France

Le Havre, a city of 175,000 in France’s Normandy region, is a vital port. The Seine river empties into the Atlantic at Le Havre, 134 miles northwest of Paris.

Behind Marseille, Le Havre is the country’s second-largest port by tonnage. In 2015, Le Havre handled 2.6 million TEUs of cargo, making it the fifth-busiest port in Europe. Le Havre accounts for about 60 percent of France’s container traffic flow.

Lille is France’s fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. Close to the border of Belgium and just 70 miles from Brussels, Lille has a population of about 1 million.

Euralille, a large urban renewal project that has grown into France’s third-largest business district, sits at the junction of the passenger train lines that connects Brussels, Paris and London.

Lyon has a population of 1.3 million, and the greater metropolitan area has a population of 2.2 million, making it France’s third-largest city. The region is Europe’s fifth-largest economy in terms of total GDP.

Lyon is France’s second most important industrial and financial sector. After Paris, it is the most popular city for foreign investors. Sanofi and Lafarge are among the major companies based in Lyon.

A cosmopolitan and historic port city, Marseille is France’s gateway to the Mediterranean and an important center for logistics. Marseille is France’s second-largest metropolitan area with more than 1.7 million residents.

Orléans, 70 miles south of Paris, has a metropolitan area population of almost 273,000. Employment in the region is driven primarily by pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and agriculture.

Paris, with a population of 12.5 million consumers, is one of Europe’s largest logistics markets. The city accounts for one-third of France’s total GDP.

A thriving center of global commerce, Paris serves as headquarters to 25 Fortune 500 companies, the third-highest concentration after Tokyo and Beijing. As such, much of the demand for logistics real estate and warehouse property in Paris is driven by local consumption.