Retail chain Carrefour and food industry giant Danone are claiming a first in France by reactivating a rail delivery service connecting a manufacturer’s production site directly to a supermarket warehouse.

The logistics hub at Grans, located near Marseille, normally supplies more than 130 Carrefour stores in the region by truck but is now served by trains that make a 600-kilometre rail journey from Danone’s natural mineral water bottling plant in Evian carrying shipments of the beverage.

Traction is provided by French rail firm Regiorail, while 4PL specialist IDEO, a subsidiary of Carrefour’s logistics provider, ID Logistics, is also involved.

“Alongside our partners such as Carrefour, we are delighted to be helping to relaunch a sustainable method of transporting goods, thereby continuing to reduce our environmental impact. This new joint project with Carrefour further illustrates our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint throughout the value chain, ” commented Quentin Bonnerot, Customer Operations Director Danone France.

Delivering the Carrefour-ID Logistics logistics hub in Miramas by train, using single wagons, is fully in line with the latter’s CSR (Corporate and Social Responsibility) approach, noted William Parramorre, Managing Director of IDEO. “Today, our ambition is to develop multi-client rail services. The pooling of resources and costs to the benefit of all will ensure that transport flows are decarbonised,” he added.

The development of the rail link means 500 fewer lorries on the roads each year, representing a saving of 400 tonnes of CO2.