The French arm of US soft drinks and snacks giant PepsiCo is to set up operations at a 56,000 sqm warehouse in Dourges, near Lille, in proximity to one of France’s main combined rail-road transport terminals. The warehouse will be equipped with its own rail spur and a platform almost 400 metres long.
The initiative is carried out in partnership with logistics property developer Delta 3 and PepsiCo France is scheduled to move into the facility by the end of this year. ‘This project is part of our drive to improve the efficiency of our supply chain while minimising our environmental impact, and to make an active contribution to the region’s economic dynamism,’ explained Laurent Kamiel, director, Supply Chain, PepsiCo France.
PepsiCo has already begun shifting some of its road traffic to rail in recent years – reducing CO2 emissions from trucks and enhancing the decarbonisation of transport operations – and the location in Dourges is set to accelerate this process. River transport may even be considered at a later date, with the Seine-Nord Europe Canal due to be completed in 2030 to provide a link with the Benelux countries. A good part of the snacks destined for the French market are produced at PepsiCo’s production plant in Veurne, Belgium.
‘Modal shift is high on the agenda’
At a web conference organised by France’s combined transport association Groupement National des Transports Combinés (GNTC), Chloé Guedj, CSR manager at PepsiCo France, highlighted that modal shift was high on the company’s agenda. She explained that PepsiCo France had been one of the first shippers to sign up to an initiative in 2019 aimed at cutting GHG emissions and also reducing ‘carbon intensity’, expressed in term of each pallet transported.