Firefighting teams in France continued on Friday to extinguish the remaining flames of a fire that broke out in grain silos in the port of La Rochelle on France’s Atlantic coast, but the company operating the silos expected that this would cause only slight disruption to freight traffic at one of the largest grain export ports. in the country.
The huge fire broke out on Thursday morning in a conveyor belt above the high-rise grain silos operated by SICA Atlantic, and about 120 firefighters participated in controlling the flames.
The authorities evacuated employees of SICA Atlantic and neighboring companies at the port, and there were no reports of injuries.
A spokesman for the city’s local authorities said emergency services were continuing their efforts on Friday to cool the roof of the silos and prevent further fires or damage to the grain stored there.
The spokesman added that the transfer of grain from the affected silos is one of the options, but the decision has not been taken yet, pending the end of the ongoing fire suppression work.
The company said in a statement that its capacity to receive or load grain will not be affected.
A representative for SICA Atlantic said the company aims to resume operations in time to load ships with grain next Wednesday, with only a small part of the complex damaged by the fire.
France is the largest grain producer in the European Union and the port at La Rochelle, known as La Palisse, is an important export outlet as it handles tankers and large ships.
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