Boats that are part of the historic landscape
During the day, as in the evening, the Seine is filled with cruise ships, especially in the summer, creating traffic jams at the mouth of the bridges and waiting times amounting to 40 minutes. Tourists would not miss a historic cruise on France's most famous river for anything in the world. However, which operator to choose to go for a walk? This market, which has grown steadily over the past twenty years, has given rise to competition between the protagonists. Interviewed by Capital.fr, David Dajczman, Project Manager at the Paris Ports Development Department reports "Ninety companies operate 210 boats on the Seine Francilienne, most of them in Paris" . When you know that one out of four tourists buys a cruise to discover the Historic Paris on the Run of the River" To the detriment of a monument visit, the market has beautiful days ahead of him. Didier Léandri, Chairman of the River Owners Committee, explains "traffic could double if new traffic rules were put in place" .
In the collective imagination of the French, boats have always existed and are part of the Parisian heritage. However, they have only existed since 1949 and there were only 30 companies offering these services.
Les Bateaux-mouches, the oldest cruise company on the Seine
The Bateaux-Mouches are the oldest boats to sail on the Seine and owe their name to a district of Lyon where flat-bottomed boats were built in the 19th century. Moored at the bridge of the Alma, they represent for the visitors all the boats of walk of the Seine, which make the amalgam between the type of boat and the mark. Because Les Bateaux-mouches is above all a company created by Jean Bruel in 1949. After the war, he bought a boat from the 1900 Universal Exhibition to show the capital. In 1952, he built the first glass boat to which he fixed spotlights to light the banks.
Today, the Bateaux-Mouches company has a turnover of 23.9 million euros (in 2012), up to 600 employees and a fleet of 15 boats, 9 boat trips that can hold 1,000 passengers and six restaurant boats that can serve up to 400 people per evening.
A Bateau-mouche costs 7.5 million euros (says Charlotte Bruel-Matovic, the daughter of the company's creator). Most of the companies call on the Chantiers de la Haute Seine in Villeneuve-le-Roi. But for some years now, they have also been looking abroad (Romania, Poland, Holland). This is also the case with the Vedettes de Paris, which charter the Batostar, a 100% electric boat designed in China.
