Gpmh News

High-level officials and decision-makers from maritime and port authorities around the world are undergoing intense training in port management and operational efficiency at the annual Advanced Course on Port Operations and Management based in Le Havre, France (10 September to 12 October).The opening of the course coincided with Le Havre's celebration of World Maritime Day and its theme: International Maritime Organization (IMO) 70 Our heritage – better shipping for a better future.IMO's Chris Trelawny delivered the opening address and lectured on the role of IMO, with a focus on IMO and maritime development.The course includes class-based training and site visits, including to the port of Le Havre.

Port of Le Havre has called Expression of Interest (EOI) for Storage facility for liquid Bulks to be set up inside the port. The Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH), a State-owned public corporation, which has taken over the rights and duties of the ‘Port Autonome du Havre’ (Autonomous Port of Le Havre) pursuant to decree no. 2008-1037 of 9 October 2008 is the largest French port for external trade and containers, and the 5th largest port in northern Europe. The GPMH wishes to strengthen the position of its industrial and port platform as a major hub for Chemistry in Europe by developing the logistics offering for chemical and petrochemical industry along the Seine corridor and fostering the development of transhipments.

Odfjell Terminals Europe and Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH) have today signed a Site Reservation Protocol for a plot of land in the Port of Le Havre to develop a bulk liquid terminal. The planned terminal will be located inside the Port of Le Havre along the Grand Canal Maritime and the plot is approximately 31.5 hectares. The first phase will consist of at least 150,000 cbm for storage of petrochemical and petroleum-related products. Construction is currently expected to start in 2015 and the terminal is foreseen to open in 2nd half 2017. The total investment for the first phase is estimated to be about €150-200 million. HAROPA – Port of Le Havre is one of Europe’s largest ports, strategically located by the entrance to River Seine.

GPMH (Grand Port Maritime du Havre) has decided to freeze harbor dues for containerships, for the third consecutive year. This decision underlines GPMH’s will to offer its customers, the shipowners, an attractive pricing policy, in a hard economic environment. The decision to freeze harbour dues for containers in 2012 is made after two successive freezes in 2010 and 2011. It aims at facilitating the return of confidence by container shipping lines and helping recapture containerised trades, a move initiated since the implementation of the French port reform. This move of the port authority in favour of shipping lines is in line with a continuity process.

In the continuation of the actions implemented in favour of the environment, the Management Board of the Grand Port Maritime du Havre has decided to reward, in 2012, the shipping companies which operate clean ships in Le Havre. From January 1st, 2012, the possibility will be provided to the 10 cleanest container or Ro-Ro shipping lines, as regards the reduction of their ship emissions in the air, to be granted an « environmental reward » making it possible for them to reduce their port dues on ships by up to 10 % maximum, according to the conditions set up in Le Havre. Supporting the ESI (Environmental Ship Index) promoting « clean shipping » was obvious for the Port of Le Havre.

10% more traffic and new yard surface available. 2011 looks promising for the ro-ro terminal! At the end of August 2011, 245,600 vehicles had been handled on the terminal, an increase of 10% for the same period in the previous year. 10 additional hectares have been commissioned. The action taken by the GPMH together with the stakeholders in the ro-ro terminal is bearing fruit: ro-ro traffic in the Port of Le Havre has seen strong growth for the past two years. For the record, in August 2010, 223,240 new and second-hand vehicles were routed through the terminal, compared with 137,700 over the same period in 2009. Encouraging figures that confirm the need to expand the compound made available to ro-ro operators.

The Grand Port Maritime du Havre and partners officially launched the RORO MAX project on June 10th. This cooperative quality progress approach aims at increasing the competitiveness and development of the trades at the Ro-Ro terminal. An ambition: making Le Havre the reference port for automotive trades. This initiative is the fruit of a synergy between Stevedores, logisticians, yard operators, laboratories and engineering schools. "In Le Havre, we have federated all actors around this project with a three-fold objective: developing trades in order to reach 500,000 new vehicles in 2015, being recognized as a reference port in Europe, developing services and added value to attract new customers," Laurent Castaing, Chairman of the GPMH Management Board, stated.