Odfjell reserves land for Le Havre bulk liquid terminal

The Site Reservation Protocol covers land located inside the Port of Le Havre on the Grand Canal Maritime covering an area of approximately 31.5 hectares. The first phase will consist of at least 150,000 m³ for the storage of petrochemicals and petroleum related products. Construction is due to commence in 2015 with the terminal due to open in the second half of 2017. Total investment for the first phase is estimated at around €150-200m.

The multimodal, deepwater Port of Le Havre is strategically located at the entrance to the River Seine. While it accommodates a variety of cargoes, including being France’s leading container port, it is also considered an important industrial port with a local chemical cluster, part of the Seine Valley industrial complex including Paris and surrounding region. The industrial and port zone of Le Havre and Rouen is the second biggest in Europe in terms of industrial setting-up in chemicals and petro-chemicals. Of the 64m tonnes of cargo handled in Le Havre in 2012, 36.7m tonnes was for liquid bulk.

The significance of the river Seine artery as a major chemical industry production hub is reflected in the numbers. A third of French refining production takes place in the region, including 80% of the French production of additives and oils and 50% of the French production of plastics and elastomers.

GPMH sees a natural joint benefit with Odfjell in the agreement, coming at a significant stage for Le Havre. It not only closes the phase of call for projects launched in 2011 to boost bulk liquid storage activity in the port and industrial zone, but also, because the interest of Odfjell in bulk liquid transport and storage meets that of GPMH and of the industries of the river Seine artery and beyond. Le Havre considers this will only strengthen their attractiveness and competitiveness.

For Odfjell, the development marks an important step in growing their terminal business in Europe. Jan A. Hammer, president/CEO at Odfjell SE said: “When the terminal is built, we can offer our customers storage capacities in the most important shipping hubs for petrochemicals and other speciality bulk liquids in Europe with presence in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre. This will strengthen our position of being a preferred and leading liquid chemical storage provider. In the coming months, customer requirements will be fine tuned and basic engineering will be started before permit applications will be submitted and Odfjell and GPMH make a final decision to proceed”.

By Peter Barker