Posted Jan 25, 2023, 9:00 AM
For the moment, it is only about fifteen tons per trip. Cheeses, wine, chocolates, and other fresh products that Beaujolais craftsmen and SMEs ship by barge on the Saône to their customers in downtown Lyon: restaurants, delicatessens, hotels… Eventually , “we would like to consolidate the flows to make this river shuttle weekly, and why not daily”, considers Maryline Folleas, who chairs BFTransport, a group of 80 employees and ten million euros in turnover.
For thirty years, this family SME has been transporting containers from the port of Marseille-Fos, where it has an establishment, to its main site at the Edouard-Herriot port in Lyon. Thanks to its fleet of 200 heavy goods vehicles, the Rhone carrier transports furniture, decoration and tools to the major logistics platforms on the Marseille-Lyon-Paris backbone.
The equivalent of 24 trucks
On the lookout for trends, this SME has taken up the subject of modal shift towards river transport. “It’s a crazy idea that becomes a necessity. The implementation of low emission zones [qui vont interdire progressivement la circulation des véhicules polluants dans les grandes agglomérations, NDLR] pushes us to innovate”, summarizes Maryline Folleas.
Its river shuttle project, baptized “Multimodal intra-urban logistics” (LIUM) is the winner of the first Propulse program of the Ministry of Transport. In partnership with Voies Navigables de France (VNF), the port of Villefranche-sur-Saône operated by the CCI, Desigaud, the owner of the barges, and the players in last-mile delivery, BFT seeks to balance this new activity. A large barge carries the equivalent of 24 heavy goods vehicles, ie 934 tonnes in total. “The potential for modal shift is immense,” emphasizes Maryline Folleas.
For BFT, as for many carriers, the period is delicate. Rising fuel prices eat into margins. “We have invested in gas trucks, they are in the garage, because we cannot pass on the increase. Our shipper customers don’t want to hear about it, ”says the manager, who believes that electricity is not affordable for an SME like hers.
But from there to switch into the whole river, there is still a (big) step. “The job of mariner is very specific. We do not sail on the Saône and the Rhône as easily as we drive on the A7 motorway”, compares Maryline Folleas, whose company has diversified into services. The transporter has a truck repair workshop and a rental service.
