Over the past few centuries, the Oise has played an important role as an inland shipping waterway connecting the Seine (and thus Paris) with the coastal regions of northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.Robert Louis Stevenson described his canoeing trip on the Oise in his first published book,An Inland Voyage.
With the projected construction of theSeine-Nord Europe Canal, a high-capacity water transport system currently in development, the Oise will be linked atJanville, north ofCompiègne, with the high-capacityCanal Dunkerque-Escaut, east ofArleux. The Seine-Nord Europe Canal will replace the oldCanal de Saint-Quentin and the currentCanal du Nord, the capacity of which is far below standard. When the new Seine-Nord connection is complete, it will allow large vessels to transport goods from the Seine, and thus Paris and its surrounding area, to the ports ofDunkirk,Antwerp andRotterdam.
Part of the overall project consists of upgrading the river Oise itself between Creil and Compiègne, a project called MAGEO (Mise au gabarit européen de l'Oise) that was put out to public consultation in 2013. Some bends need to be eased and bridges raised to meet the requirements of aclass Vb inland waterway.[2]
River Oise and Canal latéral à l'Oise maps and information, on places, ports and moorings on the canal, by the author ofInland Waterways of France, Imray
