With new routes to Russia and Africa from Marseille Provence Airport, new markets will be opened up to French importers and exporters.
Cargo manager Jean-Marc Boutigny says the airport will develop volumes with five weekly flights to Moscow operated by Aeroflot starting this month, and three flights a week Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Airlines from July.
He tells Air Cargo Week: “These two brand new routes show that Southern France is a logistic friendly area to promote and develop new business. Thanks to its international airport and harbour, Marseille benefits the best place to act as a logistic hub in the western Mediterranean and southern European markets.”
In 2018, Marseille Province broke its freight record by handling 56,695 tonnes, up 1%. So far in 2019, cargo volumes are up 5.4% to 19,619 tonnes from January to April. The busiest trade lanes continue to be North Africa, Texas and the Far East.
Boutigny says: “We mainly import tonnes of fresh fishes, aromatic herbs, fruits and vegetables from Mediterranean countries, (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Turkey), and we export drilling parts coming from Texas, Scotland and Far East to Algerian oil fields in Hassi Messaoud.”
With the new routes, Boutigny is confident that Marseille will continue to act as an important logistics hub for the Mediterranean and southern Europe.
There are challenges, he says: “The main challenges are that we always have to balance our new developments with our green policy and that we always have to pay attention to what happens in this crazy world…”
