First Half Results from HAROPA: Le Havre, Rouen and Paris

Roundup of HAROPA news from www.actu-transport-logistique.fr

First Half 2020 traffic results from HAROPA

www.haropaports.com

For the first half of 2020 the three HAROPA ports there was a fall in traffic compared to the first six months of 2019. Volumes fell by 19% reaching 37.5 million tonnes for Le Havre, Rouen and Paris combined. The results vary across sectors.

Half Year Traffic at HAROPA (EN)

Cereals traffic Grew to a record level, up 40%: 9.87 Mt of cereals were exported over the whole season (figure at the end of June), an increase of almost 10% compared to the record season of 2015/2016 and more than 30% compared to last year.

For the construction sector, the restart of construction sites, after two months of stoppage, means a resumption of river transport of building materials (extension of the RER E railway line, construction of the line 15 Sud station in Vitry-sur-Seine and the Pont de Sèvres station, works on Notre Dame in Paris) and rubble. Maritime aggregate traffic also rose again in June (325 kt in June 2020, up from 55 kt in June 2019), driven in particular by the ramp-up of the SPS-GPS project and the start-up of construction of the Siemens wind farm in Le Havre.

Container traffic, a barometer of the economy, was still down 27% at the end of June, to 1.1 M TEUs (10 Mt). However, the recovery has begun: destocking has started in logistics warehouses and container terminals on the Seine axis, particularly in Gennevilliers, where the occupancy rate, which had risen to 95% at the height of the crisis, fell to 78% at the end of June.

Liquid Bulk traffic was down 24% to 18.3 Mt; crude oil imports fell (-47.6% / -5.4 Mt) due to the technical shutdown of Total’s refinery in Gonfreville-L’Orcher and the temporary limitation of refining capacity on the Seine axis (a consequence of the health crisis on fuel consumption).

Ro-Ro traffic has been affected by the impact of the health crisis on the automotive sector since March with, first, supply disruptions and, secondly, a crisis of demand and a widespread crisis of production with the spread of Covid-19 worldwide. In France, the market for new vehicles fell by 72% in March and 89% in April. As a result, HAROPA Ro-Ro traffic fell by 74% in April-May 2020/2019 (down by 42,123 vehicles). In June 2020, traffic fell more moderately than in the previous two months (-44% compared to June 2019; -11,108 vehicles).

After three months of total stoppage for Cruise activity (maritime and river), the recovery is underway in July for small ships of national companies with adapted national and European routes (official authorisation from 11 July in France): Ponant (with an itinerary departing from Le Havre, 13 cruises in total) and CroisiEurope (50% resumption). Paris cruise trips resumed activity at the end of lockdown, but are suffering greatly from the absence of foreign tourists.

Cross-Channel link: Brittany ferries resumed passenger traffic on 12 July from Le Havre.

River traffic on the Seine axis decreased by 22%, equivalent to that of maritime traffic. As mentioned above, this trend is mainly due to the decline in activity of the container, construction and recyclable products sectors, impacted by the closure of construction sites due to the health crisis. It is worth noting, however, the dynamism of the cereals sector, with an increase in the volume of cereals handled at the Port of Rouen by almost 35% at the end of April 2020/2019 (up 262 kt). Note: return to normal for the river service on the Le Havre-Rouen route in June and strong progress on the Le Havre-Gennevilliers link (53% at the beginning of June; 82% from the second week of June).

More than 90% of containerised rail goods services have been provided since May. On the other hand, in terms of bulk and conventional transport, we are seeing the same trends as for maritime and river: the service that has managed to meet the needs of the cereals sector is registering a record level of activity, while the construction sector is gradually recovering after a decline in activity.