French domination of logistics is also a reflection of its geography: with 6 national borders and stretching from Northern Europe, to the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. In addition, the infrastructure is admirable as is the digital telecommunications network, high-speed internet access and EDI (electronic data interchange).
The key transport modes are:
By Sea 5 out of the EU’s 15 largest ports are located in France. Le Havre is France’s largest port, accounting for 60% of container traffic. It’s recent extensions allow the largest ships access, regardless of the ship’s draught or tide conditions. Marseille is the largest port in the Mediterranean and 3rd in Europe. It recently upgraded to cater for ships of 8,000TEU. By Air Paris CDG and Orly handle 20% of Europe’s total airfreight, ranking them 3rd in the EU. Of the 55,000 employees directly involved in the airports, some 12,000 are in logistics. The extension of Paris CDG should be completed by end 2006 and is expected to boost the airports’ ranking further.
By Road, Rail, Waterway France’s 950,000Km of roads (10,400Km of motorway) are some of the least congested of Europe with traffic density of 30vehicles/km compared to the EU average of 44v/km and 65v/km in Germany. More than 20% of the rail transport is combined road/rail, compared to 14% on average in the EU. Finally, France has a dense network of maintained canals and rivers.
Address: IBT Partners - 17 rue du Colisée - 75008 Paris - France
French domination of logistics is also a reflection of its geography: with 6 national borders and stretching from Northern Europe, to the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. In addition, the infrastructure is admirable as is the digital telecommunications network, high-speed internet access and EDI (electronic data interchange).