(Yicai) May 28 -- Haropa Port, France’s largest port group, is linking arms with China’s Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on digital transformation, smart port technologies and other areas. The move comes as European ports increasingly seek stronger ties with their Chinese counterparts in response to growing uncertainties in global trade.

Haropa Port and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port will deepen collaboration in areas such as multimodal transport, green logistics, digital transformation and smart port technologies, according to the deal signed by both parties yesterday. Haropa Port is currently leading a five-day high-level business delegation to China, with stops in Beijing, Ningbo and Shanghai, to bolster maritime trade partnerships and attract investment.

Both sides will partner on digitization integration to connect and streamline systems so as to significantly cut delivery times, said Cédric Virciglio, strategy planning director in charge of international and European affairs at Haropa Port. Much of this collaboration centres around e-commerce, as many of the goods shipped from Ningbo come from online shopping platforms. Haropa Port wants to shift more of this freight from air to sea, which will boost port throughput while cutting greenhouse emissions.

To reduce emissions, many ships use shore power instead of their engines when docked. This requires substantial investment in charging facilities at ports and is a key reason why Le Havre-based Haropa Port has chosen to partner with Ningbo Port, Chief Executive Officer Benoît Rochet told Yicai.

China is Haropa Port’s largest trading partner, accounting for one-third of its container traffic, Rochet said. Haropa already has tie-ups with several other major Chinese ports, including Shanghai, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Tianjin and Xiamen.

Last year, over 650,000 twenty-foot equivalent units were shipped between China and Haropa Port, and that number is rising. Of this, 570,000 TEUs were shipped from China to Haropa Port. Most of these exports were industrial goods at 32 percent, and machinery and non-rolling equipment at 29 percent. In the other direction, about 92,000 TEUs were sent from Haropa Port to China, most of which was timber at 19 percent and fresh produce at 18 percent.

Haropa Port, which was formed in 2012 by merging the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris, is France’s only river-sea connected port system and Europe’s fourth largest port. Last year, it handled over 100 million tons of cargo, equivalent to 3.1 million TEUs and volumes continue to rise.

The port complex serves France’s biggest consumer hub and the second-largest in Europe, reaching 200 million people within a 200-kilometer radius. It is also near Charles de Gaulle Airport, Europe’s top air cargo hub, and Rungis International Market, the world’s largest fresh produce market.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port also signed green shipping corridor agreements yesterday with three other major European ports, namely Hamburg, Wilhelmshaven and Valencia, to advance low-carbon collaboration between Chinese and European ports, Xinhua reported.

Editor: Kim Taylor