Seine–Nord Europe Canal

The Seine–Nord Europe Canal is a project of a high capacity canal in France that would link the Oise River at Janville, Oise, and the Canal Dunkerque-Escaut, east of Arleux. The net effect would 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 be the French section of the Seine-Escaut (Scheldt) European link. It will run 106 km from Janville, north of Compiègne, to the Canal Dunkerque-Escaut, crossing the regions of Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

The 105-kilometre-long canal will connect the Seine and Scheldt rivers and facilitate the transport of goods through inland waterways. When the new Seine Nord connection is 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 Europe. The canal will replace the Canal de Saint-Quentin and the current Canal du Nord, increasing maximum barge capacity from 650 to 4400 tonnes.

The canal will include several large structures, including seven locks and three aqueducts: two over the A29 and A26 autoroutes, and one 1330 metres long over the Somme. The project’s budget will be €4.2 billion, financed by the European Union, the French government, local regional governments and through public-private partnerships.

The project was reported, in July 2012, to be seriously in doubt, but significant cost reductions are deemed possible, and a decision was to be made in 2014. Engineers were selected for the project in June 2015.

On 21 April 2016, an ordonnance was approved by the President of France, authorizing the construction of the canal and creating the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe to manage the project.