The news was already known but was made official with great fanfare on Thursday morning at the Palais du commerce et de la mer, in Toulon, in the presence of the Costa group's vice-president of global sales, Luigi Stefanelli. The company owned by the American group Carnival has committed for two years to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Var, manager of the port of Toulon, to make La Seyne the head of the line of two circuits in Mediterranean.
From April 16, 2025, it will once again be possible to embark every Sunday for cruises departing from the shipping pier, a large quay located opposite the Mouisseques district. In total, 27 stopovers are planned: 25 for the Pacific Coastship with a capacity of 3,500 passengers for 290 meters in length, and 2 for the Costa Fascinosa of the same scale. The two liners will make 7 or 15 day tours in the Mediterranean, passing through Olbia, Palma, Rome, Savona…
“We wanted to provide additional choice to our French customers, in addition to Marseille, and also attract new customers”explained Luigi Stefanelli, emphasizing the role of facilitator of the CCI teams. Remember that in 2014 and 2019 already, Costa Croisières had chosen the harbor as the starting point for these cruises.
Prevailing winds
This new anchorage is attractive for the region, which already welcomes numerous companies for around a hundred stopovers per year spread between Toulon and La Seyne. Costa, until now, only made occasional stopovers and consolidated La Seyne as an attractive site. “The quay is in the axis of the prevailing winds, which is interesting for boats”specified Delphine Beudin, development manager for the ports of Toulon harbor for the CCI.
As its president, Basil Gertis, recalled, cruise passengers represent an economic windfall locally, since they often arrive the day before the departure of their ship, and “spend on average around a hundred euros per person, not counting the budget of the crew themselves”: a thousand for 3,500 passengers who each spend around twenty euros.
“La Seyne smiles at you and opens its arms wide to you”declared for her part the mayor of La Seyne Nathalie Bicais, whose teams work in particular with traders so that they can benefit from this windfall, for example by being open on Monday, when the stopover takes place on a Sunday. “We must ensure that cruise passengers are kept in the region for the duration of their stopover, an Eductour is planned for the spring with tour operators”added Laurent Jérôme, president of Toulon Provence tourism.
And electrification?
If La Seyne is ready to develop this activity – 70 calls in total are planned in 2025 compared to 40 in 2024 – the issue of dock electrification remains to be accelerated. On the Toulon side, the latest tests have just been carried out and will allow, “as early as January”any ship connectable to electrical terminals to use shore current, and not generators running on diesel.
“Those who are equipped with electrical connections will then be obliged, due to the regulation voted at the port council in June, to opt for electricity. They will have priority over others, for access to port facilities,” pointed out Lionel Mosnier, the port commander. Until then, a final adjustment is expected with the ship Brilliant lady of the Virgin company, on December 12, 13 and 14, to validate the connection of liners on the Fournel quay, for a capacity of 11 megawatts. On the La Seyne side, if the ambition is also to green the stops, no agenda has yet been announced by the Metropolis.
