HAROPA ports steady in first quarter of 2012

The Seine artery ports handled 22.3 Mt of marine traffic in 1Q/2012, more or less unchanged year-on-year

As previously reported (WorldCargo News, February 2012, p1), the Seine corridor ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris are now part of a common economic interest group (GIE) known as Haropa (Le HAvre), ROuen and PAris) and are making joint reports and carrying out joint marketing activities.

Liquid bulk throughput was down by 7% to 12.2 Mt (55% of the total and 47% of the tonnage of the two seaports), while dry bulk tonnage was down by 17%, or 0.6 Mt, to 3 Mt, with grain traffic (mainly Rouen) down from 2.2 Mt to 1.6 Mt. This fall is ascribed to the resumption of exports by Black sea exporting countries and strong competition from South American cereals.

Container traffic increased by 27% in tonnage to 6.1 Mt and by 21% in unit terms to 620,000 TEU. Of note was a clear recovery in sea-to-sea transhipmdnt over Le Havre, with this segment of the port's container business growing by 78% to 109,000 TEU.

Total traffic on the Seine waterway (and its tributaries in the case of some Paris terminals) handled in the three ports increased by 5% to 7.5 Mt.