The Port Authority of Strasbourg (PAS) in France and port operator HAROPA of the Port of Le Havre have inked an agreement regarding four areas of cooperation – in rail, river and sea, innovation, and promotional capabilities, PAS said.
"In the presence of Catherine Trautmann, Chairman of PAS, Jean-Louis Jérôme, Executive Director of PAS, and Hervé Martel, Vice-president of HAROPA & Executive Director of HAROPA-Port of Le Havre, have signed a partnership agreement aiming at enhancing their cooperation," said a press statement.
The cooperation between HAROPA and PAS will focus mainly on four major lines of development. Firstly, multimodality is on their joint agenda. They wish to make a scheduled and high-performance rail service emerge, that connects their business areas in Day A – Day B.
Secondly, the partners will focus on port cooperation in order to improve the performance of the TEN-T network, mainly concerning the Atlantic, the North Sea-Mediterranean, the Rhine-Alps and the Rhine-Danube corridors.
Innovation and digitalisation constitute the third line of development. The partners shall give special attention to the sharing of best practices in this domain. Finally, PAS and HAROPA will work together on promotion as they wish to communicate with one voice in Europe and abroad.
The agreement gives shape to the common will of both partners to build innovative and pertinent solutions contributing to the development of new trades and services strengthening the attractiveness of the port sites of the PAS and HAROPA.
As the 2nd largest river port in France after Paris and being a real multimodal transport platform, the Port Authority of Strasbourg (PAS) accounts for 8 million tonnes of river traffic each year and more than 420,000 movements for container trade. It is a major asset for the economic growth of Strasbourg city and the Rhine area.
HAROPA, the 5th largest port complex in Northern Europe, is a joint venture between the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris. It is connected to every continent owing to a first-rate international shipping offer (linking around 700 ports worldwide).