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ENVIRONMENT

France launches first zero-emissions ferry

The French city of Marseille has inaugurated a 'zero-emissions ferry' - hailed as a world first, the ship's innovative filter stands to cut over 99 percent of polluting particles in maritime transport.

Published: 6 September 2022 10:28 CEST
France launches first zero-emissions ferry
This photograph taken on September 5, 2022 shows the ferry Piana docked in Marseille harbour. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

Promising to be the ferry of the future, the shipping company La Méridionale’s flagship, the Piana, will emit zero polluting particles during its journey between Marseille and Bastia, on the island of Corsica. 

“It’s an unprecedented solution, a world first,” said Marc Reverchon, the president of the company, to BFMTV.

The device essentially works by neutralising the sulphur and fine particles with sodium bicarbonate and then filtering them out. It has been installed on the four engines of the Piana are set to eliminate 99 percent of sulfur oxides (SO2), as well as 99.9 percent of fine and ultrafine particles, which are among the main air pollutants emitted by ships.

Having cost approximately €16 million, the scheme was supported by France’s Agency for Ecological Transition, as well as the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region, as part of its regional climate plan “Une COP d’Avance.”

The region had already committed €30 million in support of shore side power (electrification of the ships) in 2019 to enhance the air quality of, like port cities Nice, Toulon and Marseille.

Meanwhile, for the city of Marseille specifically, it is ready to invest in bringing the filter from the Piana to other cruise ships. After the boat’s inauguration, Marseille mayor Benoît Payan tweeted that he hopes other “big polluters” will “follow its example.”

While private jets, which are responsible for over half of global aviation emissions, are the current focus of many climate activists’ ire, cruise ships are not far behind.

Cruise ships are known to be huge polluters – a 2019 study by the NGO Transport & Environment found that cruise ships were responsible for more pollution than all of Europe’s automobiles combined, and the city of Marseille knows this intimately.

Black smoke and sulfuric smells from cruise ships and ferries have been part of daily life for Marseille residents for several years.

The city’s mayor, Benoît Payan, even launched a petition against pollution in the Mediterranean caused by the liners. It collected over 44,000 signatures. 

In response to climate concerns, the sector is trying to adapt, and a zero emissions ferry was unveiled in Marseille on Monday. Its fine-particle filtration system will be a global first.

Member comments

  1. It’s got 4 diesel engines. How can it possibly be zero emissions? Is that like saying that because my car has a catalytic converter it’s also ‘zero emission’? A zero emission ferry would use a sail or an electric motor.

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PARIS

Huge new River Seine stormwater facility opens ahead of Paris Olympics

It has no spire, stained glass windows or nave but the cavernous underground stormwater facility inaugurated on Thursday in the French capital ahead of the Paris Olympics has been compared to Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Published: 2 May 2024 12:35 CEST
Huge new River Seine stormwater facility opens ahead of Paris Olympics

The giant new structure, burrowed 30 metres under the ground next to a train station, is a key part of efforts to clean up the River Seine, which is set to host swimming events during the Paris Games in July and August.

“It’s a real cathedral. It’s something exceptional,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Thursday as she walked on the bottom of the vast cylinder-shaped construction that has taken more than three years to complete.

Deputy Paris mayor Antoine Guillou has compared the project in western Paris, near the Austerlitz transport hub, to Notre-Dame, which is under reconstruction after a devastating fire in 2019.

“I like to say that we’re building two cathedrals,” he told reporters during a visit in mid-March.

“There’s the one above ground that everyone knows – Notre-Dame. And then there’s the one underground.”

Notre-Dame will not be ready in time for the Paris Games, as promised by President Emmanuel Macron immediately after the inferno that tore through the 850-year-old masterpiece.

But its spire has been restored and workers are busy working on the roof ahead of its grand re-opening in December.

Fortunately for Olympic open-water swimmers, the stormwater facility is set to enter service in June after tests later this month.

Its role will be to store rainwater in the event of a heavy downpour, reducing the chances of the capital’s sewerage system needing to discharge its pathogen-rich contents directly into the Seine.

Paris’ sanitation system is under immense scrutiny following pledges from Olympic organisers to use the Seine for the marathon swimming and triathlon during the Games, which begin on July 26th.

Cleaning up the river has also been promoted as one the key legacy achievements of Paris 2024, with Hidalgo intending to create three public bathing areas in its waters next year.

One of the features of the sanitation system – which dates from the mid 19th century – is that it collects sewage, domestic waste water and rain water in the same underground tunnels before directing them to treatment plants.

In the event of a major rainstorm, the system becomes overwhelmed, which leads to valves being opened that release excess water containing untreated sewage directly into the Seine.

In the 1990s, this led to around 20 million cubic metres of dirty water containing sewage being discharged every year, according to figures from the mayor’s office.

In recent years, after a multi-decade investment and modernisation programme, the figure has fallen to around 2.0 million m3.

On average, discharges occur around 12 times a year at present.

But with the new facility this number should fall to around two, city officials say.

A major storm or a succession of heavy rains could still lead to the cancellation of the Olympic swimming events.

But chief organiser Tony Estanguet stressed on Thursday that there were contingency plans in place, including being able to delay the races by several days if necessary.

“With all the measures that have been put in place and the planning, we are very confident that the competitions will take place,” he told reporters while he inspected the stormwater facility.

Three Olympic test events had to be cancelled last July and August following heavy rain.

Some swimmers, including Olympic champion Ana Marcela Cunha from Brazil, have called for a Plan B in case the Seine is too dirty.

Olympic open water swimming has frequently been plagued by pollution concerns.

At the end of the test event in 2019 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, swimmers protested against the quality of the water in Tokyo Bay.

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, the prospect of swimming in the polluted Guanabara Bay also made headlines.

Hidalgo and President Emmanuel Macron have promised to take a dip in the Seine before the Paris Games to demonstrate it is safe – just over a century since public swimming was banned there in 1923.

Hidalgo said this would happen in June.

“We’ll give you the date. We’re going to set a time range to do it because in June you can have good weather but there can also be storms,” she said.

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