On June 20 in Marseille, the first test cruise takes place after seventeen months of activities due to the health crisis.
This is news that rejoices professionals in the sector, but which also raises fears on the environmental level.
A break of unprecedented length. For seventeen months, no cruise line has set foot in Marseille. The port of Marseille's flagship activity, cruises had been completely stopped due to the health crisis. But this Sunday, the mastodons of the seas will resume service, fifteen days earlier than the date initially planned, as part of an experiment authorized by the prefect of Bouches-du-Rhône Christophe Mirmand.
“This is an administrative recovery, before the real first stopovers on July 4,” explains Jean-François Suhas, pilot of the port of Marseille Fos and president of the Cruise Club.
We will conduct two test cruises with the shipowner MSC, on June 20 and 27.
There will be 450 people on board for the first time, and a thousand thereafter.
A PCR test must be carried out 72 hours before boarding.
An antigen test will also be performed on the terminal.
Passengers will have to undergo a third test mid-cruise, three days after departure, and a final one before return.
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Two thousand jobs
A news which is not without delighting this professional of this sector.
“In Marseille, no less than 2,000 jobs depend directly on the liners,” he recalls.
Despite state aid, when you are a non-essential person, it is pretty tough.
People want to resume and work normally.
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This restart of an activity with exponential growth before the health crisis in Marseille, however, raised concerns, in particular about its environmental consequences.
According to AtmoSud, emissions of nitrogen dioxide from maritime origin exceeded for the first time in 2018 in the metropolis of Aix-Marseille those from road.
"Mass tourism is not a solution for Marseille"
"We can not consider that after confinement, it must start again as in the year 40, pleads Saïd Ahamada, LREM deputy for the seventh district of Bouches-du-Rhône, in the northern districts of Marseille.
This activity generates pollution, not only environmental, but also visual.
“A position shared by the new left-wing majority at Marseille town hall, in total opposition to what Jean-Claude Gaudin carried on the subject.
"We do not want to start again in a race for numbers, in which the Holy Grail is to reach the objective of two million annual visitors, warns Laurent Lhardit, assistant to Benoît Payan in charge of the economy.
There needs to be a qualitative rather than a quantitative redeployment.
Mass tourism is not a solution for Marseille.
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Quotas ?
In a message addressed to the large seaport of Marseille, Saïd Ahamada asks to "regulate the resumption of cruise activity to avoid a peak in pollution this summer". And to clarify: “This must result in a limited number of liners hosted in the port of Marseille during the tourist season. "" We must anticipate the recovery today, in relation to the population, rather than taking a position when there is a peak of five or six boats. », Explains Saïd Ahamada.
Words that have the gift of annoying Jean-François Suhas.
“The recovery will be quite weak,” he recalls.
We will have 41 stopovers between July and August, where we usually have around 60.
We are talking about limitation when we will have two stopovers per week, against two to three per day before the Covid-19 crisis.
Soon letters of apology will be written to enter the port.
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“We would like to avoid any solution that involves constraint, tempers Laurent Lhardit.
As the recovery will be gradual, this leaves us time to build a constructive dialogue with the various players.
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Contacted, the chairman of the management board of the large seaport of Marseille-Fos was not able to respond to our requests at the time of writing.
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