The Sogestran Group
Presentation of the Sogestran Group
Since the creation of our group in 1948, the professionalism of our teams, our taste for innovation and our technical expertise, as well as the confidence of our customers, have enabled us to become the leading French river shipping company and a recognised maritime shipping company.
Our core business is high added value freight transport and services to our industrial customers.
We design, invest in, manage and operate our fleet and our industrial means. Our experience in the field, our knowledge of the markets and the expertise of our design office enable us to imagine and design tailor-made solutions for our customers, ever more innovative and environmentally friendly.
Operating in France and Europe, the group's various entities are currently organised into four business lines:
- river transport of goods (Petrochemical products / XXL heavy goods / Containers / Dry bulk),
- maritime transport (Petrochemical products / XXL heavy goods / Industrial and specialised products),
- multimodal transport (Combined container transport and urban distribution)
- and industrial services (Tanks repair and cleaning / Storage of dangerous products).
Our teams consist of passionate experts at all levels.
We are an innovative, structured and reliable industrial force, always focused on quality, human and environmental respect.
Simplified organisation chart of Sogestran group’s companies
Some of the companies in the Sogestran Group have their own websites. Feel free to visit them to find out more about each of them:
- Maritime Compagnie Maritime Nantaise
- Maritime Morlenn Express [French language]
- Logistics Sogestran Logistics
- Industry Care
- Industry TSN
Oceos, our joint venture alongside Air Liquide, also has its own website.
Our vision
The vision of the Sogestran group is primarily based on the common raison d'être of the men and women who are part of it and who, since its creation, have enabled its success thanks to their work, their professionalism and their daily commitment.
It drives and motivates our teams, it sets us apart and commits us everyday to serving our clients.
Our raison d'être, which defines who we are, is the following:
To imagine,
To engage our resources,
To accompany the goods entrusted to us by our clients.
The vision of the Sogestran group is also an ambition that defines what we want to be tomorrow, that guides our actions, that projects us into the future.
At the core of the energy transition challenges, river and maritime transport is constantly evolving. The products we transport today are not those we will transport tomorrow, the propulsion systems and fuels we use today are not those we will use tomorrow.
To meet these challenges, our ambition is to build a European group serving a more sustainable economy.
Finally, the vision of the Sogestran group consists of the values upon which the group has been built since its creation. These values, which constitute the original culture of our group, are as follows:
- Trust - We only have one word and act righteously
- Agility - We dare to undertake and promote boldness
- Pride - We work with pride and succeed with humility
- Commitment - We do not count our efforts and always see things through
These values guide the way we strive to behave and interact with each other, our clients and our partners to fully embody our vision.
Our history
It was in Le Havre in 1948 that Edmond Girardet created the Sogestran River Management and Transport Company. Ambitious, determined and passionate, Sogestran was developed in short order: he acquired boats, modernized the fleet, diversified the activities, purchased stakes in many companies...
In fifteen years, the small company of four people, equipped with two 320-ton self-propelled tankers at the outset, became an important inland navigation company.
Click on the timeline below or drag to see key dates in the Sogestran Group's history:
1948
Creation of Sogestran by Edmond Girardet
1954
Diversification in the services to industries activity, with the creation of the first degassing station in a French port
1956
Creation of a subsidiary in Ghent, Belgium
1958
Maiden voyage of the first fluvial convoy (barge and pusher boat) on the Seine. On board, 3,000 tons of petroleum products.
1963
First river transport of cars (up to 250 vehicles per convoy)
1969
First iron ore convoys between Dunkirk and Denain
1975
Launch of the fluvial transport of heavy parcels by roll barges and first pushed convoys on the Rhône
1979
Gérard Perrin is appointed Managing Director at Sogestran
1983
Start of coal transport by barge on the Loire
1988
First transport of Ariane IV rockets on the Seine and creation of the fluvial transport company (CFT) by bringing together Sogestran and Sanara
Faced with the growing success of road transport tanks and tank containers cleaning activity and the circulation difficulties that this entails, SEREP decided to relocate the truck cleaning activity to the industrial area in Le Havre port. In 1988, the activity was established within Sogestrol and SEP-SEREP-Sogestrol was created in a 50/50 joint venture, which later became TSN.
1990
Diversification of the group in the maritime transport business through the acquisition of Maritima, a company specializing in petrol cabotage in the Mediterranean
1992
Beginning of the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas on the Rhône in partnership with Chemgas, a Dutch shipowner
1993
Routing and setting up the voussoir arches for the Pont de Normandie
1994
Sogestran is the first French shipowner to offer container transport on the Seine through its subsidiary LogiSeine
1995
In 1995, Sogestrol teamed up with three partners to create CARE, a company whose business is to store packaged hazardous chemicals. Located in the industrial and port area of Le Havre, CARE is 65% owned by Sogestrol.
For 13 consecutive years, the activity was in deficit and it was not until 2008 that CARE finally found an economic balance. Due to the need for new investments that our co-shareholders refused, Sogestran became the sole shareholder of CARE with 100% of the shares in 2013.
2000
Attentive to its tank container customers, the Sogestran Group recognized the market’s need for the creation of a specific site for the cleaning, maintenance and repair of tank containers. Customers must be able to find all the services they need to operate their container fleet on the same site. The Group therefore partnered with CMI Conteneurs in 2000, to create a company specializing in the repair of tank containers, PMS Citernes, an activity encompassing the inspection, maintenance and small repairs of tanks. In addition to the cleaning activity provided by TSN, this gave rise to a ‘One Stop Shop’ structure.
2001
Construction of the first double-hull tank barges for the Seine and the Rhône
2005
Pascal Girardet becomes Managing Director of the group
2006
Start of the transportation of compacted household waste from the Communauté de l'Agglomération Havraise
2009
The year 2009 is marked by a vertiginous drop in the volumes of tanks being cleaned. In view of this, discussions were held with a company competing with TSN in the industrial area of Le Havre to ensure the sustainability of our activities.
These exchanges were finalized by the integration of this site within TSN and the closure in 2010 of the LBC SOGESTROL cleaning station.
2014
Design and commissioning of a hybrid roll on / roll off barge dedicated to the transport of heavy parcels for the future ITER power station in Cadarache
2016
Inaugural loading of a barge with 6,500T of bitumen maintained at 180°C. Devised to sail between Belgium and Holland, it was specifically designed and built in partnership with the German shipowner Jaegers.
The city of Lyon and the Sogestran Group test a fluvial waste recycling centre: a first in Europe
2017
Acquisition of the Compagnie Maritime Nantaise. This French shipowner operates specific vessels for reference customers such as the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the French Navy and Arianespace, for which it transported the Ariane rocket to Kourou.
2020
Acquisition of Freeman Industrie, a French railway tanks repair and cleaning company
2021
Acquisition of Dubbelman, a Dutch container transport company on the Rhine
Acquisition of De Poli, a Dutch bulk chemical shipping company, which will become Navquim