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Poole rather than the busiest route – Calais-Dover.
It is not the first time that the UK
government has run into trouble with ‘Brexit’ busting ferry contracts – a previous deal involving Brittany, DFDS and Seabourne sparked legal action and a successful claim for compensation for the UK government from Eurotunnel - which was not included in the scheme - and this in turn led to a counter-claim by P&O Ferries. However, Puissesseau said that
he had not yet decided if the Port of Boulogne Calais would consider legal action itself. It would depend on when Brexit took place and whether any money was actually paid out to ferry operators. Meanwhile, Calais has a new
Issue 8 2019 - Freight Business Journal
route to Tilbury, launched by P&O Ferries and the first regular service from Calais to a port other than Dover in the ro ro era. Puissesseau explained that it would connect with the new VIIA intermodal rail service from Italy and the South of France and, with an arrival into Tilbury at around 5am, would allow traffic to reach a wide swathe of the UK by early morning. This, he suggested, would be a much more effective way of ensuring that deliveries of vital goods such as medicines got through than allocating dedicated ferry capacity as the UK government is attempting to do. He said: “From what we hear,
the UK government is concerned about medicines not getting through but booking space of
ferries is not necessary. Our new service can get a truck into London by 7am.” The rail links operated by VIIA
– the logistics arm of the French railways – would also soon be boosted by a new dedicated train service to and from the port of Sete in south-east France. The latter has frequent ro ro services from Turkey, so a trailer could be loaded onto a ferry in that country and travel all the way to the UK, travelling only a few tens of kilometres on the roads. The current rail terminal has ample capacity, of up to 100,000 trailers a year, but under the port improvement
programme this
could increase to about double that number. Intermodal transfer
specialist
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Cargobeamer is also considering installing a terminal with its unique transfer equipment – which would allow standard road trailers to be transferred to and from trains without the extra strengthening required for crane operation – but this would probably be on the main road network, not within the port of Calais. Having launched one new
service to a port other than Dover, Calais would be interested in developing services to other new destinations too. Puissesseau said that discussions had taken place about a possible link to Ireland and that he would be open to offers
from ports in Northern England or elsewhere. However, Calais’ main focus would, as now, remain on Dover, he added. Meanwhile, Calais port was
continuing to invest, despite a currently flat freight market, Puissesseau continued. It had been working with French customs to develop the Gemini electronic declaration system which should greatly smooth traffic through the port, with any trucks selected for examination filtered out. Agents would be on hand to make customs declaration for any trucks arriving without paperwork. The port had also carried out ‘dry
runs’ and spent much time with the national hauliers association to iron out any potential problems. It was also investing in its
physical infrastructure, primarily to ensure that the next-generation ferries announced by DFDS and P&O Ferries would be able to turn round easily in the harbour, work that
should be completed by
January 2021. Like Dover, Calais also handles
a certain amount of general cargo traffic, particularly sugar and aggregates in small coasters. Capacity for this traffic could also be boosted under the port’s current expansion plans.
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