- The meeting summarized discussions from a joint meeting of the Atlantic and North Sea-Mediterranean European transport corridors regarding ports, intermodal terminals, and inland waterways in the Seine Valley region of France. - Key points included identifying HAROPA as a leader for logistics in the region and optimizing connections between main transport routes and smaller branch networks. Improving strategic vision and partnerships between stakeholders was emphasized. - Presentations covered topics like the potential of the planned Seine-Nord Canal, integrating the Seine Valley into European east-west corridors, and innovative solutions like the logistics hotel concept. The need for integrated multimodal networks from large corridors to last kilometers was a major theme.

1. Meeting of the Ports, Intermodal Terminals and Inland Waterway Working Group of the European
Transport Corridors for the Atlantic and the North Sea-Mediterranean
Paris, 9 and 10 March 2016
Preamble
On 9 and 10 March 2016, Péter Balázs, coordinator of the Atlantic Corridor and Carlo Secchi, coordinator of the North Sea /
Mediterranean Corridor chaired the first joint meeting of two European transport corridors. These corridors are specific in that
they cross on the logistics node of Greater Paris. 21 French and European speakers presented the opportunities, innovations and
constraints of the Seine Valley transportation systems to an international audience of around sixty people.
Summary of work
Four key messages:
- HAROPA was identified as the legitimate leader
for a productive organization of the logistics and
industry in the regions, from the Seine Valley to the
ends of the commercial catchment area of the three
ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris.
 Increase the institutional lobbying by HAROPA
of the European Commission to jointly pro-
mote developments in the logistics and indus-
trial ecosystem beyond the Seine corridor.
- HAROPA asked to optimize the interconnections
needed between the main mass transport paths
for European transport and the smaller branch
networks that supply both metropolitan consumers
and isolated rural shippers.
 Strengthen collaborations with shippers and
transport organizers to co-build the infras-
tructures and services in phase with the needs
of the market sectors.
- HAROPA encouraged the promotion of a «global»
strategic vision to combine the 2030/2050 fore-
casts of the European Commission with the short
and medium-term goals of the logistics companies
in our regions.
 Report to Brussels the expectations of the
stakeholders in our regions to base the stra-
tegic forecasts on the facts on the ground
concerning the exchange, storage and pro-
cessing of products. Proposal to launch expe-
rimentation contracts to test integrated modal
solutions in close conjunction with the private
sector in short periods of time.
- HAROPA was invited to take the «lead» to promote
the need for a planned strategic integration of the
Seine Corridor in the pan-European east-west corri-
dors for mass transport.
 Work together with Brussels on an integrated
approach that includes the Seine Valley in the
medium and long term in order to optimize the
flow of international freight in Europe. Push
the approach that makes HAROPA the logis-
tics link between the peripheral areas of
Western Europe and the industrial-logistics
core at the centre of the European Community.
- HAROPA was identified as a dynamic and intercon-
nected network to promote innovative solutions for
local supply.
 Encourage private initiatives to fully use the
potential for rail / river / road interconnection
offered by Ports. Also establish strategic par-
tnerships with stakeholders in local supply to
adapt the infrastructures to innovative solu-
tions to meet the new needs of logistics.

2. Summary of the items discussed during the interventions of the
morning session
Nicolas Bour, from the French Inland Waterway Board
(VNF), opened the discussions on the waterway link of the
Seine-Nord Canal for a future integrated network between
the Seine, the Oise and the Escaut rivers. The analyses tend
to demonstrate the logistics potential with the establishment
of platforms between northern Paris, the Lille region and the
ports in Belgium. The VNF recalled that the river connection
is a missing link in the consistency of the major European
networks. For Nicolas Bour, the economic dividends seemed
proven for all the regions crossed by the future connection.The
heavy cargo from the construction industry and agribusiness
would be added to the containerized cargo on a wide-gauge
canal.The VNF concluded with the modal shifts possible with a
promising environmental approach to supply all the economic
area of northern and western Paris.
Juliette Duszynski, from the Town Planning Agency
of the Le Havre Region and the Seine Estuary (AURH)
focused on the work that the AURH had carried out within the
framework of the European Weastflows project (Northwest
Europe). Given the context in which the hinterlands of the two
major gateways on the continent, Antwerp and Rotterdam,
were facing structural problems of congestion, the future of
the industrial basin of the Seine and the power of the HAROPA
port system lied in creating a major gateway for the European
continent. This was all the more so the case in that the exis-
ting corridors and entry and exit gateways in Central Europe
were insufficient to support the economic development of the
countries in Eastern Europe. The inclusion of the Le Havre -
Paris link in the Atlantic corridor was a first step. The Seine
Valley had to see itself as an integrated part of the European
East-West logistics reaching as far as the Eastern markets of
France and South-western Germany. Juliette Duszynski de-
monstrated that the Seine Valley was a solution for prioritizing
a virtuous and effective European supply system, an environ-
mental and economic response for a better modal balance to
the benefit of rail and river transport. The regional approach
merited attention with its effects on the creation of jobs and
added value.To achieve that aim, European investment should
enhance the overall performance of the HAROPA transport
system. JD’s forward-looking conclusion put forward a vision
of Pan-European transport with an integrated multi-modal
corridor, including the British Isles using the Seine Corridor
and projecting as far as Central Europe.
Rémi Mayet, «Ports & Inland Navigation” European
Commission - DG MOVE, recalled the central role of ports in
the international economic efficiency of the European Commu-
nity as a whole. The adaptation and flexibility of the European
regulatory frameworks should be promoted to meet the chal-
lenges of mega-shipping and the density of overland traffic.
Port governance also required that reforms be continued at
the community level. Rémi Mayet listed the various European
programs already available to support improvements in the
performance of the major transportation corridors. In conclu-
sion, he recalled that transport, ports and logistics cannot dis-
sociate themselves from European ambitions for clean energy,
digitized procedures and technological innovations.
SOGARIS, a company dedicated to urban logistics asso-
ciated directly with HAROPA, concluded the morning with a
feedback on various logistics operations and experiments that
intertwine consolidated flows and the distribution of small pac-
kages on the Parisian mega-centre. The establishment and
development of logistic platforms in the centre of Paris had led
to the development of the operational concept on an integra-
ted logistics hotel. Combining the management of block trains
with the intra-urban distribution by trucks and light vehicles, a
logistics hotel optimizes both the mass transport approaches
of the major European corridors and the necessities involved
in managing the last few kilometres within metropolitan areas.
Its construction in functional layers reduced noise and enabled
a successful visual integration into the urban landscape. SO-
GARIS and HAROPA concluded with the deployment of another
concept already in place: urban distribution centres. Supplied
by trucks, the lots are unbundled for distribution by electric
vehicles to the neighbouring districts.
The interventions of the morning highlighted the two main the-
mes for work on corridors:
-The integration of east-west flows on a macro-European
scale on efficient corridors for high-volume transport
- The importance of meshing the network on a local
scale to offer service solutions from the first to the last
kilometre in order to result in efficient «door to door»
transport solutions.

3. Lydia Mykolenko - Institute for Urban Planning and De-
velopment of the Ile-de-France region stressed the key
role of the Greater Paris area, a geographical convergence of
several major north-south but also east-west transport routes.
LM evoked the major strategic challenge of the Logistics
Crescent to optimize fluidity and interconnections in the outer
suburbs from North to East and then South of the Greater Paris
area. LM recalled that transport corridors play an essential
role in re-industrialisation with infrastructures and ser-
vices serving the real and potential flows. LM concluded with
the structural projections of transport networks towards the
East of France and the centre of industrial Europe, echoing the
prospective strategic vision proposed by Juliette Duszynski of
the AURH.
Jean-Paul Lafitte - Paris Seine Normandy recalled the
importance of the global legibility of what is being orga-
nized and offered in and by the Seine Valley. Over and above
lobbying, PSN was taking part in the optimization of trans-
port solutions by encouraging collective synergies alongside
HAROPA and the shippers. JPL insisted on the dynamic
interconnection between networks, people and informa-
tion. Clustering made it possible to jointly promote claims for
improving the general conditions of the HAROPA ecosystem.
JPL evoked the project of the Seine Valley Community System
for the optimal processing of information to be a core feature
of the region’s attractiveness synonymous with economic per-
formance and sustainable employment.
André Thinières - Objectif OFP explained the slow transfor-
mation of the rail system in France with the on-going erosion
in SNCF freight traffic and how local rail operators (OFPs) were
taking over that traffic. AT highlighted the resilience of unu-
sual networks reactivated by a shipping service from local
rail operators in tune with the needs expressed by stakehol-
ders in the regions. AT mentioned the importance of accessi-
bility to major European transport networks through a multi-
modal, fine meshed system. AT explained the appropriateness
of meshing on a scale suitable for use by branch rail lines to
supply goods direct to shippers… and consumers. The case
of the Logistics Hotel backed by SOGARIS and HAROPA illus-
trated the utility of this combination between the consolidating
effects of rail transport and the capacity of services closer to
shipper clients and consumer customers. AT discussed the
importance of market intelligence to maximize the unde-
rexploited potential of the Supply / Demand equation.
Arnaud Colson - French Aggregates Association (UNPG)
noted that transport and logistics services increasingly took
into account the exact needs of the heavy goods they trans-
ported. AC put into perspective the importance of aggregates
in the effectiveness of the modal complementarity enabled by
piggybacking.
The issue of the first kilometres was crucial with the
imperative need to respond on the commercial and strategic
levels to the optimized management of the transfer breaks.AC
insisted on the simplified applicability of the measures
advocated by the European Commission in its planning vision
of multi-modal transport regions. Maintaining intra-metropo-
litan platforms was decisive to ensure the deliveries of heavy
cargo as close as possible to construction sites. For bulk cargo
such as aggregates but also for grain or chemical products,
rail-river-road combinations had to be central to strategic
planning for the short and medium terms. This meant saving
branch lines and interconnections, equally because of their
use for consolidating oversize loads and for their structuring
effect on local line networks. Europe must be in line with these
pragmatic requirements of the producers of traffic.
Steve Labeylie - CFT stated that inland waterways transport
was highly dependent on market conditions and the health of
the production regions it supplied. River transport also remains
constrained by the physical geography and civil engineering
structures in particular that constrained the optimization
of loading heights. These factors continued to be important
when SL mentioned the strategic planning of the inland
waterways network. The diversity of the products transpor-
ted required structuring approaches based on the main
market sectors and industries. With regard to container
traffic, the waterway links at Port 2000 had to be promoted
by HAROPA and Europe. In the same way, the strategic deve-
lopment of the Oise region is essential to optimize the use of
the waterways north of Paris, particularly for the bulk cargoes
of the construction industry. SL, as Arnaud Colson and André
Thinières, highlighted the importance of managing the last
kilometres, as close as possible to the initial sources of the
traffic and the final destinations of the products.
The maintenance and even the development of branch river
Summary of the items discussed during the round table

4. systems are the backbone of a dense, ecologically clean
network to the centre of the largest urban areas as evidenced
by the case of Paris and the developments backed by Ports
of Paris.
Michel Valache - VEOLIA emphasized as had Arnaud Col-
son the needs expressed by the main producers of traffic.Veo-
lia had wide-ranging experience in the strategic management
of waste transportation and logistics. MV took the example
of the waste industry to emphasize the rapid development of
the business lines and practices, and thus their needs. MV
requested Europe and HAROPA be more flexible and adap-
table in making multimodal transport networks more resi-
lient and more agile.
Having long-term strategic forecasts was good in MV’s opi-
nion, but there also had to be flexible systems to protect
the most fragile networks with the deepest roots in the
regions. Veolia used the European area in all its geographic
dimensions, seeking to favour mass transport modes by rail
and river. Waste collection required sidings on industrial sites.
De-industrialisation could represent an opportunity to optimize
transport / logistics solutions. MV concluded by illustrating
his comments with the case of waste management by Veo-
lia between the Lyon region, Gennevilliers and the port of Le
Havre: all of the transport modes were actively used on almost
all the network gauges. MV urged Europe and the authori-
ties to engage and support experimentation contracts in
direct partnership with the private sector.
Benoît Melonio - CDISCOUNT confirmed the strategic im-
portance of the Greater Paris urban area, as the crossroads
of mass transport dynamics and a vast region of logistics
innovations for ‘green’ management of the kilometres. BM
insisted on collaborations with transport organizers who favour
the Seine Corridor to import and export goods for the Casino
group. Gas trucks, electric cars, urban river services: Cdis-
count combined its modal integration with optimal control of
its environmental impact. The example of Franprix and barges
shuttle in the centre of the Seine highlighted the collabora-
tive approach between a logistics integrator (XPO Logistics), a
developer (HAROPA - Ports de Paris) and a shipper (the Casino
Group). Europe and HAROPA could act as facilitators so
that logistics services were fine-tuned to comply as close as
possible with the constraints expressed by the main «multi-
cargo» shippers. BM concluded by evoking the innovative idea
of European environmental value so that the logistics solu-
tions most respectful of the environment were also recognized
on the economic level.The European Commission should start
to analyse environmental performance compensation systems
to encourage transport services that were economically sus-
tainable.
In conclusion
Since its creation in January 2012, HAROPA had continued to mesh the port and logistics assets of a region that extended far
beyond the Valley of the Seine. The community of interests formed by the ports has a double strategy:
- Be as close as possible to the needs of all industrial and manufacturing stakeholders of our productive regions
- Go as far as possible in creating or developing the connectivity needed to continually improve the integration of the logis-
tics system of the Seine Valley in European transport corridors.
Seine Gateway expressed this strategy on several scales in a highly favourable environment since our regions combine high
capacities for industrial production-processing and unique sources of consumption with almost a fifth of the French population.
However, the commercial influence of our transport system still suffered from a lack of connectivity and functional integration
with the major European transport networks. The efficiency and power of our transport networks required analysis at the local
and global levels. As evidenced by the various testimonials from the private sector, the optimized integration of our main trans-
port corridors had to be included to a greater degree in the strategic vision and planning of the European Commission. This had
to be achieved by analysing the networks down to the smallest levels, integrating the tributaries, sidings and branch lines in
order to provide rail and waterway transport solutions that corresponded as closely as possible to the industrial needs of ship-
pers. The transport system backed by HAROPA has to be extended to the east in an East-West corridor approach,
complementary to the logistics corridors that are already saturated on the North-South and North Sea-Mediter-
ranean links.
This would result in better connectivity of the peripheral regions of Western Europe while providing multimodal mass transport
solutions for shippers located in the geographical centre of Europe.

5. BASED ON THE OUTCOME OF THE INFORMAL TRILOGUE OF 27th JUNE 2013