ADVERTISING INFORMATION

Located in the heart of Normandy, Le Havre will seduce you!

Pronounced as l δvr, this seaport town is located in the Seine-Maritime dept., Normandy, N France, at the mouth of the Seine River on the English Channel. The city now numbers 197.000 inhabitants.

Le Havre was only a fishing village until 1517, when King Francis I built a harbour and named it Le Havre-de-Grāce (“Haven of Grace”).

Enlarged and fortified under the Cardinal de Richelieu and Louis XIV in the 17^th century, it was adapted to accommodate bigger vessels under Louis XVI in the late 18^th century and was further improved under Napoleon III in the mid-19^th century. It became, and still is, the second-most-important port in France after Marseilles. It was a major port for transatlantic travel until the advent of widespread commercial air travel in the 1970's.

The port was an important military base during both world wars. During World War II the British bombed the city to prevent its use by the Germans for an invasion of England. After the war, Auguste Perret, a famous architect, was entrusted with the rebuilding of the city.

Le Havre is France's principal Atlantic port. Regular car-ferry services run to England and Ireland. Although passenger liner traffic has declined, the cross-channel trade in cargo has increased rapidly. Much cargo destined for Paris via the Seine River is transhipped here. Le Havre's main imports are fuel oil and tropical goods (cotton, coffee). Pipelines connect the port to refineries east of the town and carry the refined product to the Paris region. Elsewhere, major industrialization efforts have been made. Le Havre's industries include sugar refining, shipbuilding, the manufacture of heavy machinery and electrical equipment, automobiles, cement, synthetic rubber and fertilizers, as well as the older, traditional manufacture of rope and the handling of timber.

Le Havre it is a dynamic town turned towards the future and ready to face up to the European challenge.