Port of Cherbourg
Welcome to the Port of Cherbourg
Historic cross-Channel port and leading French port to Ireland, Cherbourg offers up to 5 rotations daily: Poole and Portsmouth with Brittany Ferries, Dublin with Irish Ferries, Rosslare with Stena Line and Guernesey with Condor Ferries. The port places at their disposal a 15 ha terminal and 3 boarding ramps.
Cherbourg is also a logistics and industrial hub penetrating the Channel, with enviable maritime qualities – a port accessible 24/7 and open to vessels that draw up to 14 m, a rich real estate offering, an exceptional harbour and direct links to major road and rail networks.
Specialising in the handling of hazardous goods (classes 1 and 7), and able to process large volumes of bulk, Cherbourg is also a port which is constantly adapting to the needs of the market. After reclaiming 39 ha from the sea and building a heavy-lift quay in order to accommodate the emerging marine renewable energy industry, Ports of Normandy will soon be installing a rail-road transport terminal linking Great Britain to the Southwest of France.
The Port of Cherbourg is also:
- The largest artificial harbour in Europe
- A marina with 1,600 berths protected from the swell and accessible 24/7
- A fishing port (scallops, squid, sole, shellfish, etc.) including a fish market which sells more than 5,000 tonnes of fish per year, caught by 7 deep-sea vessels and 50 coastal fishing vessels
- A cruise liner port enjoying constant growth (more than 60 vessels per year)
- A naval repair services centre of great quality, including a 3,000 tonne Syncrolift, 300 tonne Travelift...
An industrial port: shipbuilding and yacht building (CMN, Grand Large Yachting), marine renewable energy (GE-LM Wind Power), seafood processing (fish wholesaling, secondary processing, etc.).
Jérôme Chauvet
Business Development Manager
Ports of Normandy directs operations (delegated to our port operators) and policing (harbourmasters).
Cherbourg Port oversees the following sectors: fishing, shipping, marine renewable energy, cruise liners, and cross-Channel ferries
Ports of Normandy oversees the shipbuilding and yacht building sectors and markets the marine renewable energy facility
Cherbourg Council operates Chantereyne Marina
Harbourmaster's office organises the berthing and movements of vessels in the harbour, is responsible for the surveillance and security of the port and its facilities, and enjoys regulatory and policing powers.
Brittany Ferries offers 1–3 rotations daily to Poole and Portsmouth.
Irish Ferries offers 3–4 rotations weekly to Dublin
Stena Line offers 6 rotations weekly to Rosslare
Condor Ferries offers 2 rotations weekly to Guernsey
Shipping agents represent the shipowner or the charterer during the ship’s visit.
Vessel loading and unloading operations are provided by handlers.
Brief overview
Brittany Ferries plans to run a train daily between Bayonne and Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in both directions, thus moving 20,000 heavy goods vehicle trailers through the port. Currently 50,000 trailers move through the port annually.
By connecting Spain to England and Ireland through a combination of road, rail and maritime transport, the port and the ferry operator not only ensure their financial future, but also bring a concrete solution to the pressing question of energy transition: 1 tonne of CO2 per trailer. By developing this type of traffic, Ports of Normandy aims to establish the Port of Cherbourg’s position in cross-Channel trade.
To give substance to the project, Ports of Normandy intends to develop in the ferry terminal, that is to say as close as possible to the ferry loading ramps, a rail-road transport platform which can process ®Lohr-type wagons. Works to build the terminal should get underway this year and be completed by 2024.
Given that the project is a major investment, a public consultation was organised between 20 June to 15 July 2022 so that the project could be presented to local residents, the inhabitants of Cherbourg, to the stakeholders of the port and all those who will be impacted by the project.
Brief overview
Ports of Normandy chose very early on to invest massively in adapting its infrastructures to the needs expressed by the offshore bottom-fixed wind turbine industry. In the Port of Cherbourg we extended the port by 39 ha so that industrial operators could use 100 ha of hardstanding devoted to marine renewable energies and a heavy-lift quay able to accommodate up to 50 tonnes per m². Today, Cherbourg is home to numerous industrial operators which are involved in the manufacture of bottom-fixed wind turbines for Saint-Brieuc, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp as well as the LMWP factory which makes blades for the Haliade X-14MW.
Ever the pioneer, Ports of Normandy intends to continue the adaptation of its infrastructure so that it can meet the needs of the floating wind turbine sector. Calls for tenders are emerging and the industry is beginning to express its needs for manufacturing floating platforms (which can measure up to 100 m²), launching them and installing the wind turbines on them. The major part of tomorrow’s wind turbine market will be floating turbines. For Ports of Normandy this means exploiting the existing investments and consolidating them so they can satisfy the new needs. Surveys will be undertaken to prepare the ground for these investments.
Brief overview
The Collignon Business Park (16.8 ha) is situated in Tourlaville on the Cherbourg Peninsula. Acquired by Ports of Normandy in 2015–16 following reassignment to the public benefit, it had already been identified in 2006 as a key place for attracting business activities related to the port. The local land use plan (2006) and the territorial coherence plan (2011) confirmed the park’s importance as the only site in Greater Cherbourg and on the north coast of the peninsula which is of sufficient size, is close to the port and enjoys good road links. The park will mainly seek to attract businesses that have links to the port’s activities, to support cross-Channel logistics and the development of the marine renewable energy sector.
The development of the Collignon Business Park involves the creation of 5 plots that are divisible and suitable for building, to a total development area of approximately 10 ha. Ports of Normandy has entrusted the development of the park to SHEMA, a semi-public company involved in development, construction and economic development throughout Normandy.