Haropa coming back
Resilience is key in the difficult global economic context of Covid-19. The French port association Haropa comprising Le Havre, Paris and Rouen ended 2020 with overall maritime and river traffic volumes of 108 million t, 6% down compared to 2019.
With a total of 75 million t, maritime traffic declined by 16.7%. Containerised goods flows, a barometer for the economy generally, lost less with 14% to 2.4 million teu, rising again as from summer 2020.
In Q4/2020, cargo flows returned to the same level as in 2018, itself a benchmark year. In detail, full containers lost 9% compared to 2019, dry bulk went up due to grain exports (+5.8%) and imports of aggregates (34.2%).
Liquid bulk registered a fall of 20.9%, ro-ro activities lost by 15.5%, but witnessed an upswing in the second half of the year. River activity showed a degree of resilience, declining by 3.8% to 33 million t.
The major Paris construction projects stimulated activity in the construction industry (+12% by the end of November) in preparations for the 2024 Olympics. (cd)