A river tanker on the Seine and Rhone is the standard

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By Marek Grzybowski

Another liquid cargo barge has joined the fleet of Compagnie Fluviale de Transport (CFT), a subsidiary of Sogestran Group. The christening ceremony took place on Wednesday, September 11, at the headquarters of CFT Mahieu in Le Havre, in the presence of the ship’s godmother and godfather from Shell: Alina Bolocan and Wahib Bensadia.

From left to right: Pascal Girardet – CEO of the Sogestran group; Wahib Bensadia – Production Planning Coordinator at Shell – godfather of Aurisse; Matthieu Blanc – River Business Manager at the Sogestran group; Alina Bolocan – Production & Logistics Scheduling Manager at Shell – godmother of Aurisse; Sébastien Somers – Director of CFT Seine et Mahieu
Source: CFT

The tanker barge Aurisse has joined the fleet of Compagnie Fluviale de Transport. The vessel is to sail on the Seine and transport refinery products between Le Havre and Nanterre, on behalf of Shell. This is another unit, previously three similar ships were given names in May this year. The ceremonies took place on the Rhône and the Albe, Lombarde and Vésine sailed out onto the river. While navigation on the rivers of Western Europe remains at a fairly good level, in Poland it is still closing.

Aurisse is an innovative project that reflects the evolution of the CFT fleet. The strategy of change consists in replacing the outdated model based on the use of pushers with self-propelled vessels. It is emphasized that the new design is more efficient in terms of energy savings. A barge with a new type of drive has a significantly smaller negative impact on the river environment than an old type of pusher.
“The launch of Aurisse in the Seine basin was made possible thanks to a strong partnership with our customer, built on mutual trust and the ability of our teams to offer a competitive logistics solution that meets their operational and environmental expectations,” said Sébastien Somers, Director of CFT Seine et Matieu, during the christening ceremony.

Collaborative barge
Somers stressed that the new tanker barge is the result of collaboration between the two companies’ ship and shore teams. This led to the development of “an efficient self-propelled barge that closely meets the specific needs of the contractor, including loading up to five different grades of refined products”.

Shell and CFT have been business partners for more than 10 years. Until now, CFT’s barges have mainly transported refined products between Le Havre and Nanterre using pusher/barge combinations, supplemented by other vessels from the fleet during periods of peak demand, the operator said. Years of cooperation and the need to modernise the fleet meant that the two partners decided to develop their cooperation together.

The decision was made to change the technology of transporting refined products and introduce an innovative vessel into service. The choice of a powered barge was made for several reasons. – Speed: the self-propelled barge is faster than a pusher/barge convoy (45 hours versus 60 hours per journey), which allows the Aurisse to make three rotations in two weeks (instead of two), explains the shipowner.

The new barge will allow for the optimisation of Shell’s supply chain. This is a consequence of the increased rotation frequency. This allows for better management of storage capacity in the Nanterre depot and significantly increases annual delivery capacity.

The barge’s availability and availability are increased. Since the barge will be at the disposal of Shell’s refinery and distribution network, it can adapt to the production schedule and customer needs. It is expected that it will be possible to load from port to ship in the port of Le Havre or from various storage tanks located in the region. The operator has given itself several months to adapt the tanker barge’s operational activity to CFT and Shell standards.
The Aurisse barge previously operated in the ARA zone. It was purchased by CFT and then maintained, cleaned and modernized to meet the standards of the Compagnie and Sogestran Group. Improvements were made to strictly meet the customer’s QHSE requirements and improve the living conditions of the crew on board.

– The inland tanker sector in the Antwerp-Rotterdam-Amsterdam (ARA)-Rhine region has the newest and most modern tank barge operating in inland navigation – report Edwin van Hassel, Yasmine Rashed in the article “Analyzing the tank barge market in the ARA – Rhine region” published in “Case Studies on Transport Policy”.

This sector is characterized by a dynamic and volatile market on both the demand and supply side. On the supply side, the market is dynamic with many new and large tank barges. In addition, the overall tanker barge market is characterized by high volatility on the supply side (due to the fluctuations in the water level in the Rhine). On the demand side, demand comes from two main sub-sectors. The first is the refining sector (crude oil, fuels and fuel derivatives), and the second is the chemical sector, explain Hassel and Rashed.

The fleet in the business model
The new crew boarded the Aurisse immediately upon arrival in Le Havre on 9 January 2024 to familiarise themselves with the vessel. They carried out maintenance and improvements, explaining all the control panels in the wheelhouse, on deck and in the engine room. In collaboration with the CFT Mahieu onshore teams, they formalised the operational and QHSE procedures. Thanks to the commitment to adapting the barge to the operation, the first commercial operation took place on 15 March 2024 and was a great success in all expected dimensions.
The Aurisse, like the three self-propelled barges that joined the CFT fleet in the Rhône in May, reflects the consistent reorientation of the operational activity of Compagnie Fluviale de Transport. Particular emphasis is placed on the modification of the business model to the needs of the customer and the adaptation of the fleet to operate in accordance with environmental requirements.
It is emphasised that the self-propelled barge is inherently more energy-efficient. The shape of its hull and the use of an optimised engine significantly reduce fuel consumption. The inland tanker is 110 m long and 11.40 m wide. The barge’s tanks have a capacity of 3,600 m3. The vessel has 10 tanks, which allows it to carry 5 different types of petroleum products.
The vessel was named in accordance with the CFT tradition of naming self-propelled barges for the transport of liquid bulk cargo after winds. Compagnie Fluviale de Transport is a leading French company engaged in the inland transport of industrial goods. It operates on the Seine, Rhône, Loire, Rhine and Danube. CFT, a subsidiary of the family-owned Sogestran Group, employs around 300 people. These are both crews and employees serving the vessels in the onshore offices.

There were three barges
For some time now, CFT’s fleet has included tankers dedicated to sailing on the Rhône between Lyon and Marseille. They are equipped to transport biofuels, fuels, petrol bases and methanol. The barges were booked for customers or products on the basis of long-term contracts.

The christening took place at the CFT Rhône-Saône headquarters in Loire-Sur-Rhône, in the industrial port area of ​​the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, in the presence of three godmothers: Frédérique Bourgeois of Voies Navigables de France, Irène Heric of Adisseo and Elise Thomazo of Total Energies. The barges were named in line with the company’s tradition: naming self-propelled vessels for the transport of liquid bulk cargoes after winds.
– These three investments perfectly illustrate the raison d’être of the Sogestran group. It is the safe transport of our customers’ goods – emphasizes Matthieu Blanc, Director of River Operations at the Sogestran Group, noting that the company can develop its river business because it operates “as the French leader in river transport of industrial goods and has a strong position in river transport in France and abroad”.
Blanc explains that “The investments in the three self-propelled vessels are the result of the trust-based relationships we have with our customers, a trust that we have built day after day thanks to the high quality of our teams”.
– We would like to thank our partners, Voies Navigables de France and Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, for their support: we received assistance under the PAMI VNF program and the 5Rhône CNR plan – said Blanc.
The operator spent several months adapting each tanker to the standards of the company and its customers. Each vessel was purchased in Northern Europe and transported by semi-submersible vessel to Fos-Sur-Mer. In Loire-Sur-Rhône, they were modernised, cleaned, refurbished and brought into line with the standards of the company, its customers and the requirements of sailing in the Rhône region (in terms of HSE, technical aspects, as well as crew comfort on board and ergonomics).

 

Photo: CFT