130 million Euros. Such is the scheduled 6-year investment by the Associated Normandy Ports (PNA) to improve the competitiveness of the ports of Caen-Ouistreham and Cherbourg. Two development priorities have been identified: cross Channel links and traditional merchant trading.

Heavy traffic for the port of Cherbourg | The PNA in a few figures (for 2008):

Heavy traffic for the port of Cherbourg
Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, in partnership with the Cherbourg-Cotentin Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has been entrusted with the Public Service Delegation (PSD) for the port of Cherbourg since the 1st of January 2009, future prospects including the creation of a charcoal terminal to supply thermal power plants in the south and west of England. The group plans to have charcoal shipped from Colombia or South Africa in Capesize(1) cargo ships, berthed at the anchorage zone outside the harbour, then transferred onto barges via floating cranes for storage at the terminal. Return shipment to England will be by coaster depending on the specific needs of the thermal power plants. Importation is forecast at around 4 million tonnes per year. The project could well be launched as early as 2010, following the mandatory public enquiries and administrative authorisations. (1) These ships are too bulky (160,000 TDW) to pass the Panama Canal. Consequently, they sail round South America via the Cape of Good Hope.

The PNA in a few figures (for 2008):
• 7 ferry ramps and two Ro-Ro terminals
• 1,800,000 passengers
• 450,000 private vehicles
• 6.3 MT of goods, of which 5.5 MT of cross Channel freight
• 210,000 heavy-goods vehicles
• 64,000 cruise passengers
• 2,100 berths for pleasure sailing and 12,000 visiting boats shellfish)

Immediately opposite the British Isles and only a few nautical miles from the world’s busiest waterway, Cherbourg and Caen-Ouistreham are in a truly advantageous geographical location. The regional mixed syndicate PNA - Associated Normandy Ports(1), the port authority which, following the August 2004 law on decentralisation, has benefited (since the 1st of January 2007) from the transfer of property rights for both ports, has recently decided to offer them the resources they need for a genuine development strategy. A vast 130 million Euro investment programme is scheduled from now to 2013. Following consultation with local elected representatives, PNA has developed master development planning schemes for each of the two ports. The aim is to increase the ports’ capacity and to modernise infrastructures whilst maintaining environmental coherence. Among the key priorities: cross Channel traffic (goods and passengers) and traditional freight (wood, cereals, scrap iron…), two development prospects that involve major territorial stakes.

Changes to serve socio-economic development

The cross Channel project involves the extension of the Ouistreham ferry terminal which should ease traffic flow during the transhipment of vehicles, whilst increasing the site’s heavy-goods vehicle parking capacity, whereas in Cherbourg, 5 operational Ro-Ro berths offer potential for activity developments without further investment. In addition, several port planning projects will be focusing on traditional freight. They include the modernisation of certain structures (locks, drawbridges), along with major site work such as the re-organisation of Ouistreham’s outer harbour. The project will facilitate, among others, the arrival of vessels via the entrance locks along the Caen canal, in particular the heaviest weighing in at up to 25,000 TDW (deadweight tonnage). “It will also improve berthing conditions on the floating docks for both amateur sailors or fishermen,” explains Jean-Michel Sévin, Managing Director of PNA. A further project in the port of Caen involves the Blainville port zone, where the majority of traditional freight is dealt with: imported wood, cereals, construction materials, scrap iron and other bulk cargo. The creation of a new swinging area upstream of the Blainville dock will enable vessels to make a U-turn without having to follow the canal as far as the swinging area at the Hérouville basin, hence saving precious navigation time and twice avoiding the Colombelles bridge. An extension of the Blainville terminal (wharf and platform) is also planned in order to welcome new traffic.

Other development prospects are currently being considered. In particular, the implementation of a feedering service between Le Havre and Caen for container transport flow. Cherbourg, where the commercial port’s activity has been leading the way for several years now, is also looking to optimise its infrastructures’ capacity. “The port has quality road and rail links, however, its location remains remote from a land access point of view, and it lacks the hinterland(2) capable of generating heavy maritime traffic. Nevertheless, the port does have nautical facilities and an excellent maritime location, its proximity with the British Isles being but one remarkable asset.” And it’s precisely the asset that the ship-owner Louis Dreyfus is planning to take advantage of for his charcoal terminal project (see boxed article). Concurrently to this project, further developments will include the extension of the Flamands dock, scheduled for 2010, in order to welcome new freight traffic to the Mielles platform. The project is part of a global development strategy. “We would like to position Cherbourg as a transhipment port, for the United Kingdom and Ireland in particular, by welcoming new bulk transport and container ships likely to benefit from cross Channel synergies,” explains Tristan Larsen, PNA’s port development manager. Industrial projects are also planned for the port. “We are willing to consider any development proposal. Current prospects include projects for the installation of off-shore wind turbines, whose production would require extensive port capacities. Lower Normandy’s ports have the necessary reserved areas and convincing industrial experience to satisfy the needs of such job-creating projects.” A number of opportunities that the PNA is ready and willing to challenge over the coming years.

(1) Mixed syndicate reuniting the Lower Normandy Regional Council and the Manche and Calvados Departmental Councils
(2) the port’s area of economic influence

> Tristan Larsen Development Manager for PNA
Tel: 02 31 53 34 61
E-mail: t.larsen@pna-ports.fr

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