On the occasion of the Riverdating inland waterway trade fair, organised by Voies navigables de France in Lyon on 3 and 4 December, the Seine–Escaut Network was given particular prominence.
At the GEIE stand, representatives from De Vlaamse Waterweg nv, the Public Service of Wallonia, the Seine–Nord Europe Canal Company and VNF were able to engage with inland waterway professionals on the concrete progress of the Seine–Nord Europe Canal and on the modernisation of the navigable waterways in France, Flanders and Wallonia, as well as on future prospects and the services that the Seine–Escaut Network offers them.
Late in the morning, members of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) for Seine–Escaut, chaired by Thomas Doublic, Head of the Inland Waterway Transport Department at the French Ministry for the Ecological Transition, met to review the progress of operations. They were joined by Paweł Wojciechowski, European Coordinator for the North Sea–Rhine–Mediterranean (NSRM) TEN-T Corridor; Yves Wantens, General Delegate of Flanders in France; Filip Boelaert, Managing Director of De Vlaamse Waterweg nv; Sébastien Lannoy, Adviser to the Walloon Minister for Spatial Planning, Infrastructure, Mobility and Local Authorities; Jérôme Dezobry, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Seine–Nord Europe Canal Company; and Cécile Avezard, Director General of VNF.
In the afternoon, the Seine–Escaut Network was the focus of a dedicated conference. In a discussion with Paweł Wojciechowski, Thomas Doublic and Didier Leandri, Chairman and CEO of Entreprises Fluviales de France, Gilles Ryckebusch, Manager of the Seine–Escaut GEIE and VNF’s Regional Director for Nord–Pas-de-Calais, presented the overall progress of operations across all the territories concerned, the strengthening of cross-border exchanges between France and Belgium, and the ways in which this strategic network supports both logistical development and territorial planning.
A big thank-you to the VNF teams for organising this major event for the inland waterway sector in France and Europe, which once again demonstrated that the Seine–Escaut Network is already a tangible and visible reality throughout the regions it crosses, serving all users of the waterways!
