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Le Havre, Rouen, Paris join in HAROPA to mark 500 years of world trade

THE usually-forward looking first-in/last out Port of Le Havre is taking a look back these days as it celebrates is 500th anniversary.

Le Havre, is now allied with Rouen and its principal source of business, Paris, in a marketing organisation called HAROPA, a contraction of the names of three port partners.



Le Havre prides itself on being the first-in and last-out port - that is, the first port to greet ships to north Europe, while providing the last opportunity to load last minute exports before ships depart. This shortens transit times in both directions.



HAROPA now encompasses 35 kilometres of quays, 24 bridges, 150 kilometres of roads and 200 kilometres of railways.



"To celebrate the 500th anniversary, we take a look at the major milestones in the port's history from its birth on February 7, 1517 when visionary King Francois I ordered the creation of a harbour for warships and merchant ships he had ready to conquer the world," said a statement from HAROPA.



From 1517 to the present day, Le Havre has always been a gateway to the world and international trade, and the de facto port of Paris, through which most of the world's high value luxury goods flow.



Today, the HAROPA complex is the fifth north-European ports and is the key developer the Seine River valley.



In 1884, the vast Vauban Docks were built. They covered 285,640 square metres. In 1887 the river basin that connects the Port of Le Havre to upstream Tancarville was opened.



In 1909 the ferry terminal of the Escale dock was inaugurated to berth the new transatlantic liners. In 1926 the Compagnie Industrielle et Maritime constructed a dock to berth the first tankers.



By 1930, the oil age enabled the development of new port activities. In World War II, after D-Day, the city was razed by allied bombing, but then completely rebuilt.



Between 1966 and 2000, containers revolutionised the transport and changed the port as well as introducing cargo handling techniques to cope with super tankers.



In 1966 the first containership was called at Le Havre. American trucker Malcom McLean devised ways of putting same-sized boxes from its trucks onto the decks of old tankers. And that kicked off containerisation with Le Havre's first terminal opening in 1968.



1994 was another landmark year as it saw the launch of the Port 2000 project to berth the world's largest containerships. Port 2000 was inaugurated in 2006, said the port statement.



"With all of these developments, Le Havre has retained its position up until the current day as a strategic port and is France's leading container port for foreign trade, handling 2.5 million TEU annually," it said.



In the 500 years since its creation, HAROPA - the Port of Le Havre has become the number one port worldwide for imports/exports of wines and spirits, with one billion bottles handled a year.



It is also the top French port for imports/exports of new vehicles and No 2 in crude oil movement with a 40 per cent market share of French imports.



Today, the port is the only north European harbour capable of berthing fully-loaded ultra large container carriers 24/7, records 6,000 port calls a year, including 2,500 box ships calls.
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