At first glance, it's hard to imagine a warehouse here, in the middle of buses and pedestrians hurrying to the Porte de Pantin. But as you approach the large bay windows, you can see the delivery men bustling around the boxes of goods.
"We really wanted an open place, to allow rediscovering the material reality behind the operation of deliveries in Paris", indicates Achille Bourdon, architect of the warehouse developed by the promoter Sogaris and operated by the company Ecolotrans, specializing in delivery called "the last mile".
Inside, the temperature is between 2 and 4 degrees, because food is stored there. Arrived by truck, they are placed in cargo bikes or electric vans to be delivered in a "carbon-free" manner to restaurants or to individuals who order their groceries at home from Carrefour, Naturalia or even Biocoop.
The objective is thus to pool orders, to limit polluting transport and sources of nuisance in the capital.
Launched in November 2020, the small warehouse of 1.000 square meters is presented as a "pioneer" by the Afilog association, which brings together logistics players. With the support of the State and the organization France Logistique, it launched Thursday, and until Saturday, a Logistics Week to open the doors of 40 warehouses, including P4, to the general public.
Big projects, greedy for land
"It is important that we have a much more offensive, much more positive communication", explained Thursday Claude Samson, president of Afilog.
Through this week, the sector wants to build on its environmental commitment, after the signing in July of a charter of reciprocal commitments with the government to reduce its carbon footprint.
With the P4 warehouse, recent projects such as Monoprix's "carbon neutral" platform in Moissy-Cramayel, or the Ikea and Leroy Merlin distribution center in Gennevilliers, built on two floors to limit floor space, are highlighted. .
"Today, it is still very difficult to have warehouses in height for reasons of town planning and security, but the charter must favor this type of constructions", explains to AFP Diana Diziain, deputy director of 'Afilog.
The artificialization of soils is indeed a sensitive subject for logistics, which relies on warehouses of several thousand square meters. Not to mention the pollution linked to the transport of goods, right up to the end consumer.
When the Climate Law was voted on, the sector thus escaped a moratorium on the construction of e-commerce warehouses, requested by the Citizens' Convention. To the chagrin of the promoters of shopping centers, whose constructions of more than 10.000 square meters have been banned.
While major projects arouse criticism, the sector highlights their importance for the French economy, in particular for the country's reindustrialization. Logistics Week was thus organized just a few days before Industry Week.
"The competitiveness of logistics is a struggle," confirmed Geoffroy Cailloux, director of merchant services at the general management of enterprises, attached to the Ministry of the Economy.
In December, the government launched an action plan of 1,7 billion euros for logistics, as part of the recovery plan, which promises to support both the attractiveness of France in this area, and decarbonization of the sector.