Three hectares of land for a waterless port. The first dry port in Reunion Island will take place in Pierrefonds in the south of the island. It will accommodate containers, transported from the port of Rivière-des-Galets.
A third of the containers arriving at the East Port are destined for the southern region of the island. With the creation of a dry port in Pierrefonds, companies will be able to pick up their containers in Saint-Pierre instead of going to the West.
These containers, arrived by boat at the East Port, will be transported from the port of Rivière-des-Galets to the dry port of Pierrefonds, under customs control. It is only in Saint-Pierre that they will be cleared through customs.
South Container Terminal is the reproduction on land of all the functions that exist in a seaport. This means customs functions, delivery functions, storage functions, warehousing and services, in the specific basin of the South.
Jean de La Perrière, president of the La Perrière group
The La Perrière group created this dry port in Pierrefonds, called Sud Conteneur Terminal.
For Jean de La Perrière, the dry port presents a triple advantage: environmental, customer service and financial. He believes that this concept will save truck trips during off-peak hours, simplify deliveries to customers, which were previously complicated at the East Port, and save money. to everybody ” on container transport to the South zone.
The dry port would provide more security for businesses, according to Philippe Leleu, president of the Union Maritime Interprofessionnelle de La Réunion.
It will make it possible to offer a delocalized container storage solution, but also to be able to respond to issues including environmental cyclones, for example, which will make it possible to provide a plan B to a tension that there could be in the East Port , where 95% of goods enter and leave Reunion.
Philippe Leleu, president of the Interprofessional Maritime Union of Reunion Island
This structure is part, for Pierrick Robert, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Reunion Island, of a dynamic of development of the South basin. Moreover, “this concept will free up a certain number of things for economic players “, he explains.
The project, which has been discussed for years, has long been on the agenda of numerous political parties. It is ultimately a private company which carries it out.
Each year, 25,000 containers are likely to pass through Pierrefonds. Containers arriving full will leave empty for the East Port.
