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Redevelopment of the port of Nice: will yachts replace Corsica Ferries?

2022-10-26T09:39:04.735Z


To date, three main businesses bring the port to life: Corsica Ferries, concrete transport and small boats and yachts. If the three are, for the time being, doomed to stay, the situation could well change, in favor of "high yachting".


“My concern is first of all the carbon footprint.

First of all, it's energy”:

this, in a nutshell, is the course that Christian Estrosi intends to follow as admiral of a vast project to redevelop the port of Nice.

The mayor of the fifth French city wishes

“to reconnect the port to the city, to make it a high place of the art of living in Nice, in coherence with our classification in the world heritage and at the rendezvous of the climate emergency. »

The latter means by this to nip in the bud the rumors according to which the Lympia port would be doomed to become a gigantic “yacht parking lot”.

Read alsoCorsica Ferries: showdown between Corsica and the State

Because for some time now, the people of Nice, residents and traders, have been wondering - even worried - and the opposition, environmentalists in particular, grumbling.

In fact, time is running out and the deadline is approaching: the building permits should be filed at the beginning of next year.

And all the work must be launched by 2025.

So, objectively, what will become of Nice's main port facility?

For the mayor, it is first and foremost about dealing with the essential.

In this case the rehabilitation of the large dike.

“She sags, slowly but surely,”

he explains to

Figaro

.

This first “eco-responsible” project therefore consists of consolidating the dyke, keeping its same external appearance but introducing renewable energies.

"It will go through an extremely sophisticated system with turbines inside the dike which will produce electricity and geothermal energy"

, continues the city councilor.

Green energy which should then - in theory - benefit the whole city.

“A growth economy”

At the same time, the municipality wishes to tackle the greening of the port by removing the imposing parking lot of the Admiral Infermet quay to make it

"a huge green space"

.

We are talking about 200 trees planted and 8,500 square meters of greenery all around the port, including the requalification of the Place Île de Beauté and the Quai des Deux Emmanuels.

This in order to create islands of freshness in anticipation of the heat waves to come.

In addition, 5000 square meters will be dedicated to the creation of a cultural, technological and scientific center around the ecological transition: "the Mediterranean Pavilion".

Read alsoIn Corsica, NGOs, scientists and fishermen join forces to save the dentex

However, it is also important for the city to ensure that its port brings in enough revenue.

A growth economy”

, translates Christian Estrosi.

To date, three main businesses bring life to the port of Nice: Corsica Ferries, concrete transport and small boats and yachts.

If the three are, for the time being, doomed to stay, the situation could well change, in favor of "

high pleasure

", as the city councilor calls it.

In other words, yachting.

“Corsica Ferries boats are now 110 meters long.

The next generation, which will arrive in three or four years, will be 130 meters.

So either I make a quay 130 meters away, or I make a dead end and say ''there are no more ferries''.

We do not intend to invest in quays at 130 meters

.”

"I prefer ten super yachts to ocean liners and cargo ships that come and pollute the port, and that eat up space for me, and that neither bring life to the port nor the city"

Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice.

Contacted by

Le Figaro

, the president of Corsica Ferries, Pierre Mattei, said he

"takes into account the size constraints in the ports"

in his investments, without specifying whether discussions have been initiated with the city of Nice.

“Nothing says that the ferries are excluded in the project, to our knowledge”,

advances however the president of the company.

For example, in the month of September 2022 alone, 60 rotations between Corsica and Nice were made via Corsica Ferries with 36,383 passengers in total.

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Corsica Ferries or not, the municipality assumes its ambition to open its port to yachting.

“I prefer ten super yachts to ocean liners and cargo ships that come and pollute the port for me, and that eat up space for me, and that neither support the port nor the city

,” retorts Christian Estrosi.

I choose to keep the authenticity of the port.

And preserving the authenticity of the port does not correspond to the development of today's merchant navy.

And it's the son of a merchant marine officer who tells you that,”

he quips.

"The runoff theory, we don't believe in it so much anymore"

On the opposition side, the tone is much more serious.

“Yes, the big Corsica Ferries boats are a nuisance for local residents.

They smoke, they pollute, especially in times of heavy traffic.

However, removing everything without providing an alternative means that there will be a carryover to the aircraft.

However, it will be necessary to take off 25 ATR 72 planes to replace a journey by Corsica Ferries, which is an ecological aberration

, says Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, president of the elected environmentalists on the municipal council.

The port of Nice does not need a revolution.

It needs to be appeased, especially for traders.

People have suffered enough during the tram works.

»

On this point, the town hall ensures that all the work will be done by sea. In other words, no trucks in the streets.

“They want to change the city for us, make it a luxury postcard,

continues the elected ecologist.

On the coast, there are already the ports of Monaco, Cannes or Antibes.

So what ?

And don't let anyone tell us that these big boats will help create local jobs.

It will be on the margins or it will concern jobs that already exist in Monaco or Cannes.

The runoff theory, we don't believe in it so much anymore.

"Yacht owners, [...] They don't give a damn about small restaurants"

The opposition is also worried about the project to electrify the quays, to limit pollution from yachts.

“We have no nuclear power plants nearby, nor wind turbines or solar panels.

That the electricity of the people of Nice should not be used for large boats”

, remarks Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux.

And the elected green to add:

“It’s opportunism.

Monaco no longer wants some of its yachts and we would recover the parking lot for these Monegasque boats to the detriment of public transport between Nice and Corsica”

.

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“Yacht owners are a clientele that will never come to us!

They don't care about small restaurants.

While the customers of the Corsica Ferries, they hasten to come and have a bite to eat before leaving or as soon as they arrive”

, worries a restaurant owner from the quai des deux Emmanuels.

“We, what we like, is tranquility.

And above all, that the yachts do not spoil our view!”

, adds Chantal, owner of the crêperie

Le Pass'port

, on the Quai des Deux Emmanuels.

The restorer is saddened by the sight of the

Elements yacht,

80 meters long, which slumbers at the edge of the Admiral Infernet quay.

“You see, because of him we no longer see anything of what is happening opposite.

There are often shows and events, we are deprived of them.

And people don't come to my house anymore because he doesn't see me.

So more yachts in the harbour, no thank you.”

A local pride inseparable from Nice's heritage, the famous pointus, these multicolored nutshells once used for fishing, still have a bright future ahead of them, the municipality wishing to keep them a very special place in its port 2.0.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-10-26

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