In 1879 the Minister of Transport, Charles de Freycinet, put in place a vast programme to modernise the French transport system. He developed a network of navigable waterways able to be used by barges of up to 38.5 meters long and which could carry 280 to 350 tonnes. Guilde is a typical example of a ‘Freycinet barge’. The network of inland waterways was at the height of its development; it grew from 1,450 kilometres to 4,739 kilometres in twenty years.