New freighter should help Boulogne steam ahead

Most important to the people and traders of Boulogne, says Mr Leroy, has been the return of a cross- Channel service. ‘If they could ask for just one more thing, it would be another boat.’ (Francis Leroy)

The planning began with the identification of the main usages of the port. A report listed five major activities.

Fishing : it is the largest fishing port in France.

Fish produce : it is the leading European port for the preparation of sea food.

Cross-Channel activity : the first regular service from Boulogne to Rye opened in 1823, a deep water port giving permanent access opened in 1869, and the first daily service in 1897. Cross-Channel traffic grew with international exchanges and the rise of the railways. In 1890 it counted 110,000 passengers, by 1923 that had grown to 500,000. By the turn of the last century Boulogne was France’s first cross-Channel port.

Commerce : it is one of France’s most important ports for the import of wood, and wood pulp for paper.

Pleasure : the port benefits from being right in the heart of the town.

The end of the iron and steel industry has given the port the chance to develop new business on the old site.

Planning began in 1999 with a joint state and region-agreed plan for 2000 to 2006 looking at its commercial, cross-Channel, halieutique and pleasure tourism sectors. The return of a cross-Channel ferry link was also a priority.

The closure of the Comilog plant in 2003 forced a new evaluation of the port’s future looking towards 2025. A new study was launched in 2004.

It was to look at the development of the port as a whole. While it looked particularly at the site vacated by Comilog, it also looked to increase synergies between the port and the town.

Its achievement to date says Mr Leroy include :

The re-establishment of the cross-Channel link with the Speedferries Dover-Boulogne service in May 2004, after an absence of almost four years.

In 2005, with just one ship, it carried 710,000 passengers.

The study to define the port’s businesses provided the evidence to measure the imporrtance of it as a fishing port, cross-Channel, and pleasure port in the local economy.

Three projects were defined.

 To continue to develop the activities of Produits de la Mer and to maintain its place as the primary sea food processing, marketing and distribution port in Europe by attracting new business to part of the Comilog site.
 To develop Boulogne as the leading hub port for the marine highways and to develop the rapid freight and conventional transport of goods in and out of the port.
 To overhaul the cross-Channel terminal, improve the old maritime rail station to adapt to new rapid transport systems, and to use the freed-up space to create a complex to service both business and pleasure purposes.

Marine station

The first objective, to establish new business on the Comilog site, should be reached by the end of next year (2007).

The second, to become a hub port – 20 million euri have been invested in a new roll on-roll off berth, due in service at the end of the year, with the loaunch of high-speed freight services in 2008.

The third, to refurbish the marine rail station by the end of 2007.

Most important to the people and traders of Boulogne, says Mr Leroy, has been the return of a cross-Channel service “If they could ask for just one more thing, it would be another boat.”

What sort of new business will be located on the site have yet to be decided.

Progress towards establishing Boulogne as a hub port on the marine version of the motorway system can be measured by three key dates, says Mr Leroy.

In June 2005 Boulogne, Drammen in Norway and Santander in Spain agreed to work together to launch a high-speed freight service, the maritime version of the high-speed Train de Grande Vitesse (TGV), the Bateau a Grande Vitesse (BGV).

In March this year the Norwegian ferry service Norferries announced its intention to acquire four BGVs, to run between Boulogne, Drammen, Santander and Sheerness.

In April the ports of Vigo in Spain and Sheerness signed up to the concept.

The BGV is still on the drawing board, as a trimaran. No shipyard has yet been chosen to build them, but the nearest example to what can be expected is the 45 knot commercial trimaran operated by the Olsen Line between Barcelona and the Canaries.

With the ferry service re-established, a dual carriageway link direct from the port to the motorway, and ùmajor improvements and refurbishments to both the lower and the old, walled town, Boulogne has already come a long way.

In five years’ time Mr Leroy wants to see :

 All the various developments working together ;
 Boulogne remaining a multi-purpose port, keeping and building on its position as Europe’s leading port for the processing, marketing and distribution of sea food products, and developing new added-value products and logistical infrastructure.
 Boulogne become the home port for both fast and conventional freight transport.
 The town strengthen its position in tourism with the growth of its cross-Channel and pleasure boating sectors.

As Folkestone searches for a new role, and Dover prepares for another battle between town and port. Boulogne appears to have stolen a march on its old cross-Channel partners. Francis Leroy, president of the powerful and highly influential Boulogne Chamber of Commerce and Industry outlines what the town had set as its objectives, and how it is achieving them. He spoke to George Ward.

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