Paris, January 3rd, 2017 – As the Global Logistics Provider for the ITER project since 2012, DAHER has been re-appointed under a framework contract agreed with the ITER Organization. The relationship with ITER has been strengthened by the award of a new contract to set up and run a Central Distribution Center, symbolizing the trust DAHER’s customers place in the company. The center will be based in Fos-sur-Mer (Zone Distriport) in fully refitted premises of 12,000 sq. m., designed to address the project’s exceptional requirements. The technical prowess of the center illustrates DAHER’s know-how and strengthens its position as a first-rank partner in creating the largest experimental nuclear fusion plant ever built.

“We are proud that ITER has renewed its trust in us and strengthened our role as Global Logistics Provider for this ambitious and demanding, international industrial project. The new distribution center will enhance a system that aims to optimize the effectiveness and competitiveness of the project’s supply chain. It also illustrates the pertinence of our Project service offering, which combines our expertise in transportation, management, logistics and industrial services to our customers’ benefit,” comments Hervé De Chillaz, Senior Vice President – Advanced Technologies Business Unit DAHER

“DAHER has successfully demonstrated its know-how since the beginning of the ITER project, and we are pleased to see their sophisticated technical skills being applied to this strategically important distribution centre. We look forward to DAHER continuing to deliver operational excellence to respond to the project’s exceptional level of complex requirements,” states Timothy Watson, Head of Facilities Logistics and Materials Division ITER.

The renewal of the framework contract, signed at the end of November, is for global logistics services for the project: from transporting components from factories in the member states to delivering them to Cadarache for assembly and mounting. The work requires real technical expertise from DAHER, since it involves:

• Receiving all the components from all over the world: China, Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, the United States and the European Union.
• Preparing and transporting components of an impressive scale and size, including managing customs formalities and arranging transportation insurance.

From February 26 to March 18, for example, DAHER organized the transport of one of the longest components in the world, between the port of Avilés (Spain) and the site in Cadarache (Bouches-du-Rhône): a convoy of exceptional dimensions, 67 meters long with a total weight of 330 metric tons.

Moreover, all logistics operations are managed from the DAHER Control Room, DAHER’s industrial and logistics management center in Marignane. The DAHER Control Room is the nerve center of all logistics operations to supply ITER with the million components sourced from 35 countries.

The relationship between ITER and DAHER is also being strengthened under the framework contract, with the additional task of setting up a Central Distribution Center aimed at optimizing the distribution of components needed for the different phases of the project. The new distribution center will be based in Fos-sur-Mer (Zone Distriport), in a 12,000 sq. m. warehouse, and run by DAHER.

This is a real technical challenge, with DAHER opting for an existing warehouse that will be adapted to cope with the dimensions and weight of the components it needs to store. The Central Distribution Center will be up and running in six months, and will enable the pace of deliveries and transporting components to align precisely with the sequence of operations involved in assembling the tokamak.