Olympic Games-2024: in full harvest, the transport of cereals will be interrupted “six and a half days” on the Seine

Cereal growers have obtained a small reduction in the duration of transport stoppages on the Seine, which will be “six and a half days” ahead of the Olympic Games, Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau announced on Thursday. The Seine will be closed to all navigation in the Paris region “from July 20 to 26” to prepare for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, said the prefect of the Ile-de-France region Marc Guillaume at a press conference alongside the minister.

Initially set at seven or eight days of downtime, this new calendar “makes it possible to respond directly to the first concern (of cereal growers), that of being able to transport nonetheless, as often as possible, for as long as possible outside of more restricted periods », Estimated the Minister of Agriculture. He recognized that “for a month and a half, there will be disruptions” for cereal transport, in the middle of the harvest period. “The measures are interesting, are positive,” judged the president of Intercéales, Jean-François Loiseau, at the conference, calling on state services to continue the work to “improve a few points, particularly during shutdowns.”

94 grain storage points have been identified upstream of the temporarily inaccessible zone, and 177 will be planned downstream in order to “absorb all of the usual traffic during this period, which is around 250 boats”, detailed the Minister of Agriculture. 'Agriculture. “The State has also satisfied the request to extend the hours of the locks”, which will close at midnight and no longer at 8 p.m. as previously decided, during the period of the Games, he added.

A working group will soon be set up to assess “possible economic consequences” of interruptions to river traffic in the sector, announced Marc Fesneau, without commenting on potential compensation in the event of losses. “We hope that with the measures we are taking, we limit things as much as possible (losses, Editor’s note).” The Seine is a “competitive” and “logistically very important” axis, recalled Jean-François Loiseau. Three million tonnes of cereals circulate there each year, including one million during the summer period alone.