The French inland port of Gron, located around 110 kilometers south-east of Paris, will later this year add rail to its river and road freight activities. Its operator, LogiYonne, is piloting a project which will see 6 million euros invested in connecting the hub to the Paris-Lyon-Marseille mainline.
The aim is to shift largely truck-borne container traffic from ports, such as Rotterdam and Le Havre, bound for Gron, to rail. LogiYonne’s president, Didier Mercey, explained to French media that the company had won a contract to ship a food product – a mixture of orange juice and milk – by rail from Rotterdam to a plant situated in proximity to Gron for processing. The finished product is destined to be distributed nationally and internationally to supermarkets, hypermarkets and other outlets such as fast-food restaurants.
The rail service is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of this year. “Today, this traffic equates to 160 trucks per week. For us, it will be two trains carrying 40 containers per week. It’s a very large market and, above all, a major modal shift, as the CO2 emissions savings are enormous. Out of a total journey of around 750 kilometres, road will only account for 11 kilometres.”
Growth targets
In the longer term, LogiYonne aims to handle 20,000 containers per year, rising up to 45,000, with two to five trains per week. Indeed, according to an economic study, if Gron’s catchment area was to encompass the southern Greater Paris region, the Champange and Burgundy regions and part of Franche-Comté, the potential market is for approximately 70,000 containers to be transferred to rail on an annual basis.
No traffic congestion
“We are located 110 kilometres from the French capital but here there is no traffic congestion like in the Greater Paris region. That’s what makes the difference: fluidity and reliability and the ability to handle large volume loads,” Mercer said. He went on to highlight that over long distances, trains are economically viable, claiming that compared to road transport, a full train can save up to 25% in transport costs. LogiYonne’s initiative is also likely to gain traction as a result of more and more manufacturers/shippers seeking to set an example when it comes to the quality of their transport provision which is increasingly under public scrutiny.
