Partners Sign Up for Marseilles Intermodal Project

Six partners led by the Marseilles Fos port authority have formed the Mourepiane combined transport terminal company (MTTC) to help finance and manage construction of the port’s long-planned intermodal upgrade development in the Marseilles harbor area.

The €60.5 million project will create a high-performance base improving links and pre/post-dispatch handling between Mourepiane container terminal and the adjacent railhead. The new facility will also serve other Marseilles quays, with their current multimodal site at Canet being transferred to the Euromediterranee urban renewal scheme.

Construction will start in summer 2015. The terminal is due on stream in mid-2017 and will be operated by a purpose-formed company of Marseilles and France-based multimodal specialists.

The official papers setting up MTTC were signed on July 15. The launch company stems from the port authority’s call for expressions of interest in 2011. The authority has taken a 29% stake, the Marseille Provence chamber of commerce has 9% and 15.5% goes to each of the other partners – CMA CGM subsidiary Greenmodal Transport; Credit Agricole’s project development arm Projenor; the Provence Alpes Corse savings bank and the Caisse des Depots public investment group.

MTTC will contribute €41.8 million of the total cost, with the €18.7 million balance coming in a separate investment from the port authority.