Updated on 2011-12-26

New handling equipment training centre in Moselle

Based in Toul in Meurthe-en-Moselle, Go Formations (handling and construction equipment training, €2.5m turnover, 18 employees) is opening an agency in Woippy (Moselle) to better respond to... full article

Logistics: a business at the heart of European trade routes

Updated on 2009-04-29

Represented by over 2,000 firms and employing some 60,000 people, logistics and transport represent a high-performance sector in Lorraine. Today it goes beyond the traditional activities of transport and warehousing and is opening up to global supply chain and shipping management in a logic based on sustainable development.

La Maxe, Moselle: Ikea's logistics platform for Western Europe

Lorraine, an ideally situated region

Lorraine benefits from a uniquely advantageous geographical location, at the crossroads of the major European traffic routes running East-West and North-South, which explains the development of a particularly strong, integrated and highly structured transport and logistics sector. The existence of considerable reserves of land available close to air, rail, road and river communications routes has guaranteed the growth of the companies in this sector.

At the heart of the European consumer market

Lorraine has become a strategic choice for companies operating in the logistics sector. Here they are at the heart of one of the largest and wealthiest markets in the world with the European Union's 500 million consumers. Almost a quarter of the world's wealth is concentrated in an area within a 1,000 kilometre radius of Metz. Moreover, businesses have the benefit of a young, well-trained workforce.

A dense network of communications infrastructures

Motorways and dual carriageways:
all the logistics hubs are linked in with European traffic flows

Paris, Brussels, Stuttgart, Lyon: less than a day's truck drive away.
London, Berlin, Prague, Milan, Marseille, Barcelona: less than 2 days' truck drive away.
A4 (E50): crosses Lorraine from West to East, linking Paris to Berlin, Stuttgart or Vienna.
A31 (E25): crosses Lorraine toll-free from North to South, linking Antwerp, Rotterdam, Brussels and Luxembourg to Lyon, Marseille, Milan and Barcelona. 

Railways: a major marshalling centre in Europe

Freight: the marshalling yard at Woippy, near Metz (Moselle) is one of Europe's biggest, handling 650,000 wagons a year.
Passengers: the TGV-Est high speed rail line links Paris to Gare-Meuse station in 55 min and to Metz and Nancy in 1 hr 20. 

Inland waterways: a wide-gauge network connected to the North Sea

Freight: the wide-gauge canalised Moselle allows 3,000 tonne self-propelled barges to reach the major ports on the North Sea without break of load: Le Havre, Dunkirk, Rotterdam, Antwerp… from the ports of Thionville, Metz, Frouard and Neuve-Maisons.
Passengers: tourism on the inland waterways is well-developed in Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle and people hiring holiday boats can stop off at the river marinas in Metz and Nancy. 

Air: 6 airports within a radius of 100 km

Freight: 1.5 million tonnes of goods take off and land in the Greater Region's airports every year. Cargolux operates out of Luxembourg airport a few minutes north of Lorraine. Also available, Paris-Watry airport in Champagne, just 90 km from Lorraine.
Passengers: in less than 2 hours, Lorraine residents can board a national, European or international flight (scheduled, charter or low-cost) from:

• • Metz-Nancy-Lorraine regional airport and its ZAC (joint development zone) (situated half-way between Lorraine's two major cities, Nancy and Metz)
• • Luxembourg, Saarbrucken, Zweibrucken, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Hahn, Charleroi, Strasbourg, Basel-Mulhouse, Liège, Karlsruhe-Baden-Baden airports
• • several business airports.

Industries

• • Aeronautic
• • Agri-food
• • Automotive
• • Chemistry
• • Logistics
• • Paper-Cardboard
• • Solar energy
• • Timber
• • Windpower

Territories

• • Lorraine
• • Meurthe-et-Moselle
• • Meuse
• • Moselle
• • Vosges

Focus

• • Some of Moselle's outstanding businesses
• • Top of the league for vocational high schools and engineering institutes: Lorraine
• • Chemicals industry: some definitions...
• • Aeronautical industry: aircraft parts made in Lorraine
• • The timber industry in Lorraine and its markets

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