French port breaks export record
After the historic records of the 2013-2014 grain campaign (2.4 Mt) and the 2014 calendar year (2.3 Mt), the port of Dunkirk has seen the advantages offered by its operator and infrastructures with record traffic of 1.09 Mt confirmed for the first quarter of 2015, exceeding the last export record back in 1991.
980,000 tonnes of wheat was shipped to the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, and 110,000 tonnes of barley to Asia.
These excellent results reflect the drive of the operator Nord Céréales which has improved its productivity through significant investments on its site, allowing it to berth and load very large ships (14.20 m draught) with high productivity rates (eight shiploads of 63,000 tonnes during this first quarter). While the modal share of transport by waterway has reached 52 percent, rail is again being used after a gap of more than ten years, further extending the hinterland of Dunkerque-Port towards eastern France. New traffic volumes have been carried by rail to the port of Dunkirk since the beginning of the year: four rail operators are active on the market and run full trains. The volume of grain carried by rail has now exceeded 76,000 tonnes.
Nord Céréales stands as the leading company of northern and eastern France in the service of grain operators, with an exceptional site located in the heart of the industrial area of Grand Port Maritime de Dunkerque to serve the largest grain carriers in the world.
Joël Ratel, General Director of Nord Céréales, is delighted with these good results. He said: "Thanks to the professionalism of the transport operators and that of Nord Céréales, the 2014-2015 campaign should be exceptional, and last year’s record (to 30 June 2014) is likely to be beaten. The recent investments have made Nord Céréales known and recognised, and the current investments (dryer and cleaner) will reinforce the position of Nord Céréales for years to come."
