Seine-Nord Europe Canal

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The Seine-Nord Europe Canal is a high capacity water transportation system currently in development, with construction set to begin in 2008. It is projected to begin from the Oise River at Janville, Oise, north of Compiègne, to the Dunkirk-Escaut Canal, east of Arleux. The total length is 105 km (65.24 miles).

Seine-Nord will replace the old Canal de Saint Quentin and the current Canal du Nord, the capacity of which is far below standards.

The canal will connect the Seine and Scheldt rivers and facilitate the transport of goods through inland waterways. When the new Seine Nord connection will be ready, it will allow large vessels to transport goods between the Seine river (and the Paris area) and the ports of Dunkerque, Antwerp and Rotterdam, or further into any part of Europe.

The net effect will be to considerably expand trade flows in a fuel-efficient and ecologically friendly manner while connecting to surrounding northern European countries such as Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

The canal will consist of several large structures, which may include up to 7 locks. The project’s budget will be 2.6 billion Euros, with financing through governments (European Union, French government, local French regional) and partly through public-private partnerships.

[edit] Environmental impact

According to Nicolas Bour, the project leader of the Seine-Nord Europe Mission, "1500 containers unloaded in a maritime port equal 1000 trucks on the road or 25 fully-loaded goods trains, but only 5 vessels." To meet this demand for goods transport and to contain traffic congestion and CO2 emissions at the same time, the use of mass and ecological modes of transport, such as waterway transport, and the development of intermodality are an absolute necessity.