By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOT Perhaps even before the Battle of Flanders of World War I northern France has been regarded strategically important. Given today’s challenging economy where cost, speed to market, competitive positioning, and environmental are paramount, northern France again offers a good strategy. That’s why the Nord Das de Calais Region of France is ranked third for logistics clusters. Today the region accounts for more than 86 million square feet of warehouses, or 8.5 percent of France’s distribution centers concentrated into 2.3 percent of the country. On top of that, with nearly 22.955 million cubic feet of cold storage capacity, northern France represents nearly 12 percent of national capacity. But there are other reasons for companies to locate to Nord Das de Calais. More Fish Take Whitelink Seafoods, a Scottish firm that is one of Europe’s most technically advanced and quality-conscious fish processors. Every day Whitelink exports a bounty and variety of fresh fish with its fleet of refrigerated trucks that shuttle between Fraserburgh, Scotland and Whitelink Seafoods France at Boulogne-sur-Mer. Daily direct landings in Fraserburgh come from vessels storing their fish in Whitelink’s own insulated and date-stamped bins, maintaining a constant temperature close to 0°C. Whitelink also has buyers at all major Scottish fishing port auctions. With business growing, the company decided to open a purpose-built dispatch center in Boulogne-sur-Mer where it can unload and load products in a fully refrigerated environment. “This way we ensure that fish are kept at the correct temperature throughout the export and distribution process,” comments Marc Salmon, manger of the Boulogne operation. On average, Whitelink buys and sells some 40 to 50 tonnes of fish per week from the distribution centre in Boulogne. The location works well, says Salmon, because from there the company can access European markets with fresh fish in one day. “Trucks from Scotland can even reach the facility in 15 hours,” he reveals. Fish coming from outside of Europe that comes in via the Ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, or Le Havre are even trucked here for processing and distribution. Today Boulogne-sur-Mer is not only France’s leading fishing port; it is an international hub for the processing, trading and distribution of seafood and aquatic products. In 2010, some 370,000 tonnes of products were distribution and/or processed from Boulogne, including imported Norwegian and Scottish salmon and cod. “Research and development links between companies there and universities has grown to be just as important as logistics,” says Marie-Christine Duponchel with the Boulogne-sur-Mer Economic Development Agency. Less Carbon About 40 miles north of Boulogne-sur-Mer is Dunkerque, a port city known for the Battle of France during World War II. Today DHL operates a 16,700 square meter warehouse in Loon Plage on the edge of the Port of Dunkerque. The facility opened in May 2010 primarily to take care of logistics for French food company Lesieur, leading French manufacturer of cooking oils and mayonnaise. Lesieur has over a third of France’s market share in these products; over 41 percent by volume. The company also exports to 70 countries worldwide. A key reason Lesieur picked DHL to handle its logistics at this particular location had to do with company needs to streamline the shipment and storage of products for Lesieur France as well as for England, Germany and Scandinavia to cut down on its CO2 footprint. This is significant since in 2014, European Union law will require carbon footprint labeling for goods and services. The rules, which will also cover imported goods and services, are intended to better inform EU consumers of the carbon footprint of the products they buy from production to disposal. To be able to provide this information, those involved in the logistics chain must be able to manage this information. “Before, the company sent all products to Li