“Innovative approaches to freight transportation—that’s kind of my trademark.”

Source: tribuca.net
Download the PDF

At the MEDEF’s REF, the Azuréen was, in a way, the symbol of a new, long-term vision of the potential of a well-organized—or rather, better-organized—transport system.

What did you do before returning to Nice?

I’m a true product of the French Riviera; I grew up in Cannes, my parents were shopkeepers in Théoule, and I went to school at Carnot, then at Masséna, before attending the Agrobiological Institute in Paris and later in Nancy. But starting a business on the French Riviera with an industrial focus didn’t seem like the right move, so in 1978 I chose Alsace, focusing on the food industry and import-export.

I then started an IT company, which I sold to Sagem in 1988. The major turning point came 20 years ago, with my partnership with the Lohr Group, centered on a new concept: loading trucks onto trains. I gave up everything to devote myself to what I called “optimodality”…

Of whom you are the recognized father…

Optimizing transportation from a technical, economic, and environmental standpoint was innovative then, and it still is today. My idea is to propose alternative modes of transportation that go beyond just the “green” aspect. And the rail highway is an excellent model—cheaper than road transport, faster, and more environmentally friendly as well. In the same vein, together with the Louis Dreyfus Armateurs group in the late 2000s, we launched the “Motorways of the Sea” program between the Basque Coast and Nantes; and in the south, I initiated—notably with Louis Nègre and Christian Estrosi—the counterpart route between Sète and Genoa, a project that still interests me. Innovative approaches to freight transport have a bright future—it’s exciting, and it’s become something of my signature.

And it's all the rage these days

There are solutions; everyone knows them. I’ve documented them, and local politicians are interested in them—particularly Louis Nègre. For the “Motorway of the Sea” system to be efficient, it must start as far away as possible in order to optimize loading costs. To reach Italy, it shouldn’t start in Nice or Marseille. Until it reaches Sète, the traffic flows won’t be balanced.

And the great thing is that it doesn’t require any new infrastructure—the port of Sète already exists… Shipping is different from rail; the economic equation is pretty simple. All you have to do is buy some ships and handle the marketing.

So why doesn't this highway exist yet?

The main party involved isn’t the Languedoc region—it’s Nice, at best… There will always be problems, since the project doesn’t benefit the port of departure. I think that today, with a government pushing for a rail corridor between Sète and Calais, there’s a real opportunity to create a Genoa-Sète-Calais route, which would complement the Sète-Istanbul route that’s been in place for a few months. For France, this would be a strong competitive advantage across the entire Mediterranean basin, serving all of Northern Europe. The Sète hub, with its maritime and rail infrastructure, represents a tremendous opportunity…

Between 2,000 and 3,000 heavy-duty trucks cross the Istanbul Strait every day to reach Europe. A ship can carry 200 trucks. Currently, there are two ships a day making the crossing; there could be 10. From an environmental standpoint, this is very promising. That was the whole purpose of the association I founded: to promote eco-friendly freight transport.

We now need to shift into high gear and find a business model. While traveling (by train—you can’t make this stuff up, Ed.), I met Nicole Notat (a former CFDT leader with a strong commitment to sustainable development, Ed.). At the time, she was heading Vigeo, a non-financial rating agency specializing in qualitative assessments of companies based on social and environmental criteria—the first of its kind in the world. That certainly gave me some ideas…

Career Highlights

A trained agricultural engineer,Philippe Mangeard earned a DEA in industrial management before pursuing a career focused on freight transportation and logistics.
Beginning in 1981, he embarked on a career in entrepreneurship by founding or co-founding several companies (Modalohr SAS, rail highways) and by becoming involved in professional associations (Circle for Optimodality in Europe, Association for the Development of Eco-Responsible Freight) and institutions (president of UbiFrance from 1998 to 2015).
In 2011, he founded the European TK'Blue Agency (Paris-Strasbourg-Nice), a non-financial rating agency that assesses the environmental footprint of freight transport, which he still chairs.
In 2019, he was appointed honorary consul of Serbia.

From TK’Blue Agency to Decarbo’Solution®

From this meeting with Nicole Notat (see above) came the concept of a non-financial rating agency tailored—to the transportation sector, of course. “A fixed cost for companies, representing 1 or 2% of revenue, and 40 to 80% of their environmental footprint…” And so began “the private indicator of corporate transportation performance” by Philippe Mangeard, with a clear international focus. “A 2017 ADEME study explains that fewer than 17% of companies are actually taking action, but few use reliable standards,” he adds. And the topic isn’t exactly popular among transportation providers. Regardless, the Mangeard machine is in motion. Carrefour, Galeries Lafayette, Castorama, and Leroy Merlin—some major corporations are taking notice and playing along. And TK’Blue Agency has become the world leader in environmental and social performance measurement for transportation. “And there’s no number two,” he jokes. “I’ve created a viable model that has attracted the world’s top brands and is just waiting to take off once regulations and enforcement measures are actually implemented.” Castex’s approach could prove to be a good fit in this regard.

Transportation? It accounts for 10% of GDP, with a vast network of channels (600,000 transportation companies in Europe) and complex expertise—which Philippe Mangeard is transforming into an online carbon footprint calculator. This is yet another feat, aimed directly at businesses of all sizes: “a demystified, expert, user-friendly process, entirely online.” This goes far beyond traditional assessments—often called “carbon” assessments—which our serial innovator considers insufficiently substantiated. Fourteen months of development, a (very) reasonable price, and multiplied effects—provided suppliers join the loop. All part of a major push toward responsible environmental footprints.