HAROPA elected “Best Seaport in Europe” and “Best Green Port

The port stakeholders and experts in the supply chain of the Asia Pacific zone have placed their trust again in HAROPA (the 5th port complex on the North-European range composed of Port of Le Havre, Port of Rouen and Ports of Paris): HAROPA received two awards on June 29th: the trophy of “Best Seaport in Europe 2017” and that of “Best Green Port” in Singapore.

In competition with world ports among which Barcelona, Hamburg and Rotterdam, Long Beach and Singapore, HAROPA has been elected both “Best Seaport in Europe” and “Best Green Port” by the readers of Asia Cargo News magazine, leader of this specialized press in Asia. The prizes attributed after a vote of more than 18,000 port professionals and experts of the supply chain confirm the attractiveness and competiveness of HAROPA ports, in particular regarding the Asian market and its environmental commitment.

For Hervé Martel, President of HAROPA and CEO of HAROPA - Port of Le Havre, “The ‘Best Seaport in Europe’ repeated award is an enormous sign of confidence in HAROPA and in all efforts made by the three ports and their partners. That confirms that the New Silk Road is now more than ever going through HAROPA. The other prize ’Best Green Port’awarded for the third year running, is also an enormous sign of recognition in efforts made by the three port communities and their partners. It confirms the common interest of everyone for respectful development of our areas and the attention paid to our ports and our oceans.”

THE TROPHY “BEST SEAPORT IN EUROPE”

With the trophy, all port professionals like importers/exporters, shippers, logistics companies, freight forwarders and shipping companies welcome the initiatives taken by largest French port complex in finding adapted solutions for the Asian market:

• Two daily connections with Asia et 10 weekly services,
• Competitive transit times: i.e. 21 days on export to Singapore meaning 2 days less than Antwerp and 4 days less than Benelux and English ports,
• Terminals capable to operate the biggest ocean vessels in the world (20,000 TEU) fully loaded,
• A shipping offer to around 700 ports worldwide of which approx. 225 are situated in Asia /Oceania,
• Simple and fast transit of goods (ex.: customs cleared within less than 5 minutes and 99 % with no physical inspection),
• Customs and tax facilities on imports(ex.: VAT reverse charge procedure in France),
• Commercial engagement in the center of the Asian economic life thanks to HAROPA’s International representatives in South Korea, China and Taiwan, in India, Japan and Singapore.

The award of “Best Seaport in Europe” is also an opportunity to recognize the ambition of HAROPA in developing “customer solution 4.0” at customers’ service, and especially for those in the Asia Pacific region:

• Production and publication of HAROPA’s indicators of performance unique in Europe,
• An active partnership with French Customs underlined by an agreement with China facilitating the transit of goods,
• Deployment by the Havre company SOGET of the 4th generation of the Port Single Window “S)One”, a true high-tech system, at the leading edge of world technology,
• “TRAFIS Lab”, the 1st state and private-funded research laboratory for facilitation of cross-border exchanges, for security, digital technology, blockchain and artificial intelligence, is created in Le Havre.

Since 2011, HAROPA has already been awarded the prize “Best Seaport in Europe” four times.

THE TROPHY “BEST GREEN PORT”

Through the “Best Green Port“, importers-exporters, logisticians, freight forwarders and other Asian shipping companies greet the quality of the environmental initiatives boosted by HAROPA. This commitment turns around two essential axes: developing consolidated modes and multimodality, on the one hand, and encouraging effective initiatives in terms of fight against global warming, on the other hand.

THE ENVIRONMENT: A CENTRAL FOCUS FOR HAROPA STRATEGY

HAROPA - Port of Le Havre and HAROPA - Port of Rouen: a shared approach on the Seine estuary
The Seine estuary lies largely within the maritime boundaries of the ports of Rouen and Le Havre. Faced with their need for coherent, comprehensive management of the estuary, the two ports have implemented a shared approach to sustainable development which focuses on three common themes:

• Forward-looking management of wilderness areas and natural resources
• Control of the impact of port activities on the environment
• Support for projects by integrating environmental issues and consultation from the design stage onwards

HAROPA - Ports of Paris: an eco-campaigner in the city

Promoting inland waterway transport is the major focus for the environmental commitment of Ports of Paris. Its Environmental Strategic Plan includes 253 actions divided into four priority areas: Integration of the ports in their natural habitat, control of their environmental impacts, the quality management system and the ISO 14 001 certification.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL SHIP INDEX (ESI)

The ESI approach initiated in 2010 by the ports of the north-European range encourages ship-owners to reduce the atmospheric emissions of their ships. Since 2013, the ESI index has been deployed on the Seine corridor. HAROPA annually awards trophies every year to shipping companies which make the greenest calls and grants them financial rewards. By the end of 2016, HAROPA rewarded a total of 890 calls. In order to encourage the environmental performance of ships, HAROPA - Ports of Paris launched the first edition of the environmental trophies for the river fleet. This trophy is due to reward the most performing river boats for goods and passengers. Since its inception, 25 forwarding companies have signed the HAROPA charter.