Port of Le Havre remains bullish on growth prospects in 2009-10

IN the midst of the financial crisis and the gloomy economic predictions related to the shipping industry, the Port of Le Havre remains bullish about its growth, predicting an impressive 10 -12 per cent rise in volumes for both 2009 and 2010.

The Container Shipping Manager interviewed the port's chief representative in China, Bruno Le Gurun, to ask if this optimism is justified in light of the global credit crisis and China's recent announcement that export levels would fall due to dropping demand from credit dry consumers in the US and Europe.

Mr Le Gurun said that the port - which had the biggest growth of any in Europe last year - is confident of achieving these figures through a combination of ramping up its operations in northern China, where historically trade volumes have been small, but productivity has increased and transport links have improved.

Le Havre is looking to capitalise on its presence and relationships in northern China by attracting increased numbers of direct first calls from its ports. Mr Le Gurun said Le Havre has an advantage over Rotterdam and Antwerp in terms of attracting first direct port calls because it has a much wider range of lines that call at the port than its rivals have, an advantage of port authority is keen to exploit.

Between 2000 and 2007 Le Havre increased its China-origin cargo from 200,000 to 600,000 TEU a year. Over the next three years, the port expects this to increase to 1.2 million TEU, although Mr Le Gurun admits that like all other major ports in Europe, a downturn in China exports will impact his rate of growth.

But according to our source, the impact will be cushioned because Le Havre attracts a healthy portion of its trade from a number of other sources including the US, South America, the Middle East, Africa and Ireland and because the increased productivity connectivity and capacity of the port should help fuel growth in these other areas.

A key factor in the port's optimism for sustained growth is the resolution of an ongoing labour dispute which has affected operations this year through a series of limited strikes and, to an extent, has shaken customer confidence in Le Havre. The result of this labour dispute is that the port has projected that there will be no increase in the volume of containers handled in 2008 - estimated at 2.6 to 2.7 million TEU.

Essentially, the labour dispute was related to the privatisation of certain operations related to the functioning of the port. Since November 1, the port authority at Le Havre has effectively transitioned into a landlord port, renting quay space and back-up land to stevedoring companies.

The gantry crane drivers, who previously operated under the port authority, now are employed by private stevedores. This restructuring has the effect of both streamlining operations and helping prevent conflict between the various sides of port operations.

Source: Schednet