At Forwardis, we like the month of June for two reasons. Of course, it marks the beginning of summer but it is also the anniversary of the creation of Fluvialis, an innovative river transport offer that provides real solutions to bulk and grain industry players. Forwardis has been piloting this beautiful project for a year.

Thanks to our insured itineraries to the Seine valley (Rouen, Lillebonne) and Dunkerque from Ile-de-France, Champagne, or North Burgundy, and to a planned shuttle system, Fluvialis’ offer allows our customers to benefit from a stable service without any bad surprises.

The river puzzle

The river is an ecological and practical means of transportation that allows tons of goods to be transported in Europe. If several bulk industries, such as wood, aggregate, sand, fertilizer, and of course grain, are seduced by this mode of transport, they are however in difficulty when it comes to finding visibility and availability on the transport schedule. Thanks to its partnerships with mariners, Forwardis offers today a very competent and flexible service, with a large fleet of boats from 250 to 2,500 tons according to the needs of our customers and the constraints of waterways.

The Fluvialis solution

“The volatility of the prices of boatmen according to the season is no longer a thorn in the side of our customers,” reveals Gregory Michaux, head of the Forwardis division.

It is also to respond to this problem that we decided a year ago to create this network of river shuttles with guaranteed prices throughout the year.

In addition, our double-deck vessels can transport two batches or reconcile transport for two different customers and again optimize transport costs. The sanitary safety of grain cargoes is also a sine qua non condition of our service proposal since we only select certified mariners, such as Forwardis, GMP+.

A year of success and evolutions to come

No false modesty: this first year is a success for Fluvialis. More than 600,000 tons of goods have been transported via the network (including 450,000 tons of cereals) and the number of customers is increasing every month. The service to Antwerp in Belgium has just been opened and we intend to develop our traffic even further north of Europe and on the Rhone. We are proud to participate in the development of this alternative mode of transport, which echoes our ecological commitments. The coming year has many surprises in store for us that we will share with our customers. So, see you next year!