With less than four months to go until the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games—which will, for the first time in history, take place on water—HAROPA PORT and France’s national waterways authority (Voies navigables de France—VNF) have arrived at an initial overview of river transport decarbonisation’s current status.
The energy transition in the river fleet will ramp up even more in the months and years to come, given that most recreational craft will be running on electricity.
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games offer a magnificent opportunity to exploit river transport’s key advantages to address ecological and societal issues, specifically through the roll-out of cleaner propulsion systems and quayside electrification.
Roll-out of cleaner propulsion systems
An ambitious goal to accelerate the energy transition of the entire river fleet was set for 2024.
During the opening ceremony, almost 30 craft will be fitted with electric or hybrid /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 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 the base value.
Retrofits have been prioritised since they allow the existing fleet to be retained and lengthen vessel life, which 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, smallcraft accounts 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 most Paris rivercraft powered by electricity at the 2037 horizon.
Speeding up the development of the quayside electricity network
The electrification of Seine basin docks constitutes one of the major work programmes at present.
Certain passenger transport stops in Paris have already been equipped: one example is the port of Grenelle, which has three connection terminals for passenger craft. Similarly, river cruise boats with onboard 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 to meet users’ needs. This 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 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 will Vedettes du Pont Neuf.
“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”, said 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”, declared 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”, added Olivier Jamey, Chair of the Paris Ports Community (CPP).
