Bordeaux wants to resurrect its port to decarbonise its exports

s author Roger Dion pointed out in his 1959 tome ‘Histoire de la vigne et des vins de France’, the sustainability of a wine region stems primarily from its trade routes, particularly its waterways. The reason why Bordeaux became synonymous with red wine across the globe is due to its La Lune harbour and its quaysides with their sights clearly focused on overseas markets. Development of road transportation and competition from other ports seemingly pushed wine exports from the port of Bordeaux onto the back burner. Unless that is, the port offers prospects for development in a world of decarbonised transportation.

On 24 January during the thirteenth forum on sustainability for Bordeaux wines at the city’s convention centre, Allan Sichel, the chairman of the Bordeaux Wine Marketing Board (CIVB), announced that “a project to improve our carbon footprint involving shipping our wines by sea from Bordeaux” was currently being mulled. As a member of the board of directors of the Greater Bordeaux Port Authority, Sichel reported that discussions were “underway with the association of freight users to set up consolidation services [in order to] supply the major ports”.

Stressing the advantages of developing Bordeaux's maritime freight and its consequential “improvement of carbon footprint, reduction of road congestion and creation of local economic value”, Sichel claimed that maritime lines with companies would have to be negotiated and wine exporters trained for the new shipping methods.