Sea–river shipping competitiveness and its geographical market area for the Rhône–Saône corridor

The concept of sea–river shipping is simple: a single vessel sails both coastal and inland waters. Thus, seaport transhipment is avoided resulting in lower transport costs. However, this concept is limited to certain transport waterways. On the Rhône–Saône corridor, sea–river shipping can directly connect inland ports with Mediterranean seaports. The absence of transhipment raises the issue of the competition/complementarity between sea–river shipping and a transport chain associating inland and maritime transport. Sea–river vessels must abide by certain specifications, such as draught, height and length, all related to the navigational restrictions on rivers and canals. The question is: at what threshold, in terms of tonnage, are sea–river vessels more efficient than “barge + short-sea” transport service? After addressing this question, we determine, for different ports of the Rhône–Saône corridor, the competitive navigational area of sea–river shipping.