ALLUVIO

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

Scientific partner: Neo-Eco

Location: Wambrechies, North of France

Delivered in: August 2018

VNF, state agency in charge of inland waterways transport, 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, 2 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 socio-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): 49% EBITDA margin, EUR 0.8M turnover, 55,000 t annual capacity
Sized and assessed local markets within 30kms of production site
Provided operational and strategic recommendations after interviewing and involving regional businesses, off-takers, stakeholders, including risk analysis
Quantified and interpreted socio-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 18 interviews, 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.