Paris-Rungis, the world’s largest wholesale market for fresh produce and Dunkirk Port have signed an agreement to create an agro-logistics hub served by a rail freight corridor. A spokesperson for Dunkirk Port confirmed to RailFreight.com that one of the objectives of the partnership was to develop a direct rail link between the northern France Channel port and Paris-Rungis but did not elaborate further.
“By leveraging two strategic infrastructures for the French economy, this partnership intends to contribute to strengthening national food sovereignty by promoting the transit and processing of goods through French ports. The objective is to sustainably secure the supply chains of the Rungis Market and reduce dependence on foreign ports,” a joint statement reads.
Accelerating decarbonisation
The future hub will be located within the Dunkerque Logistique International zone which has more than 350,000 sqm of space dedicated to the development of logistics and agri-food activities. It is set to benefit from a strategic position at the heart of major maritime trade flows, being located in immediate proximity to Dunkirk Port’s container and cross-Channel terminals.
The initiative underlined that co-operation also focused on accelerating the decarbonisation of freight transport, “through improving the environmental footprint of the supply chain by promoting shorter and lower-emission routes, as well as actively studying the development of a direct rail link between Dunkirk Port and Paris-Rungis, coupled with support for (road) fleet electrification.”
New intermodal terminal
At the end of last year, a project was unveiled to build a 25 million euro, combined rail-road terminal at Dunkirk Port. The facility was to have welcomed its first commercial service in September this year operated by the Modal Group, formerly Modalis.
However, the intermodal solutions specialist has informed RailFreight.com that the launch of a service linking Dunkirk to Lyon and Piacenza, in Italy, with onward connections to Rome, Naples and Bari, has been postponed until January 2027 due to works on the rail network in Italy.
Italian shippers are said to be keen to have on-forwarding solutions to the UK and Ireland market via this service, being able to take advantage of Danish ro-ro shipping company DFDS’ ferry services from Dunkirk to Dover and Rosslare.
Troubled relationship
The relationship between the Rungis International Market and rail freight is a little complicated. Despite the seemingly positive developments of trying to create a connection between Paris and Dunkirk, the past couple of years saw the cancellation of the service supplying the market from Perpignan. Despite attempts to reinstate it, no operator showed enough interest and the service remains discontinued.
