A consortium led by Vinci subsidiaries has won a €183m contract to build a protected channel in the Seine River estuary to give river boats access to the port of Le Havre.
Called “La Chatière” – French for “cat flap” – the project involves building a 1.8km-long breakwater along the north coast of the estuary in front of the Port 2000 container port to protect cargo boats designed to navigate the inland River Seine from the open estuary’s rough seas.
The goal is to get more of the cargo coming by container ship by water up the Seine to the Paris region.
Now, 85% of seaborne cargo is shipped inland from the port by truck, because rough water makes Le Havre inaccessible to river boats for much of the year.
Working for port operator Haropa Port are Terélian, Vinci’s transport specialist, and Océlian, a Vinci company that handles maritime works, as well as Navarra and Cardem Pyro, which are soil remediation firms.
The only external company involved is Deme, a Belgian civil engineer that carries out dredging and other marine works, in which Vinci holds a 12.1% stake. It will own 38% of the project, with Terélian holding the remainder.
Allied forces bombed the port heavily in 1944, so their first job will be a six-month electromagnetic survey of the site to detect unexploded ordnance.
The channel is expected to open in 2027.
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