The Seine will be closed to maritime traffic in Paris for “around seven days” before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26, 2024, in particular for the preparations for this unprecedented event, for the first time outside a stadium, announced Friday the prefecture of the Ile-de-France region (Prif).
This closure was decided, “for the sake of transparency and to allow river stakeholders to anticipate this constraint”, indicated the PRIF. Nearly 300 cruise ships pass through the capital daily, not counting maritime transport, with significant grain traffic.
The authorities, however, continue to discuss “with the different sectors in order to find solutions to their continuation of their activities,” added the Prif.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games must take place between the Pont d’Austerlitz and the Pont d’Iéna in Paris, but the perimeter of the closure of the Seine has not yet been decided, according to a source close to the negotiations.
The closing time should in particular be used for the last rehearsals of the ceremony but also for the installation of the stands to accommodate the 100,000 paying spectators on the lower quays of the Seine, according to this source.
For the moment, the number of spectators able to attend the ceremony free of charge on the high banks of the Seine has not yet been officially set. Although the figure of 400,000 has been circulating for several months, it could however be revised downwards, according to several sources.
The Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra assured on October 26 on BFM TV that “answers” on the question of spectator gauges on the upper quays of the Seine should be provided “in November”.
The arm of the Seine which crosses the Olympic village in Seine-Saint-Denis will also be closed, but during the Olympics. Traffic will then be transferred to “a secondary arm”, explained the general director of Voies navigables de France (VNF) at the beginning of October. A closure decided “for security reasons”, argued the general director of the organizing committee (Cojo) Etienne Thobois when signing an agreement with VNF.
Possible compensation linked to these closures is discussed and carried out by Cojo, explained Etienne Thobois. “The idea is to disrupt river activities as little as possible,” he assured.
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