The wreck of a beached yacht dismantled in Saint-Tropez -

20 Minutes

  • "Ipsum"

    is a thirty-meter yacht stranded since May 2019 in Saint-Tropez, and abandoned by its insolvent owner. 

  • The State has therefore taken over and is organizing its dismantling from Monday. 

  • The phenomenon is growing according to the maritime prefecture of Méditerannée.

A huge carcass, on the side, which has been lying since May 2019 in the Mediterranean.

For five years, the “Ipsum”

,

a 30-meter yacht, has been at anchor for nearly five years in the harbor of Saint-Tropez, rented for events or as a hotel motionless on the water.

On May 5, 2019, on a windy night, the yacht went adrift and collided with another after strong gusts of wind, before running aground at the entrance to Saint-Tropez, with ten people on board happily healthy and saved.

Since then, there has remained the delicate question of the fate of this ship which, once aground, represents a real environmental threat, if only for the Posidonia meadows on which it shattered.

But since 2019, the situation had stalled, and the ship at the heart of a standoff between the state and its owner.

An insolvent owner

"As we were in the maritime space, a first formal notice had been sent to the owner, under the emergency, on May 9, 2019, by the departmental direction of the territories and the sea (DDTM) of the Var, indicates Eric Lefebvre, deputy director of the DDTM of Var.

"

“The owner was confronted with his responsibilities very quickly,” continues Thierry Duchesne, Commissioner General Thierry Duchesne, deputy to the direction of State action at sea within the maritime prefecture of the Mediterranean.

He realized that his insurance did not cover the removal of the vessel and did not have the means to do so.

"

Nearly 150,000 euros disbursed by the State

A second procedure with a formal notice resulted in the expropriation of this vessel for the benefit of the State, while the owner was sentenced on December 30 by the administrative court to a 1,500 euros fine and 500 euros penalty by day of occupation.

Result: it will therefore be the State which will take charge of the complex dismantling of this yacht, which will start on Monday for ten days.

“The case was serious enough, because the boat is over thirty meters, to find a solution, continues Thierry Duchesne.

Today, it is nearly 150,000 euros that the State will have to pay to remove this ship.

This is not normal for the taxpayer.

We have just sent two invoices to the owner of this vessel of nearly 20,000 euros.

Passivity is not a solution.

I appeal to everyone's responsibility on this subject.

"

A growing problem

According to Thierry Duchesne, the number of abandoned ships like this one continues to grow in the region, to the point of worrying the authorities.

““ The Ipsum ”is an important and emblematic wreck which illustrates well a difficulty we have in the Mediterranean.

Currently, we have close to 180 wrecks that are stranded.

This problem is growing because the pleasure craft fleet is aging, with older owners, ships that are old and difficult to sell.

Sometimes the owners do not have the means to maintain their vessel and therefore to put it in a port.

They therefore tend to put it at anchor.

"

In an attempt to stem the phenomenon, the maritime prefecture therefore plans to regulate the anchoring of yachts and other vessels in the Mediterranean.

"A boat like" Ipsum "at anchor for five years and which acts as Airbnb, this is not normal", annoys Thierry Duchesne.

A next decree could soon be taken to limit the duration of the anchorage to a few days in the Mediterranean.

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  • Video

  • Yacht

  • Shipwreck

  • Saint Tropez