Triple whammy in France

Half a year after the official decision the ball is now in the Swiss court. The firm Alsace­terminal, a subsidiary of Swiss­terminal, can commence activities in the inland ports of Ottmarsheim, Huningue and  ÎIe Napoléon. Le Havre and Marseille are on board too.

The new operator is now active.

Now the time has come. Frenkendorf-based Swissterminal originally announced its intention to take over the operation of the three French inland gateways in Alsace – namely Ottmarsheim, Huningue / Village-Neuf and ÎIe Napoléon – in January. On 1 July Alsaceterminal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swissterminal, started work in the three hubs. The firm underpinning this, Alsace­team, in turn, is a joint venture between the Swiss and the maritime ports of Le Havre and Marseille Fos.

Swiss­terminal will be forced to end of activities on the Westquai in Basel in 2029. The move into France is thus a key element of the diversification strategy of the firm, in which DP World has held a 44% stake since January 2020.

In a conversation with the ITJ Swiss­terminal’s chief executive officer, ­Roman Mayer, said that he is “convinced that this move offers the region great ­advantages.

We will free up the Westquai for urban development, and save costs both for the canton of Basel-Stadt as well as for Switzerland. There’s no need to construct a new port basin for us, or to sacrifice a nature reserve. We’ll have enough space for our logistics development in France.”

Swissterminal’s nomination of Jürg Wiggli, its deputy CEO, as the head of terminal operations in Switzerland is a part of its overall strategy. Romain Stemmelen, in turn, has joined the executive management team as its new CTO. ­Lionel Husser, chief operations officer for ports and terminals in France and mana­ging director of Alsace­terminal, has taken charge of activities in France. Last but not least, Andreas Jeppesen has been named COO of business and warehousing solutions; he will manage warehousing and corporate services at all sites in Switzerland and France.