He spends 10 months a year on the Seine, between Rouen and Paris: Andy is a river transporter
By Adrian Filoche
Published on
It is barely 8 a.m. that the morning sun of this Wednesday, March 23 is already beating against the glass cabin of Andy Fouquier, the captain of the boat Bornéo. Moored on the right bank quay of Rouen (Seine Maritime), not far from the Flaubert bridge, his barge loaded with 702 tons of malt is patiently waiting to be able to go to the port of Rouen to deliver his cargo. “You can come in two hours, by then they will be finished,” we hear on the phone. Andy is warned that the unloading that precedes it will soon be finished.
Enthroned on his seat and surrounded by a whole heap of controls, joysticks and indicator lights that a neophyte in maritime language struggles to understand and describe, Andy opened the doors of his cabin to us. Aged 56, he has been a river transporter since 1987 and sails daily on the Seine, between Rouen and Paris. “It’s a family affair passed down for 13 generations,” he insists. Of course, his three sons also know the inner workings of river transport by heart.
The transport of cereals, its main activity
Andy’s core business, “70%”, is grain transport. “I go back loaded from the south of the Paris region, I unload in Rouen and I repair loaded with materials (sand, earth, coal, etc.) towards Paris, he explains. I always avoid sailing empty. To reach Rouen from Paris by the Seine, it takes about 240 kilometers.
Autoentrepreneur, this boatman does not have a linear activity. He jumps from contract to contract, which he signs with specialized charterers. They are the ones who organize and set the conditions for loading and unloading. He simply provides him with his boat, which is 73 meters long and has a storage capacity of 1,050 tonnes: “It’s the equivalent of 35 trucks. »
“There, I have my unloading contract in Rouen and I am in the process of obtaining another one and leaving for Paris with my loaded boat. Depending on the negotiations, I sail to get to the ports, ”continues the owner of Borneo. During his stages, he sometimes sails 14 hours a day, sometimes more: “We take turns with my wife. She too is the daughter of sailors.
Visit to the captain’s cabin
The world of river transport, “it’s an environment where everyone knows each other”, assures Andy. The boatman counts about 800 independent carriers, like him. To navigate, you have to follow a training course of about 500 days of apprenticeship navigation and pass a diploma. As for the road, there is also a river code to know at your fingertips.
In his cabin, a large dashboard with a multitude of indicators. Control of lights, boat alarms (in the event of flooding, in particular), batteries, autopilot control, control panel for moving forward or backward. “And there, there is the brake pedal! », jokes the owner of the boat (gullible, the author of these lines believed in it for a moment). No brake therefore, but the possibility of gradually reducing its speed to moor the boat without a crash. “There’s a lot of inertia, so you usually have to start slowing down a few miles before you get to your destination,” Andy says.
There is an autopilot, but you always need at least one person in the cabin.
In its cabin, there is also the famous VHF radio to keep in touch with ports and other ships. There is also a kind of GPS, a real-time map where you can see the names of other nearby boats, their speed and their size. Last element, the radar, which allows navigation when visibility is disturbed, whether by mist or at night. “Sailing by radar when you can’t see the front of the boat and nothing in front of you is not easy, you need experience”, confides the captain.
2000 hours of navigation per year
If he has a pied-à-terre in Seine-et-Marne, the department where he is from, Andy spends most of his time aboard his boat, alongside his wife. “On average, it’s 10 months a year. I sail about 2000 hours each year. »
And when his boat is docked, in transit or waiting to be loaded or unloaded, there is always something to do. “Maintenance, lots of maintenance! River transporters, we are mechanics, painters, plumbers, accountants. We do everything, “says the man with many hats.
In the engine room, which is currently under construction, he stores his string of tools and carries out maintenance operations. You have to degrease the pipes, drain, pamper the 1000 horsepower engine. “A well-maintained boat can live for 100 years! Mine dates from 1966 and I bought it in 2005,” he explains. The living space has recently been refurbished. It contains everything that can be found in a “classic” home: bathroom, washing machine, equipped kitchen, living room, bedrooms, etc. “We live well on board a boat, you know”, underlines the skipper.
The consequences of the war in Ukraine
Unsurprisingly, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has a significant impact on his daily life. “The war blocked the market because the two countries are the granaries of Europe,” he says. The tense period in March when the price of wheat exploded was a phase of latency and great uncertainty. “There has been a reorganization of many markets. But it’s already starting to pick up. Orders for April have already picked up well. »
Another consequence, as for truck drivers: the explosion in the price of fuel. “The soaring price of GNR (note, non-road diesel) follows that of diesel,” he describes. To restock, he goes through stations on the Seine axis or directly orders a delivery by truck. During his last purchase, 3000 liters (its maximum storage goes up to 18,000 litres), he paid the tidy sum of 983 euros. “It went from single to double. »
“We could quadruple the number of carriers on the Seine”
9:40 a.m. It’s time for Andy to weigh anchor and leave for the port of Rouen to empty his cargo. The boatman passes through the Norman capital about three times a month. But before moving away from the quay, he wishes to insist on the need, according to him, to further develop river transport: “It emits fewer CO2 emissions compared to road transport, it does not cause traffic jams, and much larger quantities are transported! »
And the skipper concludes: “Frankly, we could quadruple the number of transporters on the Seine, and that without any difficulty and without any congestion. »
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