The Port of Bayonne needs a direct and short route in order to develop new activities. The project known as Barreau Nord answers this need. Today vehicles that wish to join the Port quays must take a route that crosses Tarnos and which, at the Ondres motorway junction, represents about sixteen kilometres. The "Barreau Nord" puts the Saint Bernard Quay only 4 kilometres away from the motorway, as good as on the doorstep of the major roads and motorways in our region.
The Banc Saint Bernard zone does not lend itself to industrial development. The port charter of 1997 backs this up : there will be no industrial establishment in this zone. It is dedicated to different merchandise unlike the Boucau-Tarnos zone that is given over to bulk merchandise. It is already used for the import-export of undressed timber or heavy loads. The maritime viability of the quay and infrastructures (cranes, port plant, varied equipment, etc.) is proven.
Today this port zone represents a land reserve of 28 hectares.The rail link to this zone has incidentally just been terminated : the rails laid down give access to the Paris-Madrid axis.
One last link remains to be put in place to ensure the total complement between all the means of merchandise transport : the link with major road axes, that is :
- the A63 motorway enabling North/South access along the Atlantic side of the country,
- the A64 motorway serving Pau-Toulouse and the Mediterranean,
- the RN117 which gives access to the nearby hinterland.
The daily fleet of lorries will no doubt require access to maritime transport to relieve congestion on the roads : one boat can represent the equivalent of 200 lorries. And heavy-goods vehicles are increasing by 10% per year.
A Ro-Ro line will come into being between Bayonne and the British coast with one and then two weekly turnarounds.
The ship-owner Andrew Weir Shipping does not make a secret of it. Fifteen or so local companies have already voiced their needs in this domain, which will enable the traffic of boats transporting the equivalent of 50 to 90 freight units (articulated and others) to be ensured each week.