Danaradjou, Haropa Port’s Deputy General Manager gave a joint statement.
“The dynamism and diversity of trade between Indian ports and Haropa Port position India as a strategic market particularly well connected with shipping lines. Our commercial approach is directed at strengthening flows in growth sectors such as textiles, automotive components and chemicals and positioning Haropa Port as the best gateway to the northern French market and exploring new sectors for trade such as fresh products and grain.”
France and India share a determination to accelerate the ecological transition, and Haropa Port’s Green Corridor is in tune with Indian goals. Its capacity to carry goods from around the whole world into the heart of the biggest French consumer catchment area makes it a partner of especial interest for Indian actors looking to build a more virtuous logistics chain. Indeed, in 2022 the modal shares of rail and river transport rose from 12% to 13.3% for containers leaving Le Havre.
For the past several years Europe’s Northern Range ports have been experiencing a high level of pressure on real estate supply: plots available for new logistics and industrial facilities in port ecosystems are increasingly scarce, and applicable legislation increasingly strict.
Haropa Port is one of the very few managers of property assets in a position to offer real estate to private companies. The port has 3m sq.m. of built property and 6,000 hectares of land for building along the Seine Axis, which includes nearly 1 million sq.m. of warehousing space currently at the planning stage. The Port will be placing on the market this year an average of one hundred hectares for industrial and logistics use.
Lastly, the port described its latest innovations in the technology domain: it is the first French port to switch to 5G, making changes in the Port Community System aimed at harmonising the digital tools for port call management along the Seine Axis and preparing for the port one-stop-shop S-WiNG, and S)ONE 100% digital & paperless procedures and solutions, the creation of the Easyport software program for facilitation of port goods throughput, a plan for digital twinning with the port of Rotterdam as part of the MAGPIE project in order to consolidate the port’s environmental competence, and AI placed at the service of port call predictions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among others.
As part of this tour, HAROPA PORT notably met with players in the automotive, pharmaceuticals and fresh product sectors likely to have a particular interest in the key advantages offered by the fourth-ranking Northern European port.
