History

Economy

Up to the Seventy's

The Canal du Midi and the Canal Lateral to the Garonne 's main purpose was to open up economic prospects by means of merchandises transports.

Today, only four barges of 250 tonnes capacity each, transports the 53000 tonnes of merchandise navigating on the Canal Lateral a la Garonne: goods ranges from cereals to oil.

Following the Freycinet's gauge plan works the european navigation traffic was made possible with locks allowing passage of up to 40 metre barges.

Goods transportation declined regularly since 1989 on the Canal du Midi.The last transport of wine from Narbonne to Bordeaux was evaluated at 1 000 tonnes in 1989.

Developement since 1970

Two new activities :

• Water transport for agriculture irrigation :

Irrigation water : The Canal des Deux-Mers irrigates close to 40 000 ha of agricultural land. Because of it, real estate prices for an hectare, ranges from 250 to 550 €. The irrigated land economic impact is estimated to be worth 12 M.€.

• Waterway Tourism

The principal activity in waterway tourism is boats rental.
Close to 1000 boats each year navigate on the Canal des Deux- Mers and only about 50 of them are sea boats. From Fonserannes to Portiragnes 9000 crossings yearly are recorded.
13 boats rental compagnies share the market of the 450 house-boats fleet lodging from 4 to 12 passengers.

Passenger boat with a pilot and a crew offers various itinaries : Barge-hotel, with full boarding and all prestations included. Barge-Restaurant, while you eat enjoying a cruise. Bateau promenade, with comfortable seats and panoramic view. Dormitory barge, for enterprise and associative tourists groups.

Over the past ten years , waterways tourism has developed considerably.

From 12 hire boats in 1970, the tourism fleet today has developed to more than 450 hire boats and has a yearly staff of 500 employees. The economic growth of this industry is about 26 000 000 € per year. Riverside villages and towns have a 10 to 60% rise in their economy because of the waterways tourism.

The future of the Canal of the Two Seas

Many swiss, british and germans investors are attracted by the multiple assets of the Canal du Midi

The State, the regions and the departments financed studies on the Canal's future.
After the Revel assizes a charter called the White Book was printed.

In the past five years a 39 million € budget has been given by the three regions crossed by the Canal des Deux-Mers for its rehabilitation (Aquitaine, Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrenees)

The Voies Navigable de France, (VNF) a public industrial and trade company has the management,operating and upkeep of the Canal des Deux-Mers.
In France, waterways tourism has developed considerably.
Because of the beautiful sceneries with the shade of the 200 000 planted trees , the lovely climate or the gastronomy, the regions and departments crossed by the Canal attract many visitors in search of a great place to spend some happy hours away from the rush and stress of every day life...