Seine–Nord Europe Canal

The Seine–Nord Europe Canal (French: canal Seine-Nord Europe, pronounced [kanal sɛn nɔʁ øʁɔp]) is a planned high-capacity (grand gabarit) canal in France that would link the Oise River at Compiègne with the Dunkirk-Scheldt Canal, east of Arleux. It is the French part of a proposed Seine-Scheldt canal that would ultimately connect the Rhine and Seine basins inland. The stated objective is to expand trade flows in a fuel-efficient and ecologically friendly manner between the Seine basin and Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, while reducing saturation on the A1 motorway in France and reducing the CO₂ emissions in the transport sector within this corridor. Completion is expected in 2030.

The canal will be the French section of the Seine-Scheldt European waterway, which includes further major investments on the Dunkirk-Scheldt Canal, on the river Lys/Leie in Flanders and on the waterways in Wallonia. It will run 107 kilometres (66 mi) from just north of Compiègne, to the Dunkirk-Scheldt Canal, crossing the regions of Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

The 107-kilometre-long (66 mi) canal will connect the Seine and Scheldt rivers and facilitate inland water transport. When the new Seine-Nord connection is ready, it will allow large vessels to transport goods between the Seine (and the Paris area) and the ports of Dunkerque, Antwerp, and Rotterdam, or further into Europe. The canal will replace the Canal de Saint-Quentin and the current Canal du Nord, increasing maximum barge capacity from 650 to 4400 tonnes.

The canal will include several large structures, including six locks and three aqueducts: two over the A29 and A26 motorways, and one 1330 metres long over the Somme. The project's budget will be €4.7 billion, financed by the European Union, the French government, the Hauts-de-France and Île-de-France regions and the départements Oise, Somme, Pas-de-Calais and Nord.

The project was called into question after a change of Government in July 2012, not per se but for its cost and the principle of a public-private partnership (PPP) which, after the 2008 financial crisis, was found to be unworkable. Significant cost reductions were deemed possible, and 'reconfiguration' of the project led to use of the line of the existing Canal du Nord over a length of about 8 km (5 mi), lowering the summit level by 18.50 metres and thus eliminating one lock. Engineers were selected for the project in June 2015.

On 21 April 2016, an ordonnance was approved by the president of France, authorizing the construction of the canal and creating the Société du Canal Seine-Nord Europe to manage the project.