ABSTRACT
Serving as a crucial link between Normandy and the Île-de-France region, the Seine Axis (Axe Seine) stands as a major transport and development corridor. It is a national asset, strengthening the ties between the Greater Paris Area and its maritime gateway, the port of Le Havre. However, it is often overlooked that the Seine Valley, being integrated into the Atlantic corridor, is also part of the core Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), a multimodal transport network connecting the countries of the European Union to other neighbouring countries. The urban planning agency of Le Havre had however envisioned this corridor to operate across Europe, as evidenced by its atlases “Seine Gateway” (2011) and “Weastflows” (2011–15). Recently, port economic operators, such as Haropa (a joint venture between the ports of Le Havre, Rouen, and Paris) and Terminaux de Paris, have built on this broader vision through successive acquisitions of stakes in Rhine terminals in Alsace, including northern Lauterbourg in 2020 (R3flex) and in the southern Ottmarsheim in 2021 (Rhein Ports). In addition, Brexit has reinforced Le Havre’s position as a possible interface between Ireland and the continent, at a time when the development of the TEN-T strategy for the 2021–2028 period is well under way. And yet, the issue of transit in the Île-de-France region, the sole means of opening up the Seine Axis to a European future, unfortunately remains unsolved.
