The French National Library (BNF) is giving 500,000 books to the library of Alexandria. It's an unusual shipment, and the SNCF is taking charge...

On 30 November in Marseille,a secret cargo pulled into Le Canet station. As the crane swung round to pick up the container, a wealth of high-profile personalities where there to witness the scene. The onlookers included Bruno Racine, Chairman of the BNF (French national library), Ismail Serageldin, Managing Director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, Renaud Muselier, Chairman of the Cultural Council of the Union for the Mediterranean, which had made a massive effort to make sure the donation was made, and Guillaume Pepy, representing the SNCF, which had partnered with the project to ensure the safe transportation. French Minister of Culture, Frédéric Mitterrand raised the tarpaulin cover from the first container to reveal its cargo of 35,000 books.

10 years of publications in a whole range of fields - a total of 500,000 books that were released in France between 1996 and 2006 - this was the donation made by the BNF to Alexandria's library, in order to form a francophone literature department. This project is a high-profile public embodiment of the Union for the Mediterranean, which is currently co-chaired by France and Egypt.

The SNCF has enjoyed its starring role - in keeping with our traditions in supporting books and literature - and also in our industrial role as a end-to-end supply chain operator. All 12 containers will cross the Mediterranean via a range of different modes of transport (truck, train, boat), all managed by a single transport provider - the SNCF.