They are currently docking on the quays of the Port de la Lune, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but the town hall plans to move their mooring to the right bank of the Garonne, in immediate endorsement from the Chaban-Delmas lifting bridge which provides access to the hyper-center.
According to the Grand Port Maritime de Bordeaux, the project is to technical and regulatory studiesThe municipal executive has already managed to contain the number of cruise ship stopovers in the city centre, which has doubled over the past decade, about forty per year.
More and more people from Bordeaux are being bothered by the reception of cruise ships in the city centre, and this is increasingly being resented.justifies Pierre Hurmic, mayor since 2020, describing real floating buildings who find themselves in some of the most aesthetically interesting places in the city.
Visually, it’s not the most beautiful thing… The project of having them park a little further north would not be bad at all.agrees Julien, a 37-year-old from Bordeaux interviewed by AFP on the docks.
For me these ships are big polluters, they have no place in the city center.adds Charlotte, 32, the fumes coming from the ships at the dock not going unnoticed.
The cruise ship “Seven Seas Mariner” under the Jacques Chaban Delmas lifting bridge crossing the Garonne in Bordeaux, August 16, 2024.
According to the mayor, their relocation in the coming years will allow boats to be connected to electricity in order to limit the pollution caused by their diesel engines. Build the necessary infrastructure at the current berthing location, in full perimeter Unescowould turn out to be very imposing and extremely expensiveadds the elected official, judging much easier to do it on the right bank.
– Heavy with consequences –
The project is, however, controversial. Questioned by the newspaper Sud Ouest in July, the president of the Bordeaux-Gironde Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Patrick Seguin, castigated a decision with serious consequences for Bordeaux traderegretting that the ICC was not involved in the discussions.
According to a study by geographer Victor Piganiol, a cruise operator would spend an average of 150 euros per day and up to 200 euros during a stopover in Bordeaux, compared to an average of 89 euros in Le Havre, 80 euros in La Rochelle or 44 euros in Marseille. A higher basket which can be explained by the purchase of bottles of wine.
When they pass through Bordeaux, the cruise promotional brochures highlight the vineyard and its prestigious appellationsnotes the researcher. And visits are organized in the castles.
Georges Simon, president of the Bordeaux Mon Commerce association of traders and craftsmen, says he is not opposite to this project and understand the issues, particularly ecological ones, but he questions the routing of cruise passengers.
If tourists stop in Bordeaux, it is to visit Bordeaux. It is not to visit empty quays a few kilometers before the city center (…) We tell ourselves that there will necessarily be a solution.
The city is counting on its river shuttle network to transport visitors from one bank to the other and believes that docking ships in one area less congested will facilitate the use of buses to travel around the department and the region.
The cruise ship “Seven Seas Mariner” moored at the Port de la Lune in Bordeaux on August 16, 2024.
I don’t know if the average cruise passenger (…) who has just come here to do a bit of urban tourism, will be able to motivate himself to cross the Garonne or take a bus.avance Victor Piganiol.
For us, it’s great to be in the heart of Bordeauxsaid Rony Bass, an American cruise passenger who arrived last weekend aboard the Seven Seas Mariner. We are free to go on foot with a map to explore the city. Otherwise, we would have to take a taxi and do the same thing on the way back.