French port group Haropa waits on tariffs after brisk 2024

PARIS (Reuters) - Trade tensions between Europe, the United States and China are creating an uncertain short-term outlook for France's biggest port operator after brisk activity last year, the state-controlled company said.

Haropa, which runs France's biggest container port at Le Havre on the north coast along with river ports on the Seine at Rouen and Paris, saw its volume of maritime trade rise 2.4% in 2024 to 83.19 million metric tons, led by an 18.7% jump for containers.

Shipping firms have pointed to buoyant trade in the past year as Western importers restocked after a weak 2023 and disruption to Red Sea traffic was offset by extra vessels on the longer route around southern Africa.

But the risk of U.S. tariffs, threatened by President Donald Trump against the EU and other trading partners, and ongoing tensions with China loom over this year.

"Our two biggest trade flows remain China for imports and North America for exports," Kris Danaradjou, Haropa's deputy CEO in charge of business development, said.

"So any tariff measure or geopolitical development in these regions will impact part of our traffic," he said in a joint interview with Cedric Virciglio, strategy director and head of international affairs.

The U.S. is a major part of wine and spirits exports via Haropa, which says it ships more than 1 billion bottles a year as the world's biggest wine and spirits port.

"We're still in a slightly cautious period for now, but during the first quarter we should have an initial take on what's going to happen," Virciglio said, referring to EU trade relations with the U.S. and China.

Haropa's transhipment volumes last year jumped by more than half, benefiting from its location at the crossing of the Asia-Europe and Europe-North America routes, the executives said.

A 5.6% increase in vehicles handled, meanwhile, reflected congestion at other car terminals in northern Europe and some front-loading of imports from China as suppliers sought to avoid EU tariffs on Chinese electric cars, they said.

Container and vehicle activity helped offset a decline in cereal exports for Haropa last year as its Rouen hub faced the worst French harvest since the 1980s.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz, Editing by Louise Heavens)