DUBAI: P&O Ports has won a three-year management contract to operate the container terminal in the Port de Sete in the south of France under an agreement which can also be converted into a long-term concession in the future.
The contract will see P & O Ports operating a container yard with a draft up to 14,5m with 457 metres of quay and adjacent 2 hectares’ land. The container terminal is expected to commence operations in October 2017.
Port de Sete is a deep draft port, handling frozen, chilled, general and break-bulk cargo, containers, Ro-Ro (Roll-on Roll-off) services and livestock alongside cruise and ferry terminals, a marina, cement handling facilities and an agro-industrial complex.
Located in the heart of the Occitanie region, Port de Sete has the capacity to process all types of vessels with additional hectares of land to be developed for the container activity, an ideal entry point to the Region Auvergne-Rhone with direct inland waterway communications and well positioned to serve nearby large centres of population including Toulouse, Montpellier and Clermont-Ferrand.
It forms part of the network of feeder routes in Italy, Spain and France with access to major hubs throughout the Mediterranean, the road and rail network of southern France and major businesses located in the region.
Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Ports Customs and Freezones Corporation, PCFC, in Dubai, said, “Port De Sete has great potential and is ready to become another gateway port for France.
In the early stages it will continue to primarily cater to feeder services in the eastern Mediterranean, the Maghreb region and North Africa. Once development takes place with the backing of our regional partners we expect to see more multinational shippers use its services with other international destinations added over time.”
Jean Claude Gayssot, President of the Port de Sete, said, “We are pleased to be working with P & O Ports, which is independent and a source of great opportunity with a well-known brand having a worldwide reputation in the shipping sector whose global operations with DP World network make them an attractive and reliable partner.”
