France & Belgium what’s new in bulk cargo

Port of Ghent strengthens position at Paris grain exchange Matif

In the course of the fourth quarter of 2014, the Port of Ghent will be a new delivery point for contracts for rapeseed meal and rapeseed oil that are being traded at the Matif grain exchange. In the grain world, this Parisian option and futures market is a very well-known and important exchange that forms part of Euronext. In this way, Ghent port is not only strengthening its position at this internationally renowned grain exchange but also as the granary of Europe.

The Port of Ghent is already quoted as a delivery point at the French Matif grain exchange for the products rapeseed and malting barley that are traded there.

For the Port of Ghent, the additional contracts for rapeseed meal and rapeseed oil can yield extra tonnes of storage in the future. A deal between seller and buyer determines where the goods have to be collected.

Ghent port also aims to become the delivery point for wheat and other kinds of grain in the future.

BIGGEST STORAGE CAPACITY FOR GRAIN IN EUROPE
This strengthens the Port of Ghent’s position at the Matif grain exchange. This is not a coincidence, as the port is known as the granary of Europe, with the largest storage capacity for cereals and derivatives: 1.3 million tonnes. Specialized terminals and tanks are available for the storage of different kinds of cereals, meals and vegetable oils, both in the short and in the long term. These products are being used in the food sector, the animal feed sector and for the production of biofuels, among other things.

As far as cereals and derivatives are concerned, port of Ghent has trading partners in Brazil, Canada, Australia, France, the Ukraine and Romania, among other countries.

Belgian Eco Energy announces new power station in port of Ghent

ON THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2014, BELGIAN ECO ENERGY ANNOUNCED THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW BIOMASS POWER STATION IN THE PORT OF GHENT:‘BEE POWER GENT’
The plant, bearing the name of Bee Power Gent, will be built on the Ghent Coal Terminal site at the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal. For this purpose, Bee entered into a long-term agreement with the SEA-invest stevedoring company and with Ghent Port Company. SEA-invest is going to invest in the cranes, conveyor belts and storage silos.

The vicinity of the water is necessary because the biomass (short-rotation wood chips and agro waste flows) is supplied on board of seagoing vessels, both via transatlantic and European transport. The biomass that is used is 100% sustainable and is checked every two years by external parties.

The station’s residual heat will be used by companies in the port of Ghent and in neighbouring houses.

The power plant will meet the strictest emission standards as to dust, nitrogen and sulphur.

450,000 FAMILIES

Bee Power Gent will produce 200MW or 2% of the entire Belgian market (84TWh). This corresponds to the consumption of 450,000 families or about the province of East Flanders. Investments amount to between €300 and €330 million and provide for 700 to 1,100 jobs in the first three years and afterwards for 100 to 120 permanent jobs.

The project is now in a far advanced stage. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been officially approved and the building and environmental permits are expected by October 2014. The Flemish government already approved the green power certificates. The station will be realized by the third quarter of 2017.

ABOUT BEE

Bee is a Belgian integrated energy company active in the development, financing, construction and operation of renewable energy projects and the supply of power and gas to industrial customers. The company is financed by mainly Belgian industrial family capital.

Ghent port registered a total waterborne cargo traffic of 48.2mt (million tonnes) in 2013, which is 2.6% less than in 2012. Its seaborne cargo traffic did better than the traffic by inland navigation. Consequently, it is the classic sectors with lots of added value and jobs that relatively stand their ground or are improving. Ghent sees its position as a bulk port reconfirmed and is at this moment the biggest dry bulk port of the country. Sweden, Russia and Brazil are its main trading partners.

SEAGOING AND INLAND NAVIGATION For 2013, the overall waterborne cargo traffic amounts to 48.2 million tonnes. This is 1.3mt less than in 2012 or a decrease by 2.6%. Slightly less traffic by sea, a decrease of the cargo volume by inland waters also due to the strike of mid-2013 and fluctuating markets can explain this diminished traffic.

With 25,955,983 tonnes, the seaborne cargo traffic is in the region of 26mt, or 1.3% less than in 2012. Inland traffic experienced a decrease by 4% and finished at 22.2mt.

The diminished volume by sea is also mainly visible in the decreased transatlantic (deepsea) traffic. Shortsea shipping — navigation along the European coasts and on the Mediterranean — underwent a slight increase in 2013 as well and takes up just a little more than two thirds of the seaborne traffic.

With 2,948 seagoing vessels, the port counts 177 less than in 2012. For inland navigation, the number of vessels came out at 15,193, which is 903 units less than the year before. The worldwide scale increase is not only visible in seagoing navigation but even more also in inland navigation. There are fewer vessels calling at the port but on average, they transport more tonnes of cargo. Consequently, also the past year shows that the second, large new sealock in the Dutch port of Terneuzen is badly needed for the further development of the port and the businesses.

SWEDEN, RUSSIA AND BRAZIL

GHENT, BIGGEST DRY BULK PORT OF THE COUNTRY

In its 2013 seaborne cargo traffic, Ghent saw an increase of mainly crude minerals and building materials (sand), of fertilizers and of ores. Agricultural products (cereals), chemicals and food products experienced a drop.

Ghent sees its position of dry bulk port reconfirmed. Even more so, Ghent is at this moment the biggest dry bulk port of the country. In seagoing navigation as divided according to the type of cargo, dry bulk takes up 16.4mt (63%). Also striking: ro/ro traffic increases by 16% to 2mt.

Consequently, it is the classic sectors with the classic businesses creating lots of added value and jobs that relatively stand firm or are improving.

2014: MODEST TARIFF INCREASE

At the beginning of 2013, Ghent Port Company assumed that the port would be facing a difficult year. The first half year presented itself with a 6% loss in the total cargo traffic. The Port Company was obviously worried then. In the course of the third and fourth quarters the overall cargo traffic again improved, mainly owing to the activities of the classic sectors of dry bulk and ro/ro.

At the beginning of 2014, Ghent Port Company hopes for a continuation of the drive of the past six months. The Port Company now implements a modest increase of the tariffs for concessions and port dues. With a 1% increase, this rise remains below the figure of the index adaptations and is in line with the prevailing market trends of the ports in the region.

Euroports Group is an international operator in the maritime supply chain solutions. The group is an expert in the port and logistics services with long-term expertise in offering tailored maritime and logistics integrated services for all type of bulk commodities.

The company offers an extensive portfolio from core port activities such as handling and storage to a full range of value added services and transport management.

Customs clearance, ship agency, road and barge transport and freight forwarding services are offered in-house, all centralized through a single point of contact customer supporting the clients in their full transportation needs, combining one or more services and locations into an optimized ‘supply chain solution’.

Euroports has been the partner of choice for the handling and logistics of dry bulk commodities in Belgium for decades, with facilities recognized as centres of excellence within the industry.

The group has a large presence in Belgium, where its Belgian brand deploys its activities in Antwerp, Ghent and in several inland terminals in the Liege and Charleroi area. A wide range of dry bulk commodities is handled at those locations.

In Antwerp, the company operates up to three dedicated bulk terminals to handle various products such as fertilizers, industrial minerals, fluorspar, spodumene, pyrobor, sugar, fly ash and kaolin.

Quay 518 was reconverted from grains to sugar back in 1984 and it is nowadays the world’s largest independent facilities for beet sugar in Europe. The terminal has seen its dedicated storage surface enhanced through the years to its current capacity of 260,000 metric tonnes. Automated bagging lines as well as a fully automated and patented loading station for bulk in containers installed in 2012 are also available.

Quay 168 is the market leader in the region, storing and handling fertilizers and industrial minerals. The unique inland deep sea position of the Port of Antwerp guarantees advantageous hinterland connectivity and supply chain cost savings. The terminal covers an area of 320,000m2 with up to 160,000m2 of covered warehouses with capacity for 500,000 metric tonnes of bulk and bagged cargo. A fully equipped quay (cranes, loading and unloading equipment) secures high instant flexibility offering maritime and logistic activities across the 3km terminal quay side.

Quay 168 invested recently in two key projects creating customer dedicated locations and solutions. This approach maximizes the quality of the services offered by Euroports. Handling over 80 different products, dedicated solutions increase the safety and quality performance.

The third bulk facility in Antwerp is Quay 54, a bulk terminal with dedicated connection to a neighbouring slurry plant, with kaolin as the main commodity handled. Quay 54 equipment includes conveyor lines, dust free hoppers and front end loaders, floating cranes as well as 60,000 tonnes of storage capacity. Recently, the terminal started handling pyrobor, offering a customer dedicated solution.

The terminal in Ghent specializes in dry bulk operations, and it is accessible to Panamax vessels. Main commodities handled are fertilizers and minerals. The facility offers weighing, sieving and bagging services, as well as available storage capacity for 200,000 tonnes, partly cGMP approved.

In the south of Belgium, Euroports operates inland terminals in Loën, Ile Monsin, Renory, and Seraing (Liège area) and Couillet (Charleroi area), which are connected to Antwerp via the Albert Canal. Products handled at those inland locations have historically been dry bulk commodities of all types, including raw materials used in the neighbour industrial sites.

Recent investments at Euroports Inland Terminals have been directed to diversify the portfolio of commodities handled and expand the company’s activities towards the handling and processing of polluted soils, waste, general cargo, minerals and biomass sectors. The terminal is now a leading provider for the de-icing and wood pellet industry in the region.

The inland branch has a clear strategy for the coming months, which consists of continuing the diversification started and in the short term, getting the necessary permits to start, as well as the handling of hazardous waste.

ABOUT EUROPORTS GROUP

• EUROPORTS is one of the largest port operators in continental Europe.
• EUROPORTS handles in total some 46 million tonnes annually in a wide range of products in industry sectors such as minerals, fertilizers, forest products, agribulk, metals, steel project cargo.
• The group consists of 22 port terminals in Europe plus two in China.
• A wide range of Transport Services (road transport, barge transport, sea chartering, ship agency, customs clearance) in-house to offer its customers ‘last mile deliveries’ to the hinterland.
• Ten contract logistics projects for various industrial customers at its sites.
• A global freight forwarding, company (Manuport Logistics) with offices across Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
• EUROPORTS is owned by a consortium of institutional investors:
• Brookfield Asset Management (Canada) 
• Antin Infrastructure Partners (France)  
• Arcus Infrastructure Partners (Italy & UK).

E-Crane has had a very busy end to the summer with three new E-Crane installations taking place back to back in South America, from July into early August 2014.

All three cranes are being used for grain handling operations at facilities located in Argentina. One E-Crane is installed at CHS, Inc. to unload Mississippi and Paraná sized barges into a hopper nearby on the dock. The other two new E-Cranes are installed together on a single barge at a UABL facility. The barge acts as midstream transfer system to move grain from material barges to Panamax sized ships.

GRAIN HANDLING AT CHS, INC CHS, Inc. located near Zarate, AR, purchased a pedestal mounted 1500 Series/Model 11264 E-Crane earlier this year for its grain handling operation.

The E-Crane is dock mounted and transfers grain from Mississippi and Paraná sized barges to a hopper located on the dock alongside the E-Crane. The E-Crane has an outreach of 26.4m and a duty cycle capacity of 16.5 metric tonnes (18.2 US tons). The crane is equipped with a 14m3 hydraulic clamshell grab and is expected to achieve an unloading rate of over 1,000 metric tonnes per hour. The project is similar to the Terminal 6, S.A. installation which took place in 2013.

ABOUT CHS, INC

CHS is one of the largest processers of soybean and grain. The company refines more than 1.3 billion pounds of soybean oil annually that’s used in a wide variety of food products and applications, including margarines, butter, spreads and coffee creamers.

They process nearly 120 million bushels of soybean annually, the equivalent of million acres that’s used to extend meat products, reduce costs and boost protein with lower fat content. At processing and manufacturing facilities in the United States, Israel and China, they produce 3 million tons (2.7 million metric tonnes) of soy protein products, including soybean meal used in animal feed and soy flour and textured soy proteins used to boost protein for manufacturing human and pet food products and more.

BARGE MOUNTED E-CRANES — MIDSTREAM TRANSFER SYSTEM AT UABL Two 700 Series E-Cranes were installed on a single floating barge at UABL, located near Pueblo Esther, AR, to work together unloading grain barges.

The two cranes are mounted on a 54 x 16.5m barge. Two identical hoppers are also located on the barge, along with a grain elevator and shiploading arm system. The E-Cranes unload grain from the material barges located on one side of the crane barge and load the grain into the hoppers. The hoppers output the material onto the conveyor/shiploader system which transfers the material into Panamax sized vessels located on the other side of the crane barge.

ABOUT UABL

UABL is the largest supplier of transport on the Parana-Paraguay river system servicing Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay carrying cargo over more than 4,000km of river.

The company has a combined total of more than 85 years of experience in the activity as well as in multi-modal transportation. This know-how allows it to meet the particular challenges of each of its clients in all of the areas that they operate and serve. With 500 barges and more than 20 pushboats, the company annually transports more than 3.5 million tonnes of cargo. The product mix is varied from general cargoes; grain and grain by-products, minerals, liquid and petroleum products, to wood products and containerized cargoes.

The Port of Antwerp has over 1.4 million square metres of covered and open storage space for dry bulk cargo. The port also has eleven dry bulk handling terminals with full trimodal access. This makes Antwerp one of the leading European centres for dry bulk storage and handling, writes An Damen, Antwerp Port Authority.

Coal, iron ore, non-ferrous concentrates, cement, industrial minerals, fertilizers, grain, sugar and scrap – these are just a few examples of the wide range of dry bulk products that are handled in the Port of Antwerp. Together they represent a total of some 15mt (million tonnes) per year.

The port has eleven dry bulk handling terminals with full trimodal access. This speeds up transit times, maximizes connectivity and provides seamless integration between foreland and hinterland.

EXCELLENT CONNECTIONS

The Port of Antwerp is an important centre in the global supply chain and the leading European port for shipping to and from North America, South and Central America, Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Various dry bulk services connect the port to locations worldwide, usually on a chartering basis. In addition, frequent shortsea and feeder services link the port to more than 200 locations in Europe and North Africa.

Each year, a total of some 14,500 bulk carriers, from Handysize up to Capesize, call on the Port of Antwerp. There are more than 900 logistics companies in and around Antwerp, including providers of road, rail or barge transport solutions. This diversity of service providers guarantees competitive rates.

INLAND NAVIGATION

The prime mode for dry bulk cargo is the inland waterway. The frequent barge departures towards numerous destinations in Europe are testimony to the aforementioned statement. Just as with the sea-going vessels, the port accommodates various types of barges. Located in the middle of the Scheldt-Meuse-Rhine

delta, the port is directly connected to the Albert Canal, the 1,500km Belgian inland waterways transport network, and the European inland navigation network. For example, it takes about 20 hours for a barge to reach the Ruhr region (Duisburg) and 72 hours to reach Switzerland. Northern France can be reached in 24–36 hours.

RAIL NETWORK

The Port of Antwerp is known for its excellent access by rail. All of the terminals in the port area are directly connected to the rail network, providing the port with more than 1,000km of railway tracks. Various rail freight companies serve the Port of Antwerp, with regular connections to north-western Europe.

ROAD TRANSPORT

The Port of Antwerp is situated at a crossroads of motorways that connect Antwerp not only to the rest of Belgium, but also to the Netherlands, Germany, France and the rest of Europe. For example, trucks can reach Frankfurt in about five-and-a-half hours and Paris Ile-de-France in just over four hours. International road hauliers specializing in the transport of all kinds of dry bulk products offer a full range of trucks and equipment.

BIGGEST IN THE WORLD

With a surface area of 13,057ha, the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest ports in the world. It is also Europe’s largest port in terms of storage area, and Europe’s second largest port in terms of total volumes handled.

The total volume of 190mt handled in 2013, is the result of the work of more than 140,000 professionals. These include many specialists offering value-added logistics (VAL) services such as stock management, quality control, weighing, sorting, conditioning, grinding, mixing, labelling or packaging of goods.

TERMINAL OPERATORS

Furthermore, the comprehensive choice of dry bulk terminals and operators allows customers to benefit from highly attractive rates.

INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Also, private companies in the Port of Antwerp continue to invest in dry bulk. One of them is Vollers, which erected a brand new bulk warehouse for cocoa. The unique, innovative and above all state-of-the-art 8,000m2 warehouse has 27,000 tonnes storage capacity.

This investment shows that Antwerp offers more scope than ever for new initiatives. “The Port of Antwerp is particularly proud that a player like VOLLERS invests in innovative infrastructure. It demonstrates not only the importance of the Port of Antwerp for commodities such as cacao, but is also the perfect example of the ambition that the Port of Antwerp has set for itself in its strategic plan: a conscious choice for a sustainable port with focus on added value creation.”

The port of Shanghai, the largest in the world, and the port of Antwerp, the second-largest in Europe, are to collaborate more closely. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to this effect during the recent trade mission to Shanghai.

Antwerp and Shanghai have maintained close relationships with each other ever since they were first twinned in 1985. The twinning agreement was subsequently confirmed during the Belgian trade mission to China headed by the then prince Philippe of Belgium in 2004. Now, ten years later, the two ports have undertaken to collaborate intensively with one another in a number of fields. Antwerp’s maritime know-how is strongly represented in the port of Shanghai, as no fewer than 240 Chinese port professionals have been trained by APEC, the training subsidiary of Antwerp Port Authority.

CHARACTERISTICS

The port of Shanghai is the largest in the world, with a freight volume of 776 million tonnes in 2013. The number of containers handled last year was 33.61 TEU. Antwerp for its part is the largest port in Belgium and the second-largest in Europe. With a freight volume of 190 million tonnes and 8.6 million TEU, last year was a record year for the port. Both ports are absolute leaders in their respective regions. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that such world players are eager to collaborate more closely.

COLLABORATION

With the MoU that has just been signed Antwerp and Shanghai have agreed to among other things exchange information about their respective hinterlands, carry out joint promotion and set up training courses for maritime professionals.

Antwerp attaches such great importance to the Shanghai region and South China that it appointed a permanent representative there in 2008. Ever since then Jan Van der Borght has worked tirelessly to raise Antwerp’s name recognition in China. And not without success: last month the City of Shanghai presented him with a Magnolia Award for the second time in recognition of his contribution to the economic development and international influence of Shanghai. He is only the second Belgian and the first foreign port representative to have received both a Silver (2012) and a Golden Magnolia Award.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER THROUGH APEC

Gaining and growing market share in these new markets is a clear objective for Euroports Inland terminals:“We want to grow in these new markets, and aim to achieve this in a structural and sustainable way”, says Muriel Baugnée, “This implies that we continue to invest in our infrastructure and equipment. Our applications to obtain the necessary permits for handling hazardous waste well within 2015 are in full progress.” The company expects that these investments will definitely support the ongoing business relationships with its current customers and will also fuel further business growth and diversification.

A good example of EIT’s showcase-model reconversion is the starting business relationship with AB Inbev/Jupiler.

In collaboration with André CELIS and AB InBev, Euroports Inland Terminals succeeded in providing the best, lean and green solution to both companies. This is resulting in a significant CO2-emission reduction for AB Inbev’s logistics flows, which also brings a decrease of their carbon footprint.

After loading pallets on a dedicated and André CELIS- managed barge in Louvain, the cargo arrives in Liège where it is discharged at Euroports Inland Terminals’ Monsin facilities. Pallets are then loaded directly on AB InBev trucks for a last- mile delivery to the customer’s Jupille plant close-by. Muriel Baugnée: “Euroports Inland Terminals is pleased to collaborate with clients such as these, who are open to favour barge transport over truck transport to reduce costs and CO2- footprint.”

ABOUT EUROPORTS BELGIUM

Being the Partner of Choice in Maritime Supply chain solutions is Euroports’ mission. The group consists of 22 port terminals in Europe plus 2 in China. It handles a wide range of products in industry sectors such as minerals, fertilizers, forest products, agribulk, metals, steel project cargo. The group combines its service and industry knowledge on its quaysides in the different ports with in-house transport services, allowing it to offer fully integrated international logistics solutions to its clients.

Euroports Belgium, the Belgian part of the group comprises several port terminals in Antwerp, Ghent and inland terminals in the Liège and Charleroi area. Products handled vary from dry bulks such as minerals and fertilizers to breakbulk commodities such as steel, pulp and paper.

The work on developing the new sand terminal is nearing completion at Montoir de Bretagne’s multi-bulk cargo facility.

The nautical operations (installation of the platform, provision of access ramps) orchestrated by the Nantes – Saint Nazaire Port teams were finished early in September. The companies Sablières de l’Atlantique and CETRA have taken up their respective temporary occupancy permits and have commenced the site development work. The target date for the start of operations is early 2015.

At the ro-ro terminal, work is going ahead on the construction of ro-ro berth N° 3. The spatial preparation phase began at the end of August and will go on until the end of October. This stage will then be followed by the first maritime work, including notably the piling work. The berth is due to be commissioned by the end of 2015.

IDEA BULK CARGO SERVICES EXTENDS ITS STORAGE CAPACITY
At the Montoir de Bretagne multi-bulk terminal, IDEA Services Vrac (Bulk Cargo Services), a wholly owned subsidiary of IDEA Groupe, is completing work on extending its storage facility.The warehouse will be operational at the start of December 2014.

Designed to receive bulk agri-foodstuffs, its surface area is set to expand from 10,500 to 15,000m2 and its storage capacity from 50,000 to 75,000 tonnes, thereby permitting the development of import volumes. The number of cells will also be increased by 50 %, rising from six to nine.

Earlier this year, Bordeaux Atlantic Port has made a decisive step in the re-launch of the Verdon terminal, the deep water port at the entrance to the port of Bordeaux in France.

Following a public tender process which attracted four reputable candidates, the port of Bordeaux has chosen Europorte as its preferred candidate to operate the Verdon terminal. The important industrial and logistics platform known as the Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux, is spread along the 110km of the Gironde estuary. It is situated at a crossroads of land, sea and river routes and is made up of seven specialist terminals.The port handles a wide variety of traffic flows including, cereals, oils, wood, paper, petrochemicals minerals and containers, it handles approximately nine million tonnes of freight each year.

The public tender process marked an important step in the re-launch of the Verdon terminal, a deep water port that can accommodate the largest ships, and the development of container traffic at the port of Bordeaux in preparation for the anticipated growth in volumes to the wider south west of France.

The port of Bordeaux’s ambition, to make the Verdon terminal an efficient high performance deep water port, served by a regular rail shuttle that will link it to the rest of south west France, is starting to take shape.

Europorte, the rail freight subsidiary of Groupe Eurotunnel, which has already demonstrated its expertise at other French ports, shares this ambition and goals and will implement a full logistics chain from unloading ships to running trains. This will enable modal shift from road to the mass transport modes of sea, river and rail across the port of Bordeaux’s hinterland.

HAROPA provides 55 sea and river terminals dedicated to the handling of dry and liquid bulks from the sea to the east of the Paris area. Dry bulks account for a significant part of the overall traffic of HAROPA ports, in addition to container traffic for which they rank # 1 in France. Dry bulks especially include grain (wheat, barley, etc.), coal, sugar, malt, cocoa, oil seeds, fertilizers, sand, gravels and crushed stones, aggregates, snow- clearing salt, peat, cakes, biomass, etc. HAROPA recorded 14mt (million tonnes) of dry bulk traffic in 2013 (+24%).

COAL TRAFFIC: GOOD FIGURES FOR 2013
HAROPA recorded traffic of over 2mt in 2013 that is a 26% rise against the previous year.

CEREALS: HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCE AND STRONG GROWTH

Cereals alone account for more than half the tonnage of dry bulk (7.4mt, that is +35 %). The recovery of grain exports was achieved far beyond the forecasts of mid-2013, with a rise of more than 1.9mt of the exports of wheat and barley in 2013, comparedtothepreviousyear. Theyear2013isthereforea better one than average, despite stiff international competition, and of a very good quality owing to the crops in the Rouen hinterland. HAROPA-Port of Rouen is the leading European port for wheat export, with the main destinations being Algeria and Western Africa being on the rise.

It is worth noting that Le Havre port has strongly risen as regards the export of cereals (especially barley and malt to Asia and Africa) in containers. In 2013, there was a strengthening in the cereal trade, by especially the creation by ‘Interface Céréales’ and ‘Axéréal’ of ‘Granit Céréales’, an association for grain marketing via HAROPA-Port of Rouen, which will come on- stream in the coming months.

Considering the first six months of 2014, grain bulk trade and agri-business continue to be on the rise, with 4mt (+2%); the exports of wheat and barley still increase as they form the second part of a very good and steady grain season for 2013/2014 reaching 7.45mt (+12.4% against the previous season). Algeria, Morocco and Saudi Arabia are the first purchasers of the cereals from HAROPA-Port of Rouen which exported, during the season, around 50% of French common wheat and more than 40% of French barleys.

STABLE TRAFFIC FOR AGGREGATES IN 2013 AND HIGH INCREASE IN 2014
With 1.9mt of aggregates, HAROPA records stable traffic. High growth also recorded at the terminals of HAROPA-Port of 

Rouen (756,000 tonnes of aggregates, +22.3%) especially due to the business of the SPS company in the Rouen area which started in July 2012, the contract of construction of the A 150 motorway developing traffic from Norway via Stema in Rouen and the business of Holcim Yeoman/Eurovia in Saint- Wandrille, also in Rouen area. New prospects are being made concrete by the concessions of marine aggregates along the English Channel sea coast, developing volumes extracted of more than 15mt per year for twenty-five to thirty years. The first six months of 2014 saw a 50% increase through the Port of Rouen.

OILSEEDS

Rape imports for the agri-fuel factory Saipol in Grand-Couronne (Rouen area) have recorded a good year.

FLOURS

Exports of flour in bags are on the rise, owing to new trades by Soufflet bound for Angola.

DRY FERTILIZERS

GPN being bought out by the Boréalis Group very positively strengthens the industrial site of Rouen/Grand-Quevilly and develops the export of ammonium nitrates. The logistics of imports of dry fertilizers via Rouen is part of Cap Invest business, being created between Cap Seine, Sea Invest and In Vivo. On import also, Koch, the American company, is growing in partnership with Sénalia, and the other operators show dynamism in inbound ammonium nitrates and compound fertilizers.

SNOW-CLEARING SALTS

A year of recovery for HAROPA-Port of Rouen terminals, as regional authorities and motorway management companies have built up their stocks again.

HAROPA has gained international recognition of its technical means and human expertise and those of its industrial partners specialized in the handling, storage and distribution of dry bulk cargo.

ABOUT HAROPA

HAROPA, the fifth-largest port complex in Northern Europe, is a joint venture between the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris. Connected to every continent owing to a first-rate international shipping offer (with connections to 600 ports worldwide), the ‘one-stop’ hub forms a global transport and logistics system, capable of providing a comprehensive end-to-end service. HAROPA handles around 120mt of cargo by sea and waterway each year. HAROPA business represents 160,000 jobs.