With less than four months to go to the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games – which, for the first time in history will be take place on water – HAROPA PORT and France’s national waterways authority (Voies navigables de France – VNF) have arrived at an initial overview of where river transport decarbonisation now stands.
Committed to energy transition for some years now, all stakeholders are working around the clock to ensure that river fleets are greener, speeding the roll-out of cleaner propulsion systems and a quayside electrification programme.
The energy transition in the river fleet will be ramping up even more in the months and years to come given that the majority of recreational craft will be running on electricity.
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games: an effective accelerator for the river fleet energy transition
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games offer a magnificent opportunity to exploit the key advantages of river transport to address ecological and societal issues, specifically based on the roll-out of cleaner propulsion systems and quayside electrification.
Roll-out of cleaner propulsion systems
An ambitious goal was set for 2024 with the intention of speeding up the energy transition across the entire river fleet.
During the opening ceremony almost 30 craft will be fitted with electric or hybrid ICE/electric propulsion systems. To achieve this target, VNF has devoted major effort, working with its partners (France’s Environmental and Energy Management Agency – ADEME – the Greater Paris regional authority and HAROPA PORT), to supporting the private sector using a Modernisation and Innovation Aid Programme (PAMI), whose overall budget has now been increased by €5 million from France’s central government.
The thirty or so craft selected for the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games come from the Paris fleet, which comprises a total of over a hundred commercial vessels.
To date, 20 engine retrofit projects and the construction of 11 new craft have already been implemented or are currently ongoing.
According to the Paris Ports Community (CPP) these projects represent an overall investment of over €38m: an average of €1.2m per vessel, or 120% of base value.
Retrofits have been made the priority since they allow the existing fleet to be retained and lengthen vessel life, which in turn has genuine ecological advantages, rather than replacement with new construction.
River cruise boats account for 40% of retrofit projects, (60% electric and 40% hybrid), small boats carrying less than 12 passengers represent 25%, and private and working boats 15%.
Where new construction is concerned, small craft account for a little over 82% of all projects, compared with 18% for private-sector boats (service provision, events, food catering, etc.). The core of this new fleet is electric, at 63%, compared with 27% hybrid and 9% running on hydrogen.
The goal is to see a majority of all Paris river craft powered by electricity at the 2037 horizon.
Speeding up the development of the quayside electricity network
Th electrification of Seine basin docks constitutes one of the major work programmes at the present time.
In Paris, certain passenger transport stops have already been equipped: one example is the port of Grenelle with three connection terminals for use by passenger craft. Similarly, river cruise boats with on-board accommodation in Paris already have quayside connections to the electricity grid.
Along the Seine Axis as a whole, 44 electricity terminals have already been installed on docks under HAROPA PORT and VNF management, enabling 4,300 tonnes of CO₂ emissions to be eliminated every year.
By the end of 2024, 82 additional terminals will have been provided on the Seine and the Oise, comprising terminals for freight (16A, 32A, 63A), cruises (400A) and wintering (125A), as well as for events and recreational craft (125A). For 2026, the target is to have achieved 132 quayside connection points on the Seine basin in order to meet the needs of users. This programme of provision of supply points for electricity and water now being driven by VNF and HAROPA PORT represents a total investment of €9.2m and has the support of the EU and Greater Paris regional authority.
Additionally, in conjunction with a national study – FLUENT (for FLUvial ENergie Transition) – VNF is conducting a foresight study for an offering of alternative fuels bunkering along the entire Seine valley (AviCafe); the results of this will be made public in 2024.
Support and assistance schemes for operators
The transition to greener propulsion systems in the river transport sector is the subject of a deliberate and collective approach unique in Europe, in furtherance of the energy transition and competitive performance in the sector. Actors in the river economy consider their commitment to this transition to be a significant contribution to the legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The collective nature of this approach to supporting the energy transition of the fleet has led to the initiation of solutions that can be replicated in legal and technical, as well as financial terms, making possible an outcome that would not have been feasible for individual stakeholders, especially as operators of river craft in Paris are, in the main, either very small or medium-sized enterprises.
This means, for example, that in order to offset the investments associated with a greener fleet, HAROPA PORT has put in place a support programme for its customers to enable passenger craft to obtain extensions to their temporary occupancy agreements on condition that they commit to switching to hybrid or 100% electric propulsion for their fleets with at least one vessel completed by 1 June 2024. This will be the case for Vedettes de Paris, which will be signing a rider of this kind to its occupancy agreement, as also will Vedettes du Pont Neuf.
Where VNF is concerned, using the Modernisation and Innovation Aid Plan (PAMI), whose purpose is to assist freight and passenger transport operators (self-employed barge operators and owners) in adapting their river fleets to environmental requirements (energy savings, more environmentally friendly drive systems, etc.), it provides assistance for funding the transition, and especially for full electrification. This aid scheme has led to an increase in fleet environmental performance thanks to an investment of some €30m (plus almost €240m invested by the sector itself). Since 2013, VNF has supported the creation of over 120 businesses (8% of the freight offering in terms of tonnage and 20% of the total number of transport firms) and has enabled almost 200 engines to be replaced, the intention being to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
Where the Paris Ports Community (CPP) is concerned, it assists companies voluntarily seeking to achieve the energy transition for their fleets when defining and implementing their projects and supporting project promoters when they make their requests for financial aid (PAMI, energy savings certificates – CEE, etc.). The CPP has also set up an ecosystem conducive to greening programmes, with investment platforms that facilitate the roll-out of clean propulsion systems, using a flat-rate technical assistance approach based on project management services (an approach upgraded to national level in the ReMoVe – (Report Modal & Verdissement) programme, or with energy savings certificates (Certificats d’Économies d’Énergie – CEE) for project funding.
“The Olympics are a magnificent environmental booster for the Seine Axis. They allow us to speed up the greening of the river fleet: this means that all river cruise boats, which carried 9.5 million passengers in 2023, will be driven by electric motors by 2037! In the shorter term, we are fully mobilised, alongside all Seine Axis stakeholders, to ensure that thirty or so operational electric craft will be part of the parade during the opening ceremony”: Antoine Berbain, Deputy CEO of HAROPA PORT
“The Paris 2024 Olympics are an unparalleled opportunity to take full advantage of the advantages of river transport in addressing ecological and societal issues, thanks to the implementation of cleaner propulsion systems, the development of urban river logistics and new river service offerings that reduce energy consumption, as well as the modernisation of the river network. In line with the innovation dynamic fostered by VNF, we are fully mobilised to support the sector in greening the river fleet”: Stéphane Bousquet, VNF regional director for the Seine basin and the Loire downstream.
“We are very proud to have arrived at the implementation of this unique collective approach, which marks a commitment by Paris shipowners to remaining at the cutting edge where ecology is concerned”: Olivier Jamey, Chair of the Paris Ports Community (CPP).
The Seine Axis is increasingly a testbench for the energy transition in river transport in France, a transition now expanding in the logistics sector and across all waterways. Initiated by the operating companies, boosted by the energy embodied in the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, implemented by a collective of private- and public-sector actors, the energy transition currently ongoing in river transport has already overtaken the initiatives under way elsewhere in the mobility universe”: Didier Leandri, Deputy CEO, E2F (Entreprises fluviales de France).
