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ECOPHOS SETS UP ON ICD INDUSTRIAL PLATFORM IN MARDYCK (DUNKIRK), DISTRICT OF GRAND PORT MARITIME DE DUNKERQUE
11th february 2016

After considering several sites on the North Sea coast, in October 2014 the Belgian industrial group ECOPHOS*, a supplier of technology and producer of food-grade phosphate, decided to build its new production plant on the ICD* industrial platform in Mardyck, near Dunkirk.

Last Friday, after a year's work including a significant contribution by teams from ECOPHOS, TOTAL, Dunkerque-Port and Dunkerque Promotion as well as employees of Dunkirk Urban Community and the State, TOTAL Etablissement des Flandres* officially handed back to Dunkerque-Port a first section of the land of the ICD platform. This land relinquishment enabled ECOPHOS to sign the contract allowing it simultaneously to set up and operate its production unit.

The arrival of ECOPHOS in Dunkirk represents an investment of more than 75 million Euros and will result in the creation of 100 direct and indirect jobs by 2017. The traffic generated for Dunkerque-Port will reach 250,000 tonnes in imports of raw materials and exports of finished products. The construction works for the factory are scheduled to start in March.

"ECOPHOS is very pleased with the work done in recent months to optimise the creation of our production unit. The operators of the area have been fully mobilised in a positive and constructive climate, with the sole aim of making our project a success,"said Hadrien Dorchy, Legal Director of the ECOPHOS group and signatory of the lease. And the group's CEO and owner, Mohamed Takhim, added:" The Dunkirk context is ideal for our setup and means we can expect rapid future development at our new site in Mardyck. A number of extensions are already planned and being studied."

Vincent Stoquart, Director of TOTAL's Établissement des Flandres*, stated: "ECOPHOS's signature demonstrates the success of the ICD platform: we have been the promoters of this platform, with a strong commitment by the various components of the TOTAL group. By contributing to the creation of this platform, which was developed because of our situation in Dunkirk, we have been able to give ECOPHOS constant support and provide many features to ensure the success of its project."

Stéphane Raison, General Director of Dunkerque-Port*, explained: "ECOPHOS has been supported by teams from Dunkerque-Port and the local area to make its setup as easy as possible, despite the large scale of the project. This mobilisation demonstrates the Dunkirk area's capacity to support the most ambitious projects in the industrial port area. We will all be standing with this new industrial operator in the Dunkirk district for the future developments already announced."

Patrice Vergriete and David Bailleul, President of Dunkerque Promotion*, welcomed this decisive new step: "It illustrates the region's ability to work together for economic development. TOTAL, Dunkerque-Port and Dunkerque Promotion, together with government departments, have been fully mobilised in the last few months to make ECOPHOS's setup decision a reality. Dunkirk Urban Community has been strongly involved in support of the ECOPHOS project and has helped to bring it to completion."

 About ECOPHOS:

• The Côte d’Opale petroleum depot, one of the largest strategic diesel reserves in France.

• The Technical Assistance Centre which provides services to all the French and international sites of TOTAL's Refining and Chemicals branch.

• Oleum, a training centre for technical professionals of the Oil & Gas industry, with a life-size technical platform. 7,500 trainee-days of courses were dispensed in 2015.

• BioTfueL, a 180-million-Euro R&D project designed to develop a marketable technology for the production of new-generation biodiesel and biokerosene.

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