Optimise your maritime and inland waterway shipping by setting up in Hauts-de-France
Import raw materials and export finished products to markets around the globe or to the nearby United Kingdom through major ports in Dunkerque, Calais and Boulogne. You can also use the extensive inland waterways in Hauts-de-France to consolidate shipments.
Optimise your maritime and inland waterway shipping by setting up in Hauts-de-France
Import raw materials and export finished products to markets around the globe or to the nearby United Kingdom through major ports in Dunkerque, Calais and Boulogne. You can also use the extensive inland waterways in Hauts-de-France to consolidate shipments.
Maritime transport
In today’s global markets, having major ports nearby is a huge competitive advantage. In Hauts-de-France you’ll find a truly international port complex with access to world markets from three sites—Dunkerque, Boulogne and Calais.
Port of Dunkerque — international links
Port traffic is essential for globalised trade, and the Port of Dunkerque is the third-largest seaport in France and one of the largest in Europe.
Dunkerque-Port’s primary focus is trade with Asia and Northern Europe, but it is also developing shortsea shipping to select ports in Northern Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean.
Dunkerque-Port: advantages
- Capacity to handle ships with draughts of up to 22 metres, i.e., the world’s largest vessels (including container ships 400m long)
- Attractive tax status
- Excellent labour relations: the port has been free of docker strikes for 27 years
Dunkerque-Port: rankings
port in Europe’s Northern range
French rail freight hub
French port for coal and ore imports
French port for imports of fruit shipped in containers
inland waterway port in Nord/Pas de Calais
LNG terminal in France (Europe’s 2nd largest)
Close-up: container traffic
Since 2010, container business has soared: in 2018 it totalled 422,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), up 13% from 2017.
Port of Boulogne-Calais: a European leader in 3 key areas
In 2015, the ports of Boulogne-Sur-Mer and Calais combined to form Boulogne-Calais—a single complex that ranks first in Europe in three areas:
fishing
seafood processing
cross-channel shipping
About the Port of Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer is France’s No. 1 fishing port by tonnage, handling 4 key steps in the value chain:
- catch
- processing
- marketing
- distribution
Each year, the port processes 360,000 tonnes of seafood. Its best-in-class supply and distribution logistics and its massive refrigerated warehouse capacity make it the continent’s largest agrifood logistics platform.
About the Port of Calais:
Calais is France’s no. 1 passenger port and Europe’s no. 2 Ro-Ro (roll-on/roll-off) port, handling one-third of all maritime Ro-Ro freight between continental Europe and the United Kingdom.
Each year, port facilities on the Calais/Dover ferry line serve some 10 million passengers, 44 million tonnes of goods, and 2 million trucks.
As the shortest and most heavily used sea link between the continent and Britain, the Calais/Dover service plays an essential role in European trade.
Close-up: Calais Port 2015
Calais Port 2015 is a priority infrastructure programme of the European Union, designed to anticipate and adapt to future trends in maritime traffic. In doing so, it will equip the port of Calais to handle the logistics and industrial needs of tomorrow. The updated port will begin operating for 2021.
Calais Port 2015 will meet new needs:
- A projected 40% rise in cross-Channel traffic by 2030
- Larger ferries, up from today’s 213m to a maximum 240m
- Growth in modal relay (unaccompanied rail and road shipping)
- Stricter international environmental standards
Inland waterways
Savvy businesses know that freight transport by inland waterway is eco-friendly, economical, safe and reliable. Hauts-de-France offers one of the biggest inland waterway networks in France, with:
- 3 seaports
- 18 inland ports
- four multimodal hubs
Fast facts: Inland waterway transport in Hauts-de-France
of all navigable waterways in France
of navigable waterways
of all wide-gauge waterways in France
Lille: France’s no.
inland port
tonnes (excl transit) of freight carried on the region’s inland waterways in 2019—the equivalent of 586,000 trucks.
The Nord-Pas de Calais basin reported very steep growth in container traffic in 2018 (up 16% from 2017), reflecting an increase in inland waterway shuttles using its network.
In 2019 more than
circulated in the Haut-de-France’s inland waterway network.
Density of freight-accessible navigable waterway
network in Hauts-de-France
(m per sq km)
Source: CERC estimate – data from VNF (Voies Navigables de France), Tramaf (syndicat des entreprises de Travaux Maritimes et Fluviaux)
Seine-Nord Europe Canal: the future of inland waterway transport in Hauts-de-France
The Seine-Nord Europe Canal is the missing link in the Seine-Escaut high-capacity waterway system, connecting the Seine basin to river and canal networks in Belgium and the northern section of the French inland waterway network, from Le Havre to Dunkerque.
Completion of the Seine-Nord Europe Canal—over 100 km in all—will allow users to reap the advantages of a 20,000-km wide-gauge inland waterway network in Europe. It will deliver direct benefits for the Hauts-de-France and Seine basins, by facilitating freight flows from France to Belgium and northward to the Netherlands and Germany. Seamless transport of goods is expected to boost traffic and simplify trade between northern Europe and the ports of Dunkerque, Le Havre and Rouen.
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