Barges on the Seine replace a hundred trucks

The Seine is one of the longest rivers in France and one of its most significant waterways – connecting many important cities like Paris, Troyes, and Rouen. Steadily, more and more transport volume is being transferred off the streets and onto the Seine, thus relieving traffic jams and reducing carbon emissions.

Hapag-Lloyd too has recently started using a barge shuttle service for import and export containers from Le Havre, via the Parisian suburbs of Gennevilliers and Bonneuil-sur-Marne. The shuttle service is operated by Greenmodal Transport and replaces roughly 100 trucks per week. “The barge runs on a dependable regular schedule. It enables us to offer our clients a great amount of transparency and reliability,” says Alex Nicolai, Sales Director at Hapag-Lloyd.

Shipping containers filled with different non-foodstuff commodities for large retailers arrive at Le Havre, where they are picked up by large barges that transport them up to Gennevilliers. They are then moved to smaller vessels with a maximum load of 54 containers each. This is necessary, because the taller ships are unable to pass beneath the bridges within Paris. From the port of Bonneuil-sur-Marne, a fleet of trucks, running on biofuel made from rapeseed, then transports the containers on the final kilometres to the customers’ premises.

“Within the framework of our sustainability strategy, we are working on the decarbonization of our business,” explains Régis Costiou, Inland Steering Manager. “The barges and biofuel trucks are a useful tool for us to get closer to that goal. Our trucks emit 60 percent fewer pollutants than a conventional model. Without the shuttle service, these containers would have been moved on the road the whole way, causing more traffic and much higher emissions.”