watchword of the Var Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Reduce complexity and optimize efficiency to the utmost : that’s the watchword of the Var Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The Var region is currently involved in a major economic undertaking that will enable the region to successfully meet the challenges that its capital, Toulon, will be facing in the coming years. For Toulon is set to make major strides in its maritime, trading, cargo and boating activities, all of which will make the city the lynchpin of the region’s scientific, industrial and technological endeavours. This Mediterranean port city is in fact undergoing a renaissance by virtue of having opened its doors to the prodigious Maritime Competitiveness Cluster, which gained its muscle during the heyday of the “Royal” navy and its shipyards only to be unceremoniously abandoned not long ago by a naval fleet to which the city had given everything.Var Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Jacques Bianchi, who is a strong supporter of this evolution, fills us in on the details.

ASI : The most important issue for a Chamber of Commerce that has major coastal responsibilities is of course activities of its commercial port and the coastal shipping activities that were initiated nearly two years ago.

Jacques Bianchi : Our three port activities are the commercial port at Bregaillon, the sea routes between Toulon and Citavecchia (Rome), and our pleasure ports. The new decentralization went into effect as at January 1 of this year, and thus the federal government transferred its powers to Var Departmental Council (Conseil Général du Var). As a result, the Council has become the franchiser for the Var region’s pleasure ports and commercial ports, while the Chamber of Commerce remains the franchisee of the entities currently allocated to it, and has asked the Council to take over direct management of the port of Porquerolles. This decision will enable us to focus on what we do best by relieving us of the responsibilities attendant upon an island port; its transport, parking and other activities are already managed by the Council, so the port will become part of this same process. As for the commercial port, it’s thriving, having processed some one million tons of cargo in 2006, and we are planning to grow this activity even further. We have a route between Toulon and Civitavecchia (Rome) which is also going great guns, but there’s still room for improvement, most notably in connection with one of our customers, GEFCO, which transports a great many passenger vehicles. We’re also considering the possibility of implementing another route and are at the same time initiating a feasibility study concerning a Toulon-Barcelona route. We’re making efforts to establish ties with countries of the Maghreb region with a view to supplementing our commercial port activities and we are also making extensive efforts to develop our passenger port.

ASI : Have the envisaged objectives that were announced for the Toulon-Civitavecchia (Rome) route upon its creation been achieved, and can the volume of traffic on this route be increased further ?

J Bianchi : There’s a good chance that progress can be made in this domain in the relatively near future. The Chamber of Commerce’s company has set goals for this route that we are now close to achieving, but this is not enough. We’ve been surprised by the fact that passenger and passenger car traffic on this line, including round trip traffic, have outpaced truck use. We had hoped this route would do better than this. Things are starting to pick up, but it’s taking longer than expected. However, I think that if we do meet this objective, we will need an additional vessel to carry passengers and cars.

ASI : Is the company making sufficient efforts to attract trucks, because seen from the outside, I get the impression that not much is being done to advertise this service.

J Bianchi : People are aware of the service’s existence, but the shipping industry is a closed world where relationships are made directly between shipping professionals and the relevant decision makers. The difference between France and Italy is that France has a large number of freight forwarders with drivers, and regulations that are tailored to the relevant work times and break times. In this context, this type of embarked transportation remains an anomalous phenomenon right now. But it’s easier with transalpine truckers, since they’re mostly owner operators and it makes sense for them to avoid 13 hours of driving by using the boat since they’re driving the truck themselves. Things are changing only very slowly, but I think we’ll ultimately see further movement in the right direction. On the other hand, a lot of foreign truckers use this ferry since they come from Britain or the North, and so it’s easier for them to go through Turin. It’s a different geographical scenario, just as a Genoa line wouldn’t work because it’s too close. The Civitavecchia line is really promising, however, since it allows ships to go directly to the Italian peninsula and even to Greece, because an additional ro-ro destination is available. Also, if we could link a Barcelona-Toulon route with the current one, this would be a very promising proposition – and a smart one too. But you know, the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Maritime Committee, Claude Orfila, would answer your question by saying that we’re just about to launch a feasibility study concerning a Barcelona route.

ASI : Now I’d like to ask you about the business ventures, for which the difficulty of finding locations appears to be insurmountable. What’s their current status? And what’s the status of the venture in the Var region?

J Bianchi : The areas we’ve developed are full up, and there’s simply no more space. We have Signes, which is available to investors and where development space is available whenever can realize development. But there’s an access problem and we’d need to devote a lot more effort to solving this problem via a solution that would link La Ciotat with the Camp railway junction. We’d need this in order to garner regional support, and if some day we do implement this evolution, this would allow for genuine development of the area and would service all of the villages that are traversed, Cuges or Le Beausset. In addition, bypassing Signes in this way would create a stepping stone that would enable us to reach Brignoles extremely easily. I regard this as an economic and urban development need.

ASI : So what’s holding back an operation that appears to be so crucial for development of the region and for job development as well?

J Bianchi : I think what’s holding it back is the fact that we haven’t all given it enough thought, but we’re in the process of turning our attention to this subject once again. Now that we have decentralization and the support of the president of the Var Departmental Council (Conseil Général du Var), the president of the TPM (Toulon Provence Méditerranée) conurbation, and of Mayor Hubert Falco of Toulon, there’s a desire to forge a partnership that will result in progress on this front, particularly in light of the fact (as you mentioned) that Signes is the only geographically appropriate place for industrial and business development in the region. There are a few areas under development in the Capitou Fréjus/St Raphaël zone, where we’re working with the competent authorities, and this is going quite well but it’ll be full up soon. Plus there’s the fact that land prices are high for companies.

ASI : Yes, in fact there was talk of Departmental Council (Conseil Général) plans to take steps to re-acquire some of the land that it previously sold at a bargain price. Has there been any follow-up on this project, providing that it can be realized without too many constraints ?

J Bianchi : It’s been done. The land in Six Fours and La Farlède is full up. The development went forward with lightning speed. Six Fours has been transformed over a mere five or six year period. We’re currently engaged in discussions in Signes. And the TPM conurbation has allocated funds for the western part of Toulon, toward Ollioules and La Cagnarde, for various needs relating to development of the marine sector. But we’re short on land, that’s for sure.

ASI : What’s the status of the various technology centre projects that ultimately didn’t see the light of day and that are again being talked about nowadays?

J Bianchi : This goes back quite a ways **correct as is = it happened a long time ago and in fact nothing came of it. But right now two different concepts are in the pipeline. One is a tech centre that’s being realized, one in Sanary with funding provided by the city of Sanary. This project is slated for completion sometime around 2009. A second project, in the Crau region, involves the creation of development structures, and above all – and this is for sure – the creation of a Maritime Competitiveness Cluster for which the cornerstone will be laid in Ollioules sometime in the next few weeks or months. This is a very positive evolution for the region in general, because the project’s catchment area extends from Nice to Marseilles, with a direct route to Brest.

ASI : I agree that this maritime cluster is important, but it’s also going to require a great deal of capital investments from both the private and institutional sectors, and a whole lot of other resources as well. A commitment has been made to realize rapid initial development over a ten year period, including partnerships with international stakeholders that will definitely come to pass and are sure to bring about unwelcome changes in established ways of doing things. What’s your take on this phenomenon and how do you see the future shaping up?

J Bianchi : First of all, you have to bear in mind that these various competitiveness clusters are merely an add-on to existing companies. And then there’s the job dimension for which the TPM (Toulon Provence Méditerranée) conurbation has earmarked a fund for about 148 acres hectares in Toulon, which I feel is more than sufficient. I don’t know exactly how all of this will ultimately pan out, but we have institutions of higher learning available in this competitiveness cluster, they’re available right now, Sophia Antipolis; and the University of Aix-Marseille is available too. We’re equipped to meet the needs of this cluster. The maritime cluster will be a beacon that is based on all maritime activities, both in terms of security and engineering, the resources and others, that’s how it’s done, with a great deal more complexity and openness. The Var region is currently in a very favourable position, and this is something I really want to emphasize because we have a lot going for us. Admittedly this hasn’t always been the case, but in the past we weren’t as good as singing our own praises as we are now. Today there’s a groundswell of regional support, and the hatchet’s been completely buried in terms of all the political differences that divided us in the past, and this has given away to a strong sense of everyone working together for the common good. The Var region is on the map, it’s going great guns, it has a really great reputation and this is reemerging today. I was talking to the president of the region yesterday, and he was saying that major investments will be made in the Var region because it’s currently one of the major regions in France. And the fact that we have an optimally productive partnership with the department is a major advantage. We’re one of the few French departments where the Departmental Council (Conseil Général), Conurbation Administration (Communauté d’Agglomération), Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Agriculture and Employers Association are all on the same page and are all working toward the same goals. This is for certain what is enabling us to go into high gear and move ahead more quickly than was heretofore the case.

ASI : Are activities at the international level well in evidence in the region?

J Bianchi : The Var region can’t do everything on its own. But when you talk to foreigners all over the world about France, you realize that after all we’re France’s leading tourist region; and this is something we should never lose sight of. There’s definitely an international presence in the region, but in terms of industrial and economic activities, there’s not much going on because we don’t have any manufacturing activities in the region. So how can you expect us to engage in exchanges involving foreign countries? But on the other hand, all of the region’s stakeholders are strongly committed to forging partnerships with enterprises in the Maghreb and Mediterranean regions – both of which count as international. We’re committed to transactions on every front, including at the economic level, institutions of higher education, economic development, training, and with emerging nations, which will soon be an integral part of our everyday relationships. We also intend to implement air routes such as the one that we now have to London. Who would have thought 20 years ago that Toulon would have international business relationships involving air transport? Not very many people I daresay! We’re in the midst of developing this type of activity. We already have a weekly or even three times weekly ship to Rome that carries passengers, trucks and cargo. If we successfully create air and maritime transport routes to the Maghreb region some day, this will make the Var region even more international.

ASI : The airport definitely gives you some good leverage, particularly since Nice will be more or less saturated pretty soon. Do you think this might help you fill up your own routes?

J Bianchi : Toulon definitely has growth potential at both the feasibility and market levels. All the studies show Toulon will break the million passenger barrier within the next few years. Our goal is to break this barrier in order to establish a reasonable balance. We already reached the 750,000 passenger mark in 2006. We have our partners, plus we’re determined to create at least one international route per year, whether it’s low cost or not, even though we’re in favour of the low cost modality and think it’s a good idea. We’d like to have a route to Corsica because demand is high for that service, as well as maritime routes that traverse France. Bordeaux and Brest will be up and running soon. We could potentially have Geneva, and other routes may well follow.

ASI : You’ve launched a partnership with Euromed Marseille (formerly Ecole Supérieure de Commerce), Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Toulon and Ecole de Design with a view to pooling expertise. How do you feel about this partnership?

J Bianchi : I think it’s a really smart move for our institutions of higher education to make common cause. For us, Euromed Marseille is a magnificent reflection of what’s happening today in France. They have been extremely successful at reorienting their business school. We’re fortunate to be able to make the expertise from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Toulon and Ecole de Design available to Euromed, which in return allows us to benefit from its positive image. We now have a mutually beneficial arrangement to offer future students, and why not, our children. The advisory panel that was made available to them will be all the more productive as a result. One of my pet projects is an entity that will be called Euromed Toulon, because we’re proud of this name, because we’ve rediscovered our pride in being citizens of Toulon, following a fallow period in this regard.

ASI : What are your goals for the three years remaining in your term of office?

J Bianchi : Modernization of our structures and infrastructures. The desire to move forward on the efficiency, streamlining and reactiveness fronts for our citizens. One of my top priorities is modernizing the Var Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Reduce complexity and optimize efficiency to the utmost: that’s what we’re aiming for.
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