Environmentalists Block Port of Marseille Protesting Impact of Cruises
A group of environmentalists formed a human chain using small boats to block the port of Marseille, France’s large cruise and ferry port on the Mediterranean. The demonstration was designed to call attention to the environmental impact of cruise ships which the group links to global warming.
Approximately 20 individuals from an environmental group calling itself Stop Croisières along with the French arm of Extinction Rebellion used a string of canoes to block the entrance to the Marseille harbor shortly after sunrise on Saturday, September 21. They were holding signs and held media interviews to draw attention to their cause.
The German cruise ship AIDAstella (71,300 GT) from Carnival Corporation’s AIDA Cruises was inbound and forced to divert to avoid the protestors. Two other cruise ships, Costa’s Costa Smeralda (185,000 GT) and MSC’s MSC World Europa (215,800 GT) were following the AIDA ship into port and were forced to hold offshore. A Corsica Linea ferry was also attempting to enter the port while a Hapag-Lloyd containership was among the vessels in port.
The group cites the dramatic growth of the cruise industry and specifically in Marseille. According to their data, the port received 2.5 million cruise passengers in 2023 up by 1 million from 2022. They also highlighted that cruises surpassed ferries which carried 1.5 million passengers in the port in 2023. They are unhappy that cruise tourism has outnumbered the ferries and are calling for more investment in ferry operations.
Cruise ships forced to wait offshore during the protest (Stop Croisières)
The group cited increased air and water temperatures this past summer in the Mediterranean which set new records. They are calling for the end of the cruise industry demanding that the money spent to electrify the port instead be directed to ferries. They also want the port to abandon the development of a new cruise terminal.
The police responded to Saturday’s demonstration which had begun around 0700 and arrested about 20 protestors. The port was reported after about 2 to 3 hours with port officials saying by 0930 traffic was again moving.
Police arrested the protestors and reopened the port (Stop Croisières)
Newspapers quoted local political leaders denouncing the protest noting that the cruise ship was forced to make an emergency maneuver endangering thousands of passengers. They said that the port is “not a lawless zone.”
The Cruise Line International Association also called it an “illegal and dangerous” demonstration to Agence France-Presse.
It was the latest in a series of efforts across Europe this summer in a loose-knit collective of groups known as ECAN. They reported conducting actions in 20 port cities to call attention to their demands. The Dutch arm of Extinction Rebellion during the summer repeatedly blocked one of the lock gates leading into Amsterdam. It interrupted the arrival of several cruise ships also at least one tanker. Port officials initially let the protest proceed but later called the Dutch police after the group repeatedly blocked the gates over a series of days and weeks.
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