ALLUVIO

Clients: Voies Navigables de France (VNF, state waterways agency), Hauts-de-France Regional Council*

Scientific partner: Neo-Eco

Location: Wambrechies, North of France

Delivered in: August 2018

In charge of inland waterways transport, VNF extracts over 100,000 m³ sediments annually in Nord and Pas-de-Calais counties. While critical to ensure vessels circulation**, it also causes substantial storage and handling issues.

After research and experimentation, two options emerged: supply the ‘sediment-sand’ to concrete and construction companies, and set up a ready-mix concrete venture within VNF. In partnership with Belgian SMEs, leaders in the field, the industrialisation of these new value chains was also meant to add income and innovation capacities to both VNF and the area.

Inecko established the venture’s production costs, revenue and profitability and assessed operational feasibility, built momentum around the project, evidenced economic outcomes which secured wide local support.

Specifically, we have:

Established and modelled production costs, revenue and profitability for 2 scenarios and 2 recycled end products (‘sediment-sand’, concrete) – 55,000 t annual capacity, EUR 0.8M turnover, 49% EBITDA margin
Sized and assessed local markets within 30 km of production site
Provided operational and strategic recommendations after interviewing and involving local/regional businesses (concrete, waterways transport/logistics, sediment dredging/management) and stakeholders (economic development agency, innovation agency, Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, university, Greater Lille Authority), including risk analysis
Quantified and interpreted economic outcomes (direct, indirect, induced – jobs, wages, revenue, value added, tax), derived local perspectives e.g. contribution to industrial employment or value addition
Assessed long-term regional development impacts (innovation capacities, skills, ecosystems) and advised on their enhancement
Assessed dwellers and local associations acceptability, as well as supply- and skills-side feasibility
Collected quantitative and qualitative primary data via 22 hours of interviews with 19 respondents, follow-up outreach, and a 32-respondents online survey

* With the European Regional Development Fund.

** 11.5 Mt annual transit, equivalent to 600,000 trucks.

And now? (as of Sept. 2026)

The Wambrechies recycling platform has been in service since 2023, with 90% of the materials it handles travelling by waterway. It supplies the Wambrechies ready-mix concrete plant, as well as the cement produced following the SEDICIM project, also led by Eqiom and supported by Inecko.