31 January 2015
At the Shortsea Night held on 10 December 2014 in Paris with the National Maritime Museum as the prestige backdrop, the Port of Calais was distinguished for its rail superhighway terminal project which won the Shortsea & Intermodal Transport Trophy in the “Port” category.
During the evening, organised by the BP2S Association (Shortsea Shipping Promotion Centre), which works to promote shortsea transport and combined transport modes, the Port of Calais received tribute for its initiatives in favour of the modal shift and especially for its planned rail superhighway terminal on the Le Boulou – Calais line.
As their name suggests, the Trophies reward shortsea and intermodal transport initiatives. Six prizewinners received awards during the evening, in six categories: shipowner, shipper, multimodal, initiative, personality and port. It was in the latter category that the Port of Calais and its partner VIIA were distinguished.
Mr Laurent Devulder for the Port of Calais and Mr Le Guilloux for VIIA (on the left) in company of the 2014 Shortsea Night prizewinners.
Mr Laurent Devulder for the Port of Calais and Mr Le Guilloux for VIIA (on the left) in company of the 2014 Shortsea Night prizewinners.
With regard to the project itself, the Opal Coast Chamber of Commerce and Industry, concession operator for the Port of Calais, will be in charge of the developments required for the installation of a multimodal terminal in the centre of the port facilities. The terminal will be sized to accommodate two to three daily round trips between the Port of Calais and the terminal of Le Boulou (Perpignan) in southern France.
The service will be operated by VIIA, a subsidiary of SNCF – GEODIS, which will thus offer a complementary service to all-road transport on the highly saturated north-south route.
The forecast annual traffic for initial operation is estimated to be two trains per day, or 37,000 semi-trailers transported. The forecast long-term goal is to transport over 55,000 semi-trailers per year.
For the Port of Calais, which obtained PERS ECOPORTS recertification in the autumn for the third time running, this investment demonstrates its strong commitment to integrate a sustainable development strategy in each of its projects. The Le Boulou – Calais rail superhighway will allow tens of thousands of trucks each year to travel by rail and thus help decongest roads and reduce CO2 emissions.
Furthermore, at the local level the project will help stimulate the goods handling sector at the port, and will generate new jobs.
Work is scheduled to begin early in 2015, and commissioning of the service is scheduled for the last quarter of 2015
Contact:
ISABELLE FAUQUET
Tel: +33 (0)3 21 46 29 10
Mobile: +33 (0)7 85 54 04 47
Isabelle.fauquet@calais-port.fr
