The days follow one another and are (fortunately) not the same for the tenant of Bercy. The Minister of the Economy Antoine Armand, who appeared stunned yesterday after the announcement of the social plans of Michelin and Auchan, will be able to wear today the clothes of the bearer of good news.
Accompanied by Catherine Vautrin, Minister for Partnership with the Territories, and his Transport colleague François Durovray, Antoine Armand is going this Wednesday morning to the town of Édouard Philippe to formalize the upcoming arrival of three new industrial establishments on the edge of the large Le Havre canal. More precisely on one of the port lands labeled “ turnkey » by the State. The icing on the cake is that the establishments in question can all claim to be part of the “green” industry. “ This confirms the fact that ports are accelerators of decarbonization, we congratulate ourselves in the office of the Minister of Transport. Yesterday very linked to carbon projects, they are entering a phase of change ».
Lithium, hydrogen…
In detail, three industrialists, two of whom are foreigners, should share the sixty hectares of the so-called “West A29” zone for which Haropa had launched a call for tenders. The most important project comes from Luxembourg-based Livista, which will occupy half of the site. Already engaged in a first comparable operation in the port of Emden in Lower Saxony, the chemist plans to build, for around 1.2 billion euros, a lithium refinery ” battery quality », says those around Antoine Armand. The key is the creation of some “ 300 direct jobs », According to the same source.
The second project of an almost equivalent amount (around 1.1 billion for 150 direct jobs) is carried by a heavyweight: Air Products (Pennsylvania), the third world player in the industrial gas sector. Holder of a contract signed with Total Energies for the supply of “green” hydrogen, the American plans to set up in Le Havre a renewable H2 import terminal coupled with a regasification unit. Which could notably contribute to the decarbonization of the Normandy refinery of Patrick Pouyanné's group. “ These two foreign projects demonstrate the attractiveness of France », we want to believe in Antoine Armand's entourage.
…and e-fuels
The third of the candidates selected by Haropa is a Frenchman, in this case the Montpellier renewable energy producer Qair. The company is working on the establishment of a production and storage site for renewable methanol: the e-fuel in vogue among shipowners. More modest than the previous ones, the amount of expenditure should be around 300 million euros for 150 jobs to be created. “ The project plans to ultimately produce 200,000 tonnes per year of e-methanol », indicated its director of partnerships in mid-October in an interview with the weekly Le Marin.
All that remains for the port of Le Havre is to hope that these three large investments come to fruition. For its part, Bercy is talking about putting the installations into orbit within four to five years. The pre-development procedures may well have been accelerated as part of the “ turnkey ”, delays remain long.
