Calls mount for a ban on cruise ships to French cities, as protests against the massive ships gain momentum.
“We’re the iceberg,” declared a banner in Finistère (Brittany) in July, as environmental activists stopped a cruise ship entering a local port.
The Stop Croisières BZH and Extinction Rebellion groups took to the sea in small boats from the town of Concarneau, blocking the passage of a luxury cruise ship named the Seven Seas Voyager.
The ship had been due to dock at the port, where its passengers were scheduled to disembark to explore the town.
One protester told regional newspaper Ouest France: “No cruise liners called at Concarneau today. For us, that’s a success because we’re fighting against luxury cruise ships. We think they’re an ecological absurdity and a symbol of social inequality.”
Read more: Cruise passengers booed by environmentalists on arrival in Brittany
Opposition in several French cities
Mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, recently announced he wants to stop cruise ships mooring in the city centre.
However, the mayor of Bordeaux is not actually allowed to make decisions about cruise ships that respect the legal guidelines, as the Grand port maritime is the one with final control.
They are working together in order to achieve two objectives: restricting the maximum number of cruises to stop in Bordeaux to forty and moving the mooring area downstream of the Chaban-Delmas bridge, which would enable ships to connect to the electricity grid and therefore cut off their polluting motors.
A similar plan is also being put in place in le Havre, where construction of a new port terminal has started which will allow up to three cruise ships to plug into the electric grid when docked, totalling a €32 million investment.
Ecologists oppose cruise ships for their considerable amounts of pollution, disturbing the underwater species and generally harming the biodiversity. They also bothers residents, by being loud and emitting black smoke.
In 2022, a cruise ship carrying 350 American passengers was ordered to leave the port of Nice for producing noise above 60 decibels and emitting large black clouds, which caused repeated complaints from residents.
Earlier this year, elected ecologists called for a suspension of all cruise ships to the Nice port and the Villefranche-sur-mer bay for environmental reasons, and for the limited economic benefits that cruise passengers bring.
Christophe Trojani, mayor of Villefranche-sur-mer, strongly opposed the ecologists and claims to have found a balance between environmental protection and economy and more and more cruise ships are docking in the Villefranche-sur-mer bay every year. This does not look like slowing down any time soon.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, has stated in a municipal meeting that he “cannot stand seeing huge cruise ships in the bay of Villefranche, these massive floating buildings with their effects on overtourism, pollution, etc.” and that he will speak to Mr Trojani about it.
However, his critics believe that he is too soft on cruise ships in his actions.
The struggle in Marseille
Residents’ associations in Marseille have been battling for years against cruise ships, and have now split into two groups, one more radical than the other, to address the issue.
Marie Prost-Coletta is a member of the Cap au Nord Marseille association, which campaigns to improve quality of life in the city’s 15th and 16th arrondissements – an area that includes the harbours used by cruise ships.
It has a less radical stance than Stop Croisières, which wants to ban the cruise ship industry entirely. It blocked the port last year in a symbolic protest.
“I accept that some people like to go on cruises, but the way it has developed in Marseille is totally unacceptable, and has to be changed,” she said.
“We have four or five ships a day, all pumping huge amounts of pollution into the city and into people’s homes.
“Scientists have proved that at least 20% of all the air pollution in Marseille is due to these cruise ships, almost all of which come in the morning and leave in the evening, and have their engines turning full speed to keep the electricity on the ships going.”
New rules on the quality of fuel that ships can burn in the port mean the black soot that used to cover people’s terraces, cars and garden furniture when the wind blows from the port is less of a problem than it once was.
“But it is still something that catches in the back of the nose and throat, and the city and surrounding area are way over the World Health Organization guidelines for air quality, largely because of these ships,” said Ms Prost-Coletta.
Scrubbers, which clean exhausts, are being fitted to more and more ships, but these come with environmental concerns of their own.
“The exhaust might be a bit cleaner, but the scrubbers have to be cleaned of all the soot out at sea, leaving a trail of pollution behind,” Ms Prost-Coletta said.
“And using alternative fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) is not ideal, either. “The city and country have legal commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but LNG ships still add to it. And for what?
“So that people can wander around the town for a day and think they know it?”
Could the situation improve?
Marseille has plans to build enough electric hook-ups in ports for cruise ships to plug into, rather than keep their engines running.
However, the associations have doubts about this project as well.
“A big ship, and at Marseille we have the second largest cruise ship in the world every week, uses the same electricity as a town of 22,000 people. “So the first question we have to ask is: where will the electricity come from and who will pay for it?” said Ms Prost-Coletta.
“It will be more expensive than the untaxed fuel they use now, that is for sure.
“And then there is the question of installation costs.
“Two berths have been equipped for ferries and that cost millions, so who is going to pay for the connections for the cruise ships?
“At the moment it will fall on local councils, which effectively means the taxes of residents.”
She said residents’ attitudes hardened during the Covid lockdown when there were 17 ships tied up in the harbour, all with their engines running for electricity.
“There was no road traffic, which cruise ship advocates always claim is a worse polluter, and no air traffic, but the air quality in the city was terrible because of the ships.
“Something must be done, and for me the cruise industry must stop coming into cities and stay out at sea.”
A common struggle
Anti-cruise sentiment is by no means limited to France. Venice banned cruise ships from its centre in 2021, Barcelona put new rules in place to the same effect last October, and Amsterdam has also started limiting the number of cruise ships allowed in its port.
Julie Dupuy, a Green councillor in Concarneau, said: “The opposition of certain towns and cities to cruises is going to have a considerable impact on other places that ships might stop at.
“Cruise companies sell a smooth and secure journey, it is one of their selling points, and these cruises are likely to turn to other stopping sites, notably in Brittany.”
The city’s tourism office sets up welcome desks on ships, financed by public funds and operated by public agents, to promote local attractions to passengers.
The economic benefits, in terms of tourism, that cruises can bring to a town are often cited as a reason to keep ships in port.
Questionable advantages
Ms Dupuy, however, is sceptical and says more research should be done before this argument can be used to quash mounting environmental concerns. Indeed, many cruise ship passengers prefer to stay on the boat as they are sometimes all-inclusive and it often costs extra to go on excursions.
“When I spoke to the mayor of Concarneau about the economic side of things, he told me that a retailer he had spoken to was very happy to have the cruises,” said Ms Dupuy.
“That is not enough, we need figures and studies to get concrete data.”
