Port of Le Havre declines 8.5% in 2009

Container trade dropped by 11% to 22.1m tonnes against 24.9m tonnes in the previous year, which, in terms of the number of units handled corresponds to 2.2m teu, a fall of 10% fall. According to the Port, this figure illustrates ‘good resistance’ when compared to the results of the other main ports of the North-European range.

During the period, Port 2000 reached 80% capacity, handling around 1.1m teu through its four operational berths. An addition six berths will be handed over to operators during the course of 2010.

Container transhipment remained relatively stable, whilst freight traffic on the River Seine increased by around 10%, with the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris agreeing to pool their marketing in 2010 to strengthen this growth.