Provence – a strategic crossroads
With its first-rate transport infrastructure, strategic trading location and a multimodal transport offer that is unique in France, the Bouches-du-Rhône has become a major logistics hub and a key gateway to Europe.
Companies setting up here at the center of the Mediterranean Arc have access to a dense communications network, including:
- The port of Marseille-Fos: the n°1 port zone in France and n°5 in Europe;
- A well-developed north-south and east-west road system with over 300 miles of freeway in a 2100 square mile area;
- A rail network that ranks third in France for freight and which includes the country's second-largest marshalling yard at Miramas;
- The TGV Méditerranée high-speed rail link that puts Paris at a mere 3 hours from Marseilles, with Geneva and Brussels at 3 ½ hours and 5 ¾ hours from Provence respectively;
- Marseille-Provence International Airport, the number 2 freight hub in France and the number 4 airport for passenger traffic (outside the Paris area), with 24 flights each day to Paris, daily services to the main European capitals and a special terminal for low-cost operators, MP2;
- A high-capacity inland waterway linking the Gulf of Fos to Chalon-sur-Saône.



