Active 2021 leads to exciting prospects
Medlink Ports’ new strategy brings all of the region’s key players together.
Medlink Ports, founded in 2015, quickly brought together all the maritime and inland ports of the Mediterranean–Rhône–Saône axis, as well as the managers and developers of the region’s transport infrastructure, to make itself a major economic and institutional player.
Medlink is the banner of the hinterland of the French Mediterranean coast. Its permanent members are the three French maritime ports of Marseille Fos, Sète and Toulon, the nine riverine ports of Pagny, Chalon, Mâcon, Villefranche, Lyon, Salaise-Sablons, Valence, Avignon and Arles, and the three network operators Voies navigables de France (VNF), Compagnie nationale du Rhône (CNR) and SNCF Réseau.
The association also includes the users of the network as its partners, that is professional associations, terminal operators, barge operators, rail operators as well as shippers.
Looking back at 2021’s new start
In September 2020 Cécile Avezard, Regional Director for the Rhône and Saône at Voies Navigables de France, took over the presidency of Medlink Ports, succeeding Jean-Claude Gayssot, President of the Port of Sète.
The Minister of Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, has found that the modal shift, in particular to riverine and inland waterways, is not performing as expected, so at the end of 2020 he entrusted President Cécile Avezard with the task of making concrete and operational proposals to promote inland navigation on the Mediterranean–Rhône–Saône axis.
The arrival of a new Delegate General can strengthen the agency’s capacities. Thus, at the beginning of 2021, the President and her Board recruited Mathieu Gleizes for this post, a former political staff member in parliament and the cabinet of ministers, who specialises in transport and pursued a career in the SNCF Group for seven years.
Medlink Ports brings together operational players from rail and inland waterway transport to improve their service offerings, develop their activities, their integration and their role in the regions.
A new strategy
In July 2021, during a Ministerial Committee Meeting for Transport Development and Innovation, Cécile Avezard handed over Medlink Ports’ report on the revitalisation of inland waterway transport and a modal shift on the Rhône–Saône–Mediterranean axis to Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.
The report, published at the SITL trade fair, held in Paris in September 2021, focuses on four focal points and 60 key measures to be implemented by the state, the members of Medlink Ports and the municipalities in the region.
These are the four focal points.
1.Improve transhipment processes, reliability as well as productivity.
2.Develop new traffic flows.
3.Invest in inland navigation and additionally promote the mode for shippers.
4. Accelerate the environmental and digital dimension of these transport services.
This will create a roadmap for Medlink Ports and all stakeholders involved in the modal shift.
Medlink Ports participates in a partnership agreement between VNF, CNR and SNCF Réseau for the development of freight transport on the rail, river and inland waterway network. This partnership, part of a national effort to bring rail and the inland waterways closer together, aims to increase the presence, complementarity and performance of France’s low-carbon networks and ultimately their market share.
With the support of Medlink Ports the three managers will draw up a detailed map of the infrastructures and services on the Rhône–Saône axis, define targeted and joint promotion and communication measures, present a business continuity plan for the modal shift and build a common digital infrastructure.
The association is also developing new options and services. It is committed to developing an eco-calculator, a useful tool to measure the low-carbon network, which will be operational in 2022. The Medlink Safe process, for the export of dangerous goods through the GPMM Port Authority, is also being rolled out.
In terms of promotion, after a vibrant presence at various T&L meetings, at SITL and RIVERDATING shows this year, Medlink Ports will position itself at more events in 2022, also internationally – to the extent that the pandemic allows.
The association also wants to act jointly with other logistics axes organised at national level, such as Norlink, the Seine Valley (Haropa), and port groups in eastern France, to strengthen the presence of the low-carbon modes of transport, river and rail, which are under-used in France.
A new way of thinking is required
“Bringing together the territories and the main players, especially the maritime ones, is essential – they are a key part of this transport axis,” Mathieu Gleizes, Delegate General, explained.
At the institutional level strengthening the riverine, inland waterway and railway modes of transport on the Rhône–Saône axis requires a new way of thinking and the mobilisation and coordination of all players. The MeRS hinterland includes four large administrative regions and numerous metropolises and agglomerations. Their support for the approach taken in the report has been made clear by these municipalities involved.
From an economic point of view, closer links are being developed with the business networks that already exist in each area, as well as with the main players in the maritime sector. Indeed, container transport is an important lever for the development of rail and river transport.
Studies show that market shares in this segment could double or even triple. Good handling in terms of transhipment, a high quality service offer in terms of access to the hinterland, at the best economic cost and at low CO2 costs – that’s our ambition!
Developing the logistics economy
Medlink is thus joining a process that was launched following the French President’s announcements on the development of Marseille and its logistics network hinterlands.
Hervé Martel, Chairman of the Board of the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille and the Vice-Chairman of Medlink Ports, has therefore been entrusted with this economic project and the development of the logistics economy. For Medlink Ports, this project is an opportunity for France and for all of Europe.
Cécile Avezard explained that “the logistics renewal of the low-carbon network Mediterranean– Rhône–Saône is of strategic importance, in order to significantly reduce the overall environmental impact made by transport, to meet the challenges of environmental change, to ensure sustainable development as well as an ability to compete, and thus to guarantee the quality of life in these regions in the long term.”
You can consult our report and other information on our website.