OFP La Rochelle

OFP La Rochelle-Maritime Rail Services

Type	joint stock
Industry	Logistics
Founded	12 October 2010[1]
Headquarters	La Rochelle, France
Key people	Philippe Guillard (President)
Owner	Euro Cargo Rail, Grand Port Maritime de La Rochelle

OFP La Rochelle is a rail freight company; a joint venture between Euro Cargo Rail and the port of La Rochelle. The company's first operations began in October 2010.^[2][3]

History

In December 2009 the NaviRail Atlantique was formed as an Opérateur Ferroviaire de Proximité - a type of short line railway company - and port railway operator for the port of La Rochelle;^[4] the company was to be a joint venture between SNCF (49%) and the port (51%), however due to SNCF's doubts about the profitability of the enterprise formation of the company was not finalised. Due to this the port authority sought an agreement with Euro Cargo Rail.^[5]

In 2010 OFP La Rochelle was formed as a joint stock company;^{[note 1]} with Grand Port Maritime de La Rochelle contributing 75.1% of the share capital and Euro Cargo Rail 24.9%. It is responsible for short-haul freight operations around the port of La Rochelle. The first train, in October 2010, carried petroleum products to the Creuse.^[6][7]

At start up the company had a fleet of two Vossloh G1000 and four Class 77 locomotives.^[8] Potential traffic included cereal, forest and paper products, and petroleum; the company hoped to increase the modal share of traffic from the port from 7 to 10% by 2011.^[9]

After one year of operation the company had transported 100 kilotonnes of freight.^[10]

Notes

1. "OFP" Opérateur ferroviaire de proximité (French Opérateur ferroviaire de proximité), a type of Shortline railroad

References

1. "OFP LA ROCHELLE MARINE RAIL SERVICES". www.societe.com (in French). Retrieved 7 July 2011.
2. "Railway Gazette: News in Brief". www.railwaygazette.com. Railway Gazette International. 27 October 2010.
3. Emmanuel Colombié (14 October 2010). "Opérateurs ferroviaires de proximité : encore du chemin à faire". www.lentreprise.com (in French). L'Express.
4. Sources:
   • "Evènements", www.objectif-ofp.org (in French) (Objectif OFP), Le premier OFP portuaire est créé à La Rochelle le 4 décembre 2009, archived from the original on 26 February 2012
   • "COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE : Dominique BUSSEREAU lance le 1er Opérateur Ferroviaire de Proximité en France : NaviRail Atlantique" (PDF), www.objectif-ofp.org (Cabinet du Secrétaire d’Etat Chargé des Transports), 4 December 2009
5. Luc Battais (31 May 2010). "L'OFP de La Rochelle lâcherait la SNCF". www.wk-transport-logistique.fr (in French).
6. "OFP La Rochelle - Maritime Rail Services, le 1er opérateur ferroviaire portuaire en exploitation". www.lepetiteconomiste.com (in French). 13 October 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
7. "Le premier opérateur ferroviaire portuaire opérationnel à La Rochelle" (in French). 12 October 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
8. Luc Battais (14 October 2010). "Le port de La Rochelle lance ses trains avec ECR" (in French). Retrieved 6 July 2011.
9. "Un début de campagne céréalière prometteuse". www.depeche.fr (in French). La Depeche. 21 October 2010.
10. "La Rochelle : L'OFP traite 100.000 tonnes de marchandises en un an", www.meretmarine.com (in French), 10 October 2011

External links

• "Objectif OFP", objectif-ofp.org (in French), association of OFPs
• "OFP La Rochelle : Le 1er Opérateur Ferroviaire Portuaire en exploitation !" (PDF) (Press release) (in French). Port Atlantique La Rochelle. 11 October 2010.
• Laetitia Dablanc, Patrick Nierat, Cécile Ruby, Gunnar Knitschky, Barbara Lenz, Piere Zembri (October 2010). "Evaluation d’expérimentations d’opérateurs ferroviaires de proximité" (PDF). inrets.fr (in French). Institut national de recherche sur les transports et leur sécurité. 2.3 Projet : les OFP portuaires : La Rochelle , pp.55-57.