Mer Union, the maritime line of the Steinweg group specializing in conventional transport and serving Madagascar, the Comoros, Mayotte and Reunion, evolves. It adds two new loading ports to its line in mainland France : the ports of Rouen and Bayonne. otherwise, she looks more and more towards Africa. Christelle GoindenFlambard’s explanations, promoted to development director for Réunion and Mayotte, which now operates from Marseille under the authority of the Director General France and Indian Ocean, Patrick Lalanne.
You are located in Marseille. For what reasons ?
To develop the line, it seemed essential to us to operate from mainland France, where I am closer to our customers and key decision-makers, the majority being based in France or Europe. Being in Marseille allows me to gain flexibility, in responsiveness and availability. Rather than making regular round trips by plane from Reunion Island, we preferred to reverse the logic : I now go two to three times a year to Reunion and Mayotte. This new positioning gives me an overview of our activity and allows me to be more efficient on the commercial level and in the development of the line.. I continue to manage the Mer Union team remotely from Marseille, and, thanks to current communication tools, this organization works perfectly.
Is the organization of Mer Union changing? ?
We keep the same line, connecting Europe to the Indian Ocean, with a departure from Antwerp and stopovers in Toamasina (Fat), Moroni, Longoni and Pointe des Galets. On the other hand, we added two new stopovers in Rouen and Bayonne. We now load goods there before continuing the route to the Indian Ocean. This development allows us to offer our customers an additional loading port in mainland France and to diversify our service offering..
Have your functions evolved? ?
I was promoted to development director of Mer Union for Reunion and Mayotte. Before, as a shipping line agent, I mainly came to Reunion Island. The development of the maritime line in Mayotte is added to my responsibilities.
Mer Union still wants to develop in Africa ?
Our boats pass off the coast of West Africa, the development of an on-demand transport activity along the African coast is therefore clearly an objective. We work with clients to call at different African ports. Making the line well known and setting up a network will, however, take us a little time..
Is the transport of waste to the mainland still effective? ?
Yes, quite. We maintain our two annual rotations, once per semester. The next ship bound for the port of Le Havre will leave from Pointe des Galets next December. This activity is part of a steady growth dynamic. It meets a dual objective : contribute to the responsible management of waste in the Indian Ocean zone and optimize the filling of our ships on the return journey to the mainland. Mayotte now occupies an increasingly important place. Volumes shipped from the island continue to grow, supported by the rise of local collection and processing sectors. We are observing an evolution similar to that experienced by Reunion Island a few years ago. : the installations are structured, partnerships with local operators are strengthening, and the logistics are organized. These loads represent a real opportunity for us. They not only make it possible to enhance the return rotations of our ships, but also to concretely support the development of a circular economy in the region. This is a good example of complementarity between our commercial activities and our environmental commitments..
