Strasbourg stands up to pandemic
The inland Ports of Strasbourg in France, which will move to new headquarters in 2021, maintained their services throughout the pandemic in 2020. River traffic stood at 6.8 million t, down 9.5% from 2019. The shutdowns in 2020 hit the construction sector and the riverine transport of construction materials. This trend was observed all across the Upper Rhine.
Rail traffic reached 1.2 million t, 60% of which were containers, a tonnage below the outstanding year of 2019 (1.37 million t). The trimodal Rhine Europe Terminals handled more than 363,000 teu, a decrease of 4.7% compared to the previous year. The number of containers handled by inland waterway continued to grow (+4.4%). Rail traffic, on the other hand, dropped slightly in volume (–3.3%) while maintaining 15 weekly rail shuttles from Strasbourg.
Strasbourg’s south container terminal, Rue de Saint-Nazaire, has been completely redesigned, to extend its storage area, make traffic more fluid, improve access for heavy goods vehicles and offer new workspaces to RET employees. The subsidiary will move into its new premises in mid-March 2021. (cd)