The mistral is blowing extremely hard this morning on the small harbor of Toulon, to the point that the Maritime Prefecture of the Mediterranean has decided to “consign” it – in other words to close it to navigation – at 8:15 a.m.
Consequences: the Mega Victorya Corsica Ferries ship, with some 500 passengers on board, was unable to enter the commercial port and is circling in the water while waiting for the wind to calm down. THE Pascal Lotaanother ferry of the Corsican shipping company, was luckier and was able to dock in time to disembark its passengers.
A wind at 40-50 knots
But the maneuver still required the assistance of two tugboats from the Chambon company: the aptly named Mistral and the Libeccio. “When the Pascal Lota arrived at 6:00 a.m., the northwest wind was already blowing at 40-50 knots. The idea was to dock it at the Minerve quay, the most suitable for the current weather conditions, to disembark the passengers, then to move it to the armament mole at La Seyne-sur-Mer”says Pierre-Antoine Carli, the pilot from the port of Toulon who carried out the maneuver.
The plan worked perfectly, but the mistral strengthened again and rose to 50-60 knots, even 70 knots in the gusts! It was at this moment that the military made the decision to close the harbor. The yellow and white ferries are not the only ones impacted by this gale since the Mistral network has also interrupted its cross-border connections. However, the situation should return to normal by midday.
