Highly satisfactory grain campaign lifts HAROPA Port

(Posted on 29/07/24)

As of the end of June 2024, HAROPA Port’s maritime traffic stood at a total of 41.95 million tonnes (Mt), a figure up by 8.8%. Standing at 4.89Mt, grain exports turned in an increase of 38% for the first six months of the year. The container segment rose by 16% with a throughput of 1.46 million TEU.

The ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris are the constituent parts of the Major Seine axis River- and Seaport. France’s leading port and ranked in 4th place for tonnage among Northern European ports HAROPA Port has connections to every continent based on an international shipping offering in the first rank (in the top 20 of the world’s most connected ports). It serves an extensive hinterland whose heart is along the Seine Valley and the Paris area, which together form the biggest consumer market in France and the second biggest in Europe, with 25 million consumers. Today, HAROPA Port is France’s number one logistics hub, offering an end-to-end, holistic and decarbonised range of services.

HAROPA Port completed a positive first half of 2024 with a total throughput of 41.95Mt of product. An increase of 8.8% in maritime traffic which translates into an additional 3.4Mt, compared with the figure in June 2023. France’s leading port has been benefited by favourable economic headwinds stimulating the French and European markets.

The dry bulk segment was showing a total of 7.11Mt as of the end of June. This represents an increase of 14.2%, thanks mainly to agroindustry. HAROPA Port handled a total of 4.89Mt of grain, amounting to a rise of 38%. June was a particularly active month during which 738,000 tonnes of grain were exported.

At 8.72Mt, the 2023/2024 export campaign ranks 5th among HAROPA Port’s best grain campaigns. The final tonnage figure was up by 1.8% against 2022/2023. The market share enjoyed by HAROPA Port in maritime exports of French grain remains stable at around 52%. This good result took the five-year average figure to 8.2Mt. Milling wheat accounted for 5.92Mt and barley for 2.66Mt (of which 1.84Mt related to feed barley and 0.82Mt to brewing barley). The other exports (durum wheat and feed wheat) totalled 0.14Mt.

As of the end of June 2024, the transport modes used to bring the grain to port were split between 65% road, 25% river and 10% rail.

Also in the dry bulk segment, imports of aggregate registered a sharp 48.6% decline at 555,474 tonnes, and cement/clinker imports were down by 3.5% at 183,616 tonnes.

Dry fertilisers registered a flow of 452,165 tonnes – up by 36.3%. Other dry bulk stood at 1.02Mt, down 5%.

Containerised traffic accounted for tonnage of 14.51Mt (+24%). In terms of TEU, the first half of 2024 registered 1.46m TEU, an increase of 16%. This positive dynamic was also reflected in hinterland traffic of 1.07m TEU (+6%). Specifically, full container traffic to and from the hinterland rose by

10.7%. Container transhipment, outperforming the 2019 figure at 0.39m TEU, reflected the confidence of shipping lines in the regularity of port calls and good maritime hub performance.

These maritime container flows mark the beginning of a recovery that follows two downward-trending years. Against the energised backdrop generated by this progressive upturn, HAROPA Port is registering a particularly striking rebound. The economic context worldwide is also marked by maritime freight levels trending significantly upward.

The rerouting of ships around the Cape of Good Hope is calling on high levels of capacity at a time when demand has been accelerating since May.

Where export destinations are concerned, the top three were identical to the preceding year, these being China (2.48Mt), followed by Morocco (2.07Mt) and Algeria (1.15Mt). In terms of broad global regions, the Maghreb remained the leading destination with a total of 3.25Mt, ahead of Asia (2.55Mt) and West Africa (1.42Mt). Grain exports to West Africa turned in a record loading total, the previous figure being 1.1Mt. Also worthy of note were some less familiar destinations, such as Mauritania, Mexico, Thailand, India, Colombia, Madagascar, the USA and South Africa.