July 2020
TRANSPORTE XXI – Erhardt is to diversify its operations in the port of Bayonne with Project Cargo.
Erhardt, through its French company, Erhardt France, is reinforcing its operations in the port of Bayonne, near the frontier with Spain, by implementing new services and freight options.
Following its deployment in January 2019 as a terminal operator, which in the meantime has been extended to include shipping consignments and the transit business, with maritime and land solutions involving both road and railway, and more recently entering the charter business, plans are afoot for to the coming launch of project cargo operations.
This news was released to TRANSPORTE XXI by the CEO of Erhardt France, Mr Raymond Ruigrok, , who remarked upon “the highly dynamic growth” recorded in the first eighteen months of operations in the French port. “the company aims to incorporate new business and services in order to consolidate our position in Bayonne’s hinterland, providing our customers with comprehensive, original and quality solutions” , Ruigrok stressed.
Along these lines, the company announced thatit will be counting on its parent company’s experience to implement integrated transport and logistics solutions, risk management and underwriting, and value-added services, such as the management of logistics processes and their digitisation.
The company’s latest milestone in Bayonne has been the launch of a scheduled line to the African port of Dakar (Senegal) for general cargo, with Erhardt France being responsible for its charter, consignment and stevedoring. The service, operating on a monthly basis, began in May with its first sailing from Bayonne with a cargo of timber.
Initially, it will be a direct route, although the operator is considering the possibility of making stopovers at different points along the way. The company highlighted the “new opportunities for trade between Senegal, southern France and northern Spain”.
The operating terminal in Bayonne covers a surface area of 170,000 square metres, with a quayside of 1,600 metres and a draught of between 6 and 11 metres. It ended 2019, its first year of operations, recording a volume of 800,000 tonnes of cargo, mainly products from the steel industry.
As regards its quayside operations, the company has the human and material resources for using and maintaining all the means at its disposal.
