The 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are expected to have a significant and prolonged impact on traffic and logistics in the city and throughout the surrounding Ile-de-France region until well into October. The Olympic games also coincide with the busy summer peak season for tourism. Consequently, increased airport congestion due to more aviation traffic in and out of the country will add to logistics constraints.
The Olympic Games are scheduled from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8. In addition to the Paris region, other cities will also host events, including the French cities of Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Nice, Marseille, Lille, and Teahupo’o in Tahiti.
Restrictions in Paris
Throughout the Olympic Games, two to four security perimeters with differing restrictions on vehicular traffic will be set up around competition venues. This, combined with an expected 1.5 to two times increase in deliveries entering Paris daily could lead to traffic congestion, delivery delays and potential reductions in the productivity of freight forwarders.
Additionally, the transport of hazardous goods will be highly regulated during the period of the Olympic Games. While the transportation of hazardous materials is generally prohibited, transporting essential hazardous materials like O2, CO2, liquid nitrogen, and acetylene to and from sites within the blue and red perimeters is permitted.
To mitigate the impact of these restrictions, freight forwarders have begun to explore other means of transportation to complete deliveries including delivery bags for bicycle and on-foot couriers. This type of transportation, however, is not feasible for large deliveries or temperature regulated items, such as food produce.
Canal and river logistics
River transportation is unlikely to offer an alternative to regional road transport as the sector will also face heavy demand during the summer months: the Seine is a major transportation artery for the grain and cereal sector, with three million tons of cereals circulating yearly on the Seine axis. One million of this will be transported during the summer harvest season, which overlaps with the Olympics. From July 4 until September 10, shipping near the Athletes’ Village along the Seine’s main arm in Saint-Denis will be redirected along the secondary branch of Gennevilliers, which will operate around the clock to account for the additional traffic.
To minimize the impact of navigation suspensions on shipping traffic, the French navigation authority (Voies navigables de France), which is responsible for the management of most of France’s inland waterways, will extend opening hours at the Seine upstream and the Marne downstream locks until midnight the day before each navigation stop. As a result, services will remain open longer at Evry, Ablon-Vigneux, Port à l’Anglais, and Saint Maurice. However, it is still likely that restrictions could lead congestion and delays along the river during the games.
Air transportation logistics
Likewise, air traffic and customs controls at airports across the country are expected to face an increase of cargo and passengers in the run-up and during the Olympics. Despite the addition of improved scanners at Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), one of the largest cargo hubs in Europe, to allow for more detailed scans of cargo moving through the airport, increased customs clearance times remain possible. A flight ban over Paris from 18:30 local time on July 26 to 00:00 local time on July 27 has been announced to facilitate the Opening Ceremony. This will force Charles de Gaulle International Airport and Paris-Orly Airport (ORY) to close for five hours from 19:00 local time onwards on July 26.
While the extent of disruptions will only become clearer as the games get closer, pharmaceutical, fresh goods, perishable goods, and e-commerce goods are among the most handled types of cargo at these airports and will likely face the biggest disruptions if the Olympics cause air freight delays in Paris. Charles de Gaulle International Airport and Paris-Orly Airport have a combined annual cargo handling capacity of around 2.11 million tons.
Businesses in Paris have already begun to prepare for the different restrictions by placing orders well in advance and scheduling fewer deliveries during the affected periods, however, those doing business in and around the city should still prepare for localized transportation backlogs and delays in the region will into late summer.
Everstream clients are receiving more detailed insights and recommendations about this risk.
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