Lahaye Global Logistics and Grain de Sail, both French companies, are collaborating on a new type of intermodal service connecting the Americas to France. The maritime leg of the route is being carried out by Grain de Sail via sailboats, while Lahaye takes care of the land transport via road and rail.

The first round of this service did not entail any rail leg. The first sailboat, as Lahaye mentioned, left the French port of Saint-Malo in March heading to the port of New York. The goods reached Saint-Malo from Beauvais and Chartres via road services entrusted to Lahaye.

For the return trip, on the other hand, there will be a significant rail freight section crossing France. The Grain de Sail’s boats will undertake the journey between New York and Saint-Melo via the Antilles. From there, Lahaye will place the goods on trucks and take them to the Rennes-Terminal where they will be loaded onto trains and transported to Lille.

Lahaye’s Rennes-Lille service

Lahaye launched a rail freight service between Rennes and Lille in April 2023, with the possibility of accessing other European ports including Dunkirk, Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Rotterdam. One month after the start of this service, Heineken France decided to onboard the Lahaye trains to move its produce from its brewery in Mons-en-Baroeul.

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