France’s two biggest container ports, Le Havre and Marseille-Fos, posted further strong growth in rail traffic in the first half of the year. The former benefitted mostly from the expansion of existing services, while infrastructure upgrades helped boosting rail freight in the latter.
Trains to and from Le Havre transported 78,000 TEUs, up 15.3% on the same period in 2025 , according to Haropa Port, the public authority managing the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris. It compares with a slight decline (-0.3%) in river-borne traffic to 115,700 TEU.
Growth in rail traffic was attributed to an increase in the weekly frequencies of a number of existing services, a spokesperson for Haropa told RailFreight.com. Two weekly round trips were added to the service between Le Havre and Tours, in centre-west France at the start of the year, taking the total number to five.
Early-2026 also saw the Le Havre-Bordeaux/Izon rail service extended to include Vierzon, in central France, with three return journeys per week for both inbound and outbound services. Since July 2026, there has also been an increase in the number of services between Le Havre and Saint-Nazaire, in the west of the country, with one weekly round trip added, taking the total to three.
Last year, for the first time, Haropa Port passed the 20% threshold for the share of its traffic handled by train and barge, one of the objectives set in its 2020-2025 strategic plan. This was largely due to an 18% leap in rail freight, volumes attaining the record figure of 145,000 TEU.
Marseille gaining momentum
Turning to Marseille-Fos, the shift towards rail transport continued to gain momentum in the first half of 2026, with nearly 4,000 train movements reported on its rail network, 15% more than in the same period in 2025, according to the port authority. More detailed figures are not yet available for H1, but for the period to end-May rail traffic totalled 93,868 TEU (+11%), representing a modal share of 16.2 %
In the eastern port areas, a 31% increase in train movements confirmed the success of the infrastructure improvements carried out at Mourepiane, with more and longer trains handled, serving the Med Europe terminal. At Fos, the arrival of a new operator, Medway, at the Seayard terminal, is also contributing helping to strengthen rail services, with load factors rising sharply, the port authority added.
The half-year was also marked by the commissioning of the Graveleau project’s upgrades, which significantly increase the container hub’s rail handling capacity with the creation of an inter-terminal link, direct access to Seayard and a new rail yard at Eurofos.