“The Mediterranean is slowly dying, but the lobbyists cruisesthe giants want to keep desecrating it. To: MarcelWhether they want it or not, we will continue the struggle.”. Benoit Payan seems determined to bury the hatchet after his controversial motion. Marseille’s elected official tweeted this Tuesday, August 2nd, repeating remarks made two weeks ago.
On July 21, the mayor of Marseille (elected in 2020 under the label Le Printemps marseillais, a left-wing bloc) published a text on the city’s official website with the title “Stop marine pollution in the Mediterranean”. He regretted it “Pollution levels in port cities [qui ne sont] more acceptable” and condemned “Cruise ships that are dirty, that spew their smoke on our shores with impunity.”
“These boats are floating cities that continue to emit as much pollution as a million cars.” assessed the elected official, calling to maintain international standards”strict and ambitiousare implemented. And, first of all, that the district head forbids “The Most Polluting Boats” a stop in France’s second largest city, at the height of pollution.
1.8 million passengers per year
To understand this request, we need to go back a little. In 2018, France’s second city’s emissions of marine nitrogen oxides, 20% of which are caused by cruise ships, surpassed road emissions for the first time, according to the regional quality observatory. air AtmoSud: In 2019, 1.8 million passengers met in this area at the leading French port, which registered 497 stops, according to the Marseille Provence Cruise Club.
If the previous city hall supported the activities of cruise passengers, in 2020 everything changes with the new building of the city hall. Who begins his term of office by reducing the annual subsidy of several tens of thousands of euros to the powerful Marseille tourist club,a ghetto where lobbies had pride of place”, according to Laurent Lhardit, MP for tourism in Marseille. The following year, the municipality simply canceled its membership due to a “disagreement on tourism strategy”.
One might think that a blockade and a general cessation of navigation would have calmed the situation, on the contrary, disastrous for the giants of the seas in terms of images, the epidemic has not been neutral in terms of pollution. According to Atmosud, the impact on the boats, which were stuck at the pier but had to maintain their electrical activity for the ship’s crew, was catastrophic. In June 2022, tensions reached their peak in Marseille when two giants of the seas, The miracle of the seas and MSC Orchestra try to access the port. Activists on the boat of the Stop Cruises group blocked their entrance. They explain their gesture in a Twitter thread where they condemn the “deadly pastime” and not as beneficial to the local economy as one might think.. An opinion shared by Laurent Lharditt, who deplores the reporter Figaro : “Poor economic benefits because stops are too short and most cruise passengers stay on board. The stage of Marseille must stop being seen by shipowners as a balcony with an unobstructed view of the city.”
The straw that caused the Mediterranean to overflow. On July 18, when the city was put on alert 2 for ozone layer pollution, the thick cloud escaped Brave lady, a cruise ship at the pier, as our correspondent informs us. Black smoke comes out of it wiper, this filter is installed in the chimneys of ships, which reduces sulfur emissions, but also includes the discharge of washing water to the shore. For this reason, from January 1, 2022, their use in the port and within 3 nautical miles has been prohibited by French legislation.
As Pierre Saint-Gilles explains Figaro, citing Jean-Francois Souchas, president of the Foss Development Board of the Port of Marseille, the ship would have consciously chosen to activate this mechanism that day, despite the mayor’s accusations. The image of this black cloud as the city suffocated shocked the people of Marseille and added fuel to the already burning fire.
Sulfur abatement and docking of ships
But then what does the mayor of Marseille want? In his letter, he calls on the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN body responsible for maritime transport and marine pollution management, to take new measures to reduce sulfur emissions from ships. Remember that the UN body in June created a SECA zone (“sulphur oxide emission control zone”) in the Mediterranean Sea, where the maximum sulfur content of fuel is set. It’s not enough for a city councilor who wants a second zone, called the ECA, to strictly regulate the remaining pollutant emissions, and nitrogen oxides in particular. The event being studied from September 2020 is planned to be implemented until 2025. Judge Benoit Payan: too late.
Since its publication, his petition has garnered 48,000 signatures and generated a lot of reactions in the cruise passenger camp. On the form, first, CLIA president Erminio Esena, wondering, for example, from our colleagues. Give Mag instead of taking action by the mayor “starting a demand letter”. Above all, on merit, the field highlights the efforts made in recent years. Local actors in the sector, such as the non-governmental organization Grand Port maritime de Marseille, which manages and operates the port, immediately sent a letter to the municipality to remind them of the actions already taken; the acquisition of drones to distinguish between the most polluting ships and a project to connect ships to electricity on ships to meet all their vital energy needs, as is already the case in other European ports such as Southampton.
This project, called “Zero Smoke Stop”, will make it possible to avoid starting engines while ships are at berth. The mayor of Marseille says he is ready to invest 10 million euros (out of a total of 30). A study is also being conducted to accurately measure the impact of the presence of boats on the health of the residents of the port.
Amid criticism, the fast-changing sector is striving to do better. Specifically, building new boats with “clean” fuels such as liquefied natural gas (see our article on the recent Costa). Or choosing smaller units that necessarily have less impact. To improve relations with local residents, the Port of Marseille in turn launched “City-Port Dialogues” in 2019. What can buy social peace in Marseille? During his last visit in July, Minister of Transport Clement Bohn made a great exercise “at the same time”.I don’t want to oppose the activity. we can combine development with ecological demand, which will be greater in the coming years.“.
Source: Le Figaro
