Le transport fluvial, un mode très ancien devenu moderne

Inland schipping : an old transport mode become modern

Directeur Général honoraire de la Compagnie Nationale du Rhône

Abstract

Inland shipping is, with the horse and the donkey. the oldest transport mode used by mankind. But, unlike these animals, its evolution has been important. Its modern form - large-scale ships carrying 3000 to 5000 tonnes of cargo - can bring an important contribution to contemporary economy. The French waterway network was the best in Europe at the beginning of the XX^th century, but France is now late in that evolution and has no reallarge-scale network at the present time, unlike Germany, where inland shipping represents 20 % of the traffic. This situation is all the more regrettable since inland shipping is the least polluting, the most energy saving, the most silent and the safest of all transport modes.