Calais launches major logistics project creating direct link between UK and Europe

April 29, 2011 - PRLog -- A new logistics project in Calais, Calais Premier, construction of which is expected to start next year is set to become one of the first direct gateways for goods distribution between the United Kingdom and continental Europe.  

This is the biggest logistics project in northern France, with a total surface area of 160 hectares.  The chosen site is the industrial zone Turquerie, which stretches along the Calais-Dunkirk railway line and is ideally placed between Calais Port and the Channel Tunnel.

The Calais urban agglomeration community, Cap Calaisis, has chosen the Lyon property development company DCB International for the construction of Calais Premier. The first phase of the project, a surface area of 50 hectares, will commence in 2012 and is due for completion by 2013-2014. This first site will be dedicated to logistics activities and transport services, and is expected to have 220, 000m2 of logistics warehouses, 50, 000m2 of industrial parks, and 11, 000m2 of commercial property.

According to Didier Caudard-Breille, managing director of DCB International, the first phase of the Calais Premier project will create “thousands of new jobs” and will bring in £ 176 million (Euros 200million) worth of investments. By the second phase, this figure could reach up to £ 264 million (Euros 300million).

The scale of the Calais Premier project will have a direct effect on the development of the Calais infrastructure. Cap Calaisis is planning to invest £ 1.8 million (Euros 2million) to create a railway junction at the site as well as modernising the whole Calais-Dunkirk railway line.

In addition, the Calais 2015 Port Project, worth £ 350 million (Euros 400million), will extend the port to twice its size, making Calais Europe’s central communications point.

All of the above developments will constitute a direct entrance point to England from Europe. “With this project,” stated the mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, “Calais will assert its strategic position as a European crossroads”.

The economic development agency Calais Promotion played a key role in finding investors to take on this project, and in finalising negotiations. Initial contact has already been made with potential clients, in particular, suppliers in the automobile sector and British mass-market suppliers.

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Notes to Editors:

Locations4Business is the leading online resource for companies to find information on where to locate operations in Europe.

Calais Promotion is the economic development agency at Calais, and is the first point of contact for all businesses setting up in the area.

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