Verdon Terminal relaunched Europorte wins the bid of Atlantic Port of Bordeaux

The port of Bordeaux has confirmed its decision to retain Europorte, the Groupe Eurotunnel subsidiary, as operator of the terminals at Verdon. Europorte, which already has a presence at the ports of Dunkirk, Nantes Saint-Nazaire, Le Havre, Rouen, La Rochelle, Paris and Strasbourg, will use its expertise to develop a full logistics chain from the unloading of ships to railway deliveries, enabling modal shift from road to maritime, river and rail in the Bordeaux port’s hinterland.  

Composed of three main centres, a port for the Bordeaux conurbation, a railway shuttle system and a port terminal, the logistics chain will be managed by a port logistics company to increase the flows between the terminals at Verdon and the hinterland. Europorte envisages the mobilisation of approximately 70 staff, dedicated resources and an initial investment of €10 million. The reduction in transit time and the growth in handling capacity for larger ships will enable the port to handle 70,000 containers in 2016. 

The Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux, a huge industrial and logistics platform which already covers some 110 kms of the Gironde estuary, is set to grow even bigger. It is situated at a cross-road of land, river and maritime routes and is made up of seven separate, specialist terminals. It is active in the movement of cereals, oils, wood, paper, refined petroleum products, minerals and containers. It handles around 9 million tonnes of freight a year. 

The relaunch of the Verdon Terminal, now entering its operational phase, will see the start of activities at Verdon in the third quarter of 2015.