Olympic Games 2024: the fear of cereal farmers faced with the closure of the Seine
Next summer, it may be on the Seine that there will be traffic jams during the Paris Olympic Games.
Between the influx of tourists, the opening ceremony and the tests, how will the barges transporting cereals be able to travel on the river which cuts the capital in two?
A barge on the Seine, in Paris, in August 2023 (illustrative image).
AFP - MIGUEL MEDINA
By: Arthur Ponchelet
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The Seine is not just a postcard.
Above all, it is a crucial river for farmers in the region because it allows grains harvested in the Paris basin to be transported to major ports in the North, such as Rouen.
A path that cereal growers hold on to.
“
The Seine is a very important axis because logistically, it is more competitive for transporting cereals.
Three million tonnes per year, including around one million in the summer.
It’s a continuous flow, that is to say that if we interrupt it for several weeks, we will have chain ruptures which will be dramatic with very serious consequences
,” explains Jean-François Lepy, logistics referent. of Intercereals.
They are worried because the question of interrupting traffic arises during the
Olympic Games
since to prepare for the opening ceremony which is to be held on the Seine, no boat traffic is required.
Thus, faced with the discontent of farmers, the executive had to find a compromise.
For barges, the interruption in passage, which was supposed to be ten days, will last six and a half days.
And in exchange, the locks will close later, at midnight, to catch up with traffic.
Storage areas will also be installed upstream and downstream of the river.
Cereals, “
a great power of French agriculture”
If this interruption for the
2024 Olympics
arouses so much anger, it is because it represents a considerable loss of income for farmers because the month of July is a key period for them since it is generally the start of the harvest.
For Marc Fesneau, the Minister of Agriculture, we must therefore limit losses as much as possible: “
Cereals are still a great power in French agriculture, they are an element of domestic, European sovereignty and then also international.
So no one could have understood that we have something that is interrupted to the point that we cannot deliver to our customers outside our borders or within our borders
.
".
Discussions will continue between the executive and the inter-profession.
A working group has already been set up to identify the economic consequences of this traffic disruption.
Also read 6 months before the Olympic Games: what are the repercussions for Paris?
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