The Port of Lyon is Modernising with Actemium Maintenance Belfort
Early 2025, Actemium Maintenance Belfort won the contract for the electrical and mechanical renovation of one of the two container gantries at the Édouard Herriot port in Lyon.
This contract is part of the development project for river traffic between the Mediterranean and Lyon, entrusted by the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) to CMA CGM. The goal: to drive an ambitious transition towards more sustainable logistics by strengthening the Mediterranean-Rhône-Saône river corridor as an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to road transport.
A lasting partnership with CNR
Specialising for over 20 years in the maintenance and renovation of overhead cranes—which account for 90% of its revenue—Actemium Maintenance Belfort is signing its second project with CNR after renovating a trash rack at the Bourg-lès-Valence hydroelectric power plant in 2022. This demonstrates recognition of their expertise in a sector where equipment requiring work at height is subject to very strict regulations.
Replacement of 32 motor-reducer units
For the Lyon port project, the Belfort-based company must carry out a complete renovation of the control/command system and mechanical modernisation of the translation movement (replacing 32 motor-reducer units along with their support systems and installing a cable carrier chain on the steering movement). The objective is to improve reliability and modernise a key piece of equipment dating from 2007, whose aging and reliability issues have hindered the growth of container river transport.
End-to-end expertise
With 8 technicians mobilised at the peak of the project, Actemium Maintenance Belfort, which must deliver the equipment by November 2025, manages project oversight and most operations internally—from studies to site execution (electricity, automation, and mechanics). This end-to-end control is typical for the company, which can also handle hydraulic components internally on other projects.
Ensuring operational reliability
This major transformation of the Lyon port will provide CNR and CMA CGM with reliable equipment for at least 15 years and a tool now adapted to the goal of doubling river freight on the Rhône by 2032—a mode currently representing only 5% of freight transport on the Marseille-Lyon corridor, compared to 80% by road and 15% by rail.
