Building a River Solution Adapted to Each Territory: VNF’s Ambition

A river solution adapted to each territory.

Defend projects with and for the territories Our ambition is clear: for VNF, it is a matter of building a river solution adapted to each territory. To do this, we are engaged in extensive consultation with local authorities and economic players to build together comprehensive territorial projects, integrating the waterway and reconciling the general interest with everyone’s expectations.

The river offers a variety of services, but which have a common and indisputable advantage: they create and develop the green economy in our territories. The river promotes sustainable logistics. It is the most ecological mode, it requires 4 times less energy to move a ton of goods and emits 5 times less CO2 to move this same ton. Without noise pollution, safe with the lowest accidentology rate, it makes it possible to consolidate the goods transported at a competitive cost and consequently to decongest the roads and thus improve safety (reduction of accidents) and the quality of the air.

The 6,700 km of rivers, rivers and canals of the VNF network are also precious spaces for green, authentic tourism, far from the crowds. Contributing to the improvement of the living environment, the navigable network and its surroundings become an attractive and sustainable space for the benefit of all users, tourists, local users and local residents. River tourism thus contributes to the development of territories and the strengthening of their attractiveness and generates 1.4 billion euros in economic spin-offs for the direct benefit of the territories.

The river network crosses all territories, from most large urbanized areas to the most rural areas. The water that flows there has several uses and meets the needs of different audiences – drinking water for the population, irrigation for farms, water intake for energy production and industry, navigation for the economy of the freight and tourism…

VNF’s ambition is to make this source of green growth flourish for the territories. Ultimately, the ambition is to build a river solution adapted to each territory. Indeed, there is no river freight possible without a nearby intermodal platform, without a connection to the road and rail networks, without modern and efficient ports. There is no tourism and leisure activity on the waterway if there are not nearby activities to practice, a heritage to discover, an enhancement of space.

Solid partnerships with local authorities, very interested in the future of the waterway as a vector for the development of their territory, are being built and will participate in the restructuring of the establishment’s economic model. As examples can be cited the partnership around the Sambre à l’Oise, whose reopening to navigation has become a reality, the Agreement for the Canal du Midi, or the partnership with the Grand Est Region.

The objective is to carry out a tourism development project around an itinerary and to co-construct a tourism strategy (development of the area, development or development of cycle routes, etc.) making the territory more attractive and allowing companies to invest on our routes, to develop there and to make the area live better. This approach is fully in line with a desire to transition towards a greener and more sustainable economy, with a view to developing employment, progress and solidarity between territories.