Waterside real estate. Going with the Parisian flow

Throughout its history, the Paris Region has had a close relationship with the river Seine and its tributaries. As the birthplace of the city of Paris, it has shaped the development of the entire region over hundreds of years. The Paris Region is washed not only by the Seine, which flows right through it, but also by the Marne, the Oise, the Yonne, the Aube and the Loing at its edges, as well as by the Ourcq and the Saint Martin, Saint-denis and Ourcq canals. Today, the banks of the river are occupied by urban development, landscaped walks, busy ports and major business centers.

A river for business
Waterways play an important role in the economic life of the Paris Region. 60 urban ports and 10 multimodal interchanges are home to 600 companies for all types located in infrastructures managed by Ports de Paris, the publicly-owned authority responsible for developing, maintaining and operating the region’s port facilities. These facilities contribute to making this the most important commercial river route in France and the second-largest in Europe, with 20 million metric tons of freight carried in 2008. Ports of Paris is also the largest developers and real estate operators in the Paris Region. It manages 1,000 hectares of industrial land on which it owns 280,000 m² of real estate outright. A further 700,000 m² has been constructed on its land by its clients. Ports de Paris offers powerful incentives for companies to use the river as a logistics resource, going as far as to offer a “waterways discount” to tenants. Against this background of success and an occupancy rate approaching 80%, the Ports is an active and enthusiastic buyer of waterside real estate.

An eco-friendly form of transportation
The rivers of the Paris Region already carry 13% of its freight traffic, removing nearly one million trucks per year from the region’s road network. According to Pascal Moebal, Maritime Director France of Schenker, the leading international provider of integrated logistics services, “River transportation addresses the negative issues surrounding road freight, from both the environmental and congestion points of view”.

© Bercy, Port autonome de Paris

Source: Paris-Region Magazine, issue 9, march 2010

Find out the harbour platforms and the main economic places of Paris Region on Econovista, the economic map of Paris Region

Available free of charge, the paper map Econovista, elaborated in partnership with the Ports of Paris
Contact: econovista@paris-region.com