Intermodality: some French innovations

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Matthieu Desiderio

France-Spain motorways of the sea by 2009!

Dominique Bussereau, French State Secretary in charge of transport, and Magdalena Alvarez Arza, Spanish Ministry for transport infrastructure signed up a roadmap aiming at developing motorways of the sea services between both countries. They agreed on investing €30 million over a 5-years period. Nevertheless, if the maritime services to be put in place will benefit from State aids (€30 million), no financial supports will be allocated to transport providers who will use the ad hoc services. In order to be granted with European aids, operators will have to participate to the 2009 Marco Polo call for proposals which ends ont the May 8, 2009.

The services are expected to be in operation by late 2009. Following feedbacks from invitations to tender launched by the French-Spanish intergovernmental commission , two proposals were accepted: the Acciona Trasmediterránea and Grimaldi- Louis Dreyfus Armateurs services.

The Acciona Trasmediterránea service will operate two maritime lines: Nantes-Saint-Nazaire-Vigo (28 hours) and Le Havre-Vigo (36 hours). From 2010, another service will connect Le Havre, Vigo and Algeciras. On a weekly basis, the operator proposes 4 departures from French ports and will make them 7 in the mid-term. It is to note that these services are designed for trailers only.

The Grimaldi- Louis Dreyfus Armateurs service will provide a service between Nantes-Saint-Nazaire-Gijón available to accompanied transport. Four departures per week are planned (7 in the mid-term) are planned and the distance will be covered in 14 hours.

The creation of these services is expected to induce a modal shift of 100,000 trucks per annum. This objective, if so achieved, will not only address environmental issues but also significantly reduce road congestion on a corridor where international traffics are substantial. According to Magdalena Alvarez Arza, the economic impact of road congestion was 0.5% of GDP in 2001 and even reach 1% nowadays. Traffics going through the Pyrenees are however much higher than the expected modal shift. About 20,000 trucks per day cross over the Pyrenees via the two main alternatives, Perthus and Biriatou – although it decreased by roughly 5% in 2008 compared to 2007.

Even a couple of haulers deem this service pertinent, since the 14 hours long journey between Nantes-Saint-Nazaire and Gijón allow drivers to have their legal break on board. What’s more, 14 hours is also quite competitive with road’s travel times.

Why the Toulon-Civitavechia line closed down…

This announcement was made few weeks after the only Mediterranean motorways of the sea service was stopped. Reason put forward by the operator (GLD Lines, a combination of Grimaldi and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs groups) was the economic downturn that particularly affected the automotive industry. The drop in demand of vehicles to be carried led the operator to put an end to the service in February, 2009. For the first year of the maritime line (2005), 5,000 trucks were boarded. In 2006, they were 10,000 becoming 16,000 in 2007. However, with a decreasing demand and a price set to €330 per truck, GLD Lines did not manage to make profits in 4 years of operation. Overall, the service experienced a loss of €16 million. Yet, €4 million distinct financial supports from Europe and France : €2 million coming from the French State and €2 million from the Marco Polo programme (contrary to previously-made commitments, Italy apparently never paid the €100 per truck grant under the Eco-Bonus scheme intended to car-carriers).

Rolling road as a complement to motorways of the sea on western France

Besides, French Ministry recently announced the creation of a rolling road on western France. This new service is to be in operation by late 2011 and will connect Lille and Paris to Bayonne (South-West of France). Likewise the motorways of the sea schemes, this intermodal solution is expected to take trucks off the road on a corridor where international traffics are considerable. Invitation to tender will be soon released. Parameters of the service still remain to be set, but by 2020 the service is expected to propose about 10 departures per day from each end of the line.

Today’s freight transport policies definitely tend to encourage modal shift by promoting alternatives to road transport. These alternatives are all the more efficient and relevant that the transport infrastructures’ and services’ design matches the users’ needs. As a reminder two rolling roads already exist in France:

one in the Alps, from Aiton to Orbassano; and
one which connects Luxembourg to Perpignan

From haulers viewpoint, the existing Alps crossing-over rolling roads (not only in France, but also in Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia and Italy) have for instance proved themselves appropriate options when it is to go through the Alps where truck traffics are often both physically and legally constrained.

Contrary to most of the Alps schemes, the Luxembourg-Perpignan rolling road launched in October, 2007 which covers a 1,050 km long distance only carries trailers. In that sense, the concept is similar to combined transport, but instead of being shipped with swap bodies, the train is filled with trailers. However, one year and half after it was launched, the service is having trouble to make it profitable. The creation of a second daily departure mid-2009 is expected to draw additional traffic.

References

Autoroute de la mer : Saint Nazaire Gijon bientot au large, l’Officiel des transporteurs n°2492, February 27, 2009
Ligne maritime Toulon-Civitavecchia : un arrêt brutal qui fait jaser, l’Officiel des Transporteurs, N° 2493, March 6, 2009: here
En bref : L’autoroute ferroviaire Luxembourg-Perpginan : bilan mitigé de la première année d’exploitation, February 27, 2009: here
Press release: Lancement de 2 autoroutes de la mer entre la France et l’Espagne, February 27, 2009 : here

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