The Seine may determine athletes’ success at the Paris Olympics

“I was born on a boat,” says Jacky Delannoy, a 66-year-old captain, standing on the bridge of a container ship moored to the Paris dock. “My Mum couldn’t get ashore in time, so I was born aboard.” The fourth generation of bargemen in his family, Mr Delannoy is at the helm of a 135-metre-long container ship, longer than a football pitch. Part of a fleet belonging to Sogestran, a logistics firm, it journeys each day up and down the Seine between Paris and Le Havre, a port on the Channel coast. Heading downstream, the ship’s hotch-potch containers carry cars, cement, champagne, furniture, wine and more.