Interview Green Corridors – Port of Dunkirk

You currently have two initiatives aimed at decarbonizing the maritime industry. What are they? The first initiative involves creating a green corridor between the ports of Dunkirk, Calais (France), and Dover (UK). It’s a zero-carbon cross-Channel trade route between the strait ports, in partnership with Europe’s leading ferry operator DFDS. We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) a few months ago. DFDS will be designing, building, and operating electric ferries. While the partner ports of Dover, Calais, and Dunkirk will be deploying the electric infrastructures needed to recharge ferries during commercial operations. Then there is the business model - the ferry operating model aims to limit port turnaround times to no more than 40 minutes. That’s currently the absolute minimum, given the size of the ships. For the electric ships, it includes embarkation and disembarkation operations, plus recharging. DFDS is looking to get the balance right between the ship size and time spent dockside. Smaller ships make for shorter turnaround times, as embarkation and disembarkation are quicker, but it leaves less time for recharging. The technology is currently being optimized. It’s about finding the right balance between the environment, technological, and business models. DFDS, Dunkerque-Port and the naval architect are all working together. The operator aims to launch a prototype by 2029-2030. For cross-Channel routes, apart from the port authorities and DFDS, are you also in touch with the local authorities or other stakeholders in your ecosystem? Dunkerque-Port is talking to RTE and Enedis about sourcing power, and all of the logistics operators about the supply chain aspect, in particular the way multimodal facilities are organized. We are aiming to grow our activity and deliver modal shift. Combined transport operations are being deployed in Calais. And in Dunkirk, a terminal will be operational by the end of 2025. The partnership was signed in March 2023. What’s the…