We see them arriving to the sound of their siren, passing above the raised deck of the Chaban-Delmas bridge, docking in the hollow of the Port de la Lune, hiding the view of the Place des Quinconces for two days. Every year, the tourist season returns, the eternal debate on the liners anchoring in the city center of the Gironde capital, the embers glowing again with each demonstration or declaration. Such as that of Pierre Hurmic, mayor of the city, announcing, last summer, a possible relocation of these stops downstream of the lift bridge.
The approximately 60,000 people who arrive annually directly at Place des Quinconces can seem drowned in the mass of the four million tourists who come to visit Bordeaux. However, for many environmental associations and activists, these true giants of the seas are more of a mass tourism from another era, a thousand miles from current energy and environmental sobriety issues.
“We are told that the boats that come to Bordeaux are small liners [le plus grand étant le “Spirit of Discovery”, long de 236 mètres et accueillant jusqu’à 1 000 passagers, NDLR]but they are still gigantic. I don’t think we would accept seeing hundreds of campervans set up in the city center,” says Daniel Delestré, president of Sepanso Gironde, an environmental protection association.
Image of Epinal
Tours of the city on foot or by little train, dozens of coaches waiting quietly for these visitors on the quays before heading towards the vineyards of Saint-Émilion… For these tourists mainly from the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries German-speaking people, everything is done to ensure that Bordeaux maintains its image of Epinal as the capital of wine and gastronomy.
“There is no improvisation,” said Christophe Tissinier, general director of Bordeaux Excellence, the city’s first “tour operator” last August. “We are not canvassing anyone on board the ship. We are exclusively in contact with the cruise companies who offer them several of our excursions in advance. [en supplément, NLDR]. The goal is of course to see tourists spend their money in local businesses,” he says.
Thus, according to the Bordeaux-Gironde CCI – which spoke out against this relocation – the economic benefits of cruises for the city’s traders would be “considerable”. “It was recently calculated that each cruise ship that docks in Bordeaux generates on average 330,000 euros in economic benefits for the city. Multiply that by around sixty boats [en réalité, entre quarante et cinquante par an, NDLR] and see what that gives”, explained Patrick Seguin, president of the CCI, to “Sud Ouest” in July 2024. That is to say an annual turnover of more than ten million euros.
Individually, according to Victor Piganiol, doctoral student in tourism geography and author of the study “Maritime cruise stopovers in Bordeaux, between repercussions and nuisances”, the average shopping basket of these tourists – and this, excluding the cost of paid excursions optional – amounts to 150 euros per day in Bordeaux, much more than stopover cities like Le Havre (85 euros) and Marseille (44 euros). Spending mainly focused on the city’s flagship products: bottles of wine, gourmet restaurants, luxury boutiques, etc.
An environmental impact?
Paradoxically, despite the gray smoke escaping from the smokestacks of ocean liners, the ecological impact of these ocean monsters appears “low”. Atmo Nouvelle-Aquitaine, at the request of Bordeaux Métropole, thus carried out a campaign (February 2022-February 2023) of measurements of various pollutants emitted by the latter during their stopovers in the port (carbon dioxide, “black carbon”, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, etc.). According to the observatory, “overall, the impact of maritime and river liners is low on air quality in the neighborhoods around the port. Urban emissions, notably road traffic and wood heating, are the main sources of pollution to which populations are exposed. »
In order to regulate this air pollution, an environmental charter for the Grand Maritime Port of Bordeaux (GPMB) was also signed by the cruise companies; the latter must commit to using fuel emitting a maximum of 0.1% sulfur at the dock. The next big development for maritime liners in Bordeaux should be the electrification of the docks, currently available for river shuttles. It makes it possible to provide enough energy for boats, without them running their thermal engines. This connection – an operation worth “several million euros” according to Jean-Frédéric Laurent, president of the GPMB – should take place before 2030.
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