Europe’s leading river port

Liveaboard river cruises (river cruise boats and barge hotels)

Liveaboard river cruises, river cruise boats and barge hotels, offer cruises on the Seine from Paris to Honfleur. This sector comprises 14 cruise lines operating a fleet of 21 river cruise vessels with capacities of over 50 passengers. 

Barge hotels also travel to Paris for passenger embarkation/disembarkation or for port calls. These smaller craft, with capacities of less than 50, offer cruises on the Seine, its tributaries and canals with durations of between two and fifteen days, combined in some cases with cycle tours.

A masterplan for the development of Seine Valley liveaboard river cruises

Aiming to step up development of  Seine liveaboard river cruises and generate benefits for the local economy, HAROPA PORT has drawn up a masterplan to address a range of issues for the next ten years:

• a response to facility overload at certain cruise stops,
• provision of a network strategy for the whole of the Seine downstream from Paris in order to spread passenger reception capacity and service facilities between cruise stops,
• support for the arrival on the Seine of new  125m and 135m riverboats,
• modernisation of the existing cruise stops and provision of quayside services (e.g.  water, electricity).

Boat excursions

Boat excursions are non-liveaboard cruises with durations ranging from a few minutes to whole days spent on the Seine. This activity involves 58 lines and nearly 130 craft. 

As a category, boat excursions cover a range of activities:

• passenger transport, 
• regular river excursions,
• regular lunch or dinner cruises,
• event-related cruises.

These activities are conducted either from the home ports of the passenger lines or from shared ports of call.

A network of cruise stops along the Seine to boost the passenger transport sector

In order to facilitate passenger vessel operations, allow new market offerings to be developed, energise local areas and allow general access to the most attractive sites, HAROPA PORT’s Paris Seine port agency manages a network of 37 cruise stops in the Paris area, including  24 along the Suresnes reach of the river. These mixed-use stops reserved for economic activity relating to river transport, enable numerous lines to develop their activities across the whole of the Paris area.

“Zero emission” port calls and supply of clean energy to ships in the move towards net zero carbon

HAROPA PORT fosters and supports the greening of river fleets:

• Together with Voies Navigables de France, HAROPA PORT has installed electricity supply terminals as part of the Borne&Eau® programme. The first terminals have already been installed with VNF in Le Havre, Rouen, Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Poses-Amfreville and Gennevilliers for freight, and in the ports of Grenelle, La Tournelle, Boulogne-Legrand, Javel and La Roche-Guyon for cruises. 
  In 2024, HAROPA PORT has installed 36 additional freight bollards and one dedicated to cruise ships in the port of Javel-bas. 
  The work begun with VNF is continuing and will bring the total number of bollards for freight boats to 96, and 36 for river cruises.

   

• Seagoing cruise ships will also have the option of quayside electricity supply. The three quays dedicated to sea cruises at Le Havre will be connected to the grid by the end of 2026. Power output will be up to 13 MW on the three docks simultaneously. The cruise terminals at Honfleur and Rouen will also be provided with this infrastructure.

   

• HAROPA PORT is also involved in the H2Ships project in the Interreg North-West Europe Programme (Interreg NWE) alongside 13 other partners from 5 different countries, the aim being to develop the use of hydrogen for ship propulsion.
  To find out more about H2Ships.