A huge new maritime corridor is set to become Europe’s answer to the Suez Canal, creating a new trade route between France and Northern Europe. The Seine-Nord Europe Canal, which will allow large barges to travel efficiently to countries including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, is the first new French waterway to be built in over five decades. The 66-mile-long canal is expected to be completed by 2032, connecting the Seine and Scheldt rivers, and officials hope it will reduce pressure on the A1 motorway in France, the country’s busiest trunk road.

The project will include several large structures, spanning three aqueducts and six locks, with a budget of around €4.7 billion (£4 billion). It has been dubbed the “European Suez Canal” in a nod to its unlocking of large-capacity freight transport from Paris, expected to connect the French network with 20,000km of European waterways.

Trade between France and Northern European nations is also currently frustrated by limited capacity on the narrower Canal du Nord.

The 59-mile-long canal was completed in 1965, connecting the Canal latéral à l’Oise in Pont-l’Évêque to the Sensée Canal in Arleux.

The waterway has increasingly struggled to cope with large cargo ships; however, shipping disruption and bottlenecks have caused a headache for European businesses in recent years.

Despite the urgent need for an alternative route and the Seine-Norde project getting the green light in 2003, funding and geographical disagreements have seen its construction repeatedly delayed.

Progress was eventually made in 2020, following a final financing agreement in 2019, with construction between the Oise River at Compiègne and the Dunkirk-Scheldt Canal, east of Arleux, in full swing by late 2022.

Analysts have suggested the infrastructure could take up to a million heavy goods vehicles off France’s roads each year.

Nicolas Ledoux, CEO of consultancy Arcadis France, which is leading the project, told Euro News: “The Seine-Nord Europe Canal will not only enable a modal shift from the roadway to the river but will also create added economic, logistical, agricultural and climatic value for the territories it crosses through.

“We are very proud to help promote river transport, a high-performing, environmentally friendly and economical mode of transport that responds to the challenge of energy transition.”