This preparation phase is similar to a marathon, which will end in a sprint. For the 36 professional federations concerned (transport, construction, hotel and catering, wholesale, retail and mass distribution, etc.), the close work with the State, local authorities and the Olympic Organising Committee may have started in March 2023, but not everything was clarified three months before the event, with the State proceeding in successive waves of measures. “This inevitably created stress. The longer we wait, the greater the risk of congestion,” says Antoine Gautier, the logistics director of the Elis group, who is leading a working group within the professional association of shippers (AUTF), which includes L’Oréal, Cemex, Ferrero, Air Liquide, Transcéréales, etc. For its part, TLF, the transport and logistics federation, has had to update its special Olympic practical guide several times. At the beginning of May, for example, the rules relating to hazardous materials were not yet known.
Exemptions and QR codes
The announcement of the spatial filtering principle only dates back to the beginning of the year. During the Olympic and Paralympic Games, in the blue zones around major sites (Saint-Denis, Trocadéro, Invalides, Versailles, etc.), it will be better to have the name of a recipient on your receipt. There is no obligation, but everything is done to chase away unnecessary flows. “Without delivery planned in the blue zone, we almost certainly risk a fine of 135 euros,” has integrated Christian Rose, the environment, transport and logistics manager of the Confederation of French wholesalers. As for the red zone, in the direct vicinity of the events, watch out! It rhymes with hypersecurity. “Traffic will be prohibited there unless there is an exemption, warns the police headquarters. Entering it will require a specific QR code allowing the control of the vehicle and the driver, which we will have issued in advance.” Fight against the risk of terrorism requires it.
We therefore understand the number one principle of chargers: “The less I move, the better I feel,” as David Blondelle, Air Liquide’s hazardous materials transportation safety advisor, puts it. Planning non-crucial flows before the events or postponing them afterward to focus on the essentials is common sense. “We will have to continue to supply hospitals with oxygen, cafes with carbon dioxide, taking into account the bans at certain times, the possibility of customers to stock up or not, to receive or not at night,” develops David Blondelle. On the large-scale distribution side, in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), two Carrefour logisticians, ID Logistics and Stef, will have to deal with the proximity of a temporary depot accommodating the 900 official buses, which will have priority to join the A1, one of the axes included in the 180 kilometers of reserved lanes.
Some actors must also strengthen their usual capacities. Paris 2024 will mean 13 to 14 million people who, for a limited period, will live, sleep, eat, consume, the actors emphasize. Life will not stop. “We expect 5% more activity due to the Olympics,” anticipates DHL Express, which usually delivers 1 million parcels per month in the Paris region during the summer. Although smaller in scale, the Paralympic Games are causing more anxiety. Straddling the start of the school year, a period of strong recovery in everyday consumption, they could cause a real mess.
Tools still used after the Olympics
A laundry and clothing rental company, with clients including hospitals, hotels and restaurants, food shops, and company headquarters, Elis is in the front row. It must ensure the fluidity of a circular pattern between thousands of customers and around fifteen cleaning plants and depots around Paris. A great exercise! The past is useful. The subject of a report, the logistics of the London 2012 Olympic Games has fueled the theoretical thinking of supply chain stakeholders. And the extraordinary Covid-19 period has provided the opportunity for a fantastic training exercise. “Since the pandemic, I believe that carriers, but also customers, have acquired a great capacity to adapt to complicated situations,” Antoine Gautier is pleased.
To streamline operations as much as possible, under the impetus of the Ministry of Transport, the logistics chain has equipped itself with its own digital tools, developed as part of InTerLUD+, a program funded by the government’s energy saving certificates system. Activated on April 26, the Joptimiz digital portal groups together four applications: one to obtain a blue zone QR code (Cirqliz), another to access an interactive map (Vizualiz), a third to plot a route integrating all traffic restrictions (Itineriz), and a last one to manage the use of delivery places (Numeriz). Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that the precautions taken will thwart cyberattacks. Most of these tools will have a life after the Olympics. “They will be useful, for example, for accessing restricted traffic areas. This event will have served as an accelerator for urban logistics,” appreciates Jean-André Lasserre, co-director of the IntTerLuD+ program.
On the Seine, the cereal growers’ slalom
For a cereal producer like InVivo, crossing Paris via the Seine is a challenge. Navigation will be prohibited one week before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, then limited to the 2 p.m. – 9 p.m. time slot on the days of events on the river. “It is difficult to postpone the harvests, as we have been suggested, says ironically Jean-François Lépy, the general director of Soufflet Négoce, an entity of the group. In July and August, 800,000 to 900,000 tonnes pass through the Seine. Grains from Seine-et-Marne, Aube, Loiret… to reach Rouen (Seine-Maritime). Road and rail freight were ruled out, as rail transfer required two years of preparation. The rules that provided for fifteen days of closure of the Seine changed at the last moment. “The authorities have admitted that economic activity cannot be disrupted to this extent,” reacts Jean-François Lépy. Downstream and upstream of Paris, Voies navigables de France and Haropa Port have organized storage areas allowing around a hundred boats to wait. “The key is to have a coordinator to manage the contingencies,” the manager emphasizes. At the beginning of May, there was still one point of concern: the restricted navigation under the Sully bridge, hit in February by a riverboat. Everyone was waiting for the City of Paris, owner of the structure, to speed up the repairs.
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Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
