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Dunkirk, major International Maritime Port

carte nord de la france

A STRATEGIC LOCATION IN EUROPE

Dunkirk Port is one of France’s large commercial ports, along the world’s busiest seaway.

  • Ranked as the 7th port in the Northern Range, which runs from Le Havre to Hamburg.
  • It benefits from a strategic location facing Great Britain and near Benelux because of its shared border with Belgium and its close proximity to the Netherlands.
  • It is a rich, densely populated economic region with industrial and agricultural interests.
  • This prime geographic location gives your company access to the regional, French and Northern European markets all at the same time.  
Dunkirk, major International Maritime Port

24/7 ACCESSIBILITY

  • Dunkirk Port is a deep-water seaport, on the waterfront without an estuary. It has excellent nautical accessibility. Ships can dock there 24/7.
  • The port stretches over 17 kilometres of shoreline and consists of two large complementary areas:
    > East Port (Port Est), behind the locks, is accessible to vessels with a maximum draught of 14.20 metres
    . > West Port (Port Ouest), a tidal port, is accessible to vessels with a maximum draught of 20.50 metres.
  • Located a 90 minute sail from the maritime route of the Dover Strait, it is open all the time without any lock or tide constraints, thereby allowing for very short stopovers.

 

44MT

traffic in millions of tonnes of goods moved through the Port of Dunkirk in 2022

11.7MT

“liquid bulk” traffic. They represent over a quarter of the port’s overall activity in 2023.

20,50m

draught in the West Port (Port Ouest) in metres

2

government-accredited “turnkey” industrial sites  

100% multimodal port

  1. Maritime mode
  2. Roadway
  3. Rail network
  4. Waterways
  5. Make the move to modal
carte des lignes deep sea

Maritime mode

Grand Port Maritime of France, Dunkirk has regular lines to all corners of the globe, both deep sea and short sea, which makes it the ideal place for receiving and distributing your goods. The largest shipping companies use the port of Dunkirk and its container terminal.

See shipping lines
carte europe du nord

Roadway

Companies in the port area benefit from direct access to the European motorway network via the A25 and A16.

See the network on the map
locomotive fret de dunkerque transportant des bobines

Rail network

The 160 km of port railroads are connected to the national and European networks.  There is also a container shuttle train to and from Dourges, Valenton and Metz as well as all the modal points in the south of France. Furthermore, just 26 km away, the Channel Tunnel provides speedy access to the British Isles and thus completes the short distance lines extended following Brexit. Dunkirk is the leading rail freight hub in France with around 12 million tonnes of traffic per year

voie fluviale

Waterways

The wide gauge canal is linked to the Hauts de France’s river network (3,000 T), thereby providing access to Belgium, the Rhine (1,350 T) and the Paris Basin, limited for the time being to 650 T barges while the Seine-Nord Europe Canal is being built (commissioning schedule for 2028). There are also container barge services for Lille, Dourges and Valenciennes. 

grue qui dépose un conteneur sur un train

Make the move to modal

For many years now in Dunkirk, the modal share of non-road transport has been over 50%, a considerable plus point when it comes to reducing its carbon footprint

Dunkirk, major International Maritime Port

DUNKIRK: A PORT FOR ALL GOODS

Historically known as a port for large bulk goods destined for the territory’s numerous industries, Dunkirk Port has developed other segments such as cross-Channel ro-ro traffic to Great Britain, containers, fruit, etc.

  • No. 1 French port of import of containerised fruit
  • No. 1 French port for rail shipments
  • No. 1 French port complex with an estimated annual traffic of 100 million tonnes of goods (partnership with the ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer)
  • 2nd French port for trade with Great Britain
  • 3rd French port for grain traffic.

Dunkirk is a multi-purpose port providing many specialised docks and terminals.

THEY HAVE MULTIPLIED THEIR TURNOVER TENFOLD SINCE SETTING UP HERE

DISCOVER HOW
photo d'un couple à dunkerque

SIGNIFICANT LAND RESERVES

The Grand Port Maritime of Dunkirk regularly invests in the development of areas specifically for logistics and industrial activities.

  • Dunkirk is the only port territory to have obtained the French government’s “Choose France” quality accreditation for its 2 turnkey sites:

> Dunkirk International Logistics (DLI) is a plot of land specifically for the development of logistics activities located in the immediate vicinity of the ro-ro and container terminals.

> The Major Industries Area (ZGI) is a 125 ha site that is directly operational and designed to accommodate large industrial projects. The Major Industries Area is located in the immediate vicinity of the drinking and industrial water network, gas network and fibre optic network and has exceptional electricity connection capacities. Dunkirk Port is currently working on an eastward extension of this activity area, which will eventually double its surface area.

  • More than 200 hectares for logistics are already occupied by numerous types of warehouses (dry, temperature-controlled, positive or negative cold)   
  • The Société de Développement Axe Nord is a company undertaking two property projects:

> 42,000 m2 dockside building, available for rent and coupled with the container terminal.

> Automated high-rise stacker crane storage facility for the cold logistics industry with 68,000-pallet capacity. 

See our property listings

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Découvrez nos Announcements
coque navire cma cgm au GNL à dunkerque

DUNKIRK: A SUSTAINABLE PORT

  • The production of a Management and Sustainable Development Plan for the port area (PA2D).    
  • Natural area and species protection management. The Grand Port Maritime of Dunkirk has integrated efforts for the protection and enhancement of habitats.
  • The modal shift towards non-road transport is over 50% in the port area.
  • Solar park facilities (40 MW currently planned).
  • The reclassification of port sites as solar parks (40 MW currently planned).
  • Support for the construction and running of the future heat recovery network in the industrial-port area.
  • Cold ironing which allows container ships in port to shut down their auxiliary engines.
  • LNG ship bunkering to complement the LNG tanker loading station. The container terminal has received the “LNG Ready Terminal” accreditation.  

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