Key cruise ship companies operating in French waters joined forces to limit air pollution caused by their vessels. The measures agreed include use of shore power and low-polluting fuel when maneuvering in harbors, as well as other measures to reduce emissions.
The French government has called on the European Union to work on creating a tax on bunker and aviation fuel as part of its strategy for reducing carbon emissions and achieving a sustainable environment. The French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire commented that taxes for carbon emissions should be implemented also to aviation and ships, not only to cars.
A cargo ship ran aground on October 13 in a marine reserve in the Strait of Bonaficio, off Corsica, France. No oil appears to have been spilled, according to the maritime police said, but anti-pollution measures are being deployed.
Doug Bannister, the Chief Executive Officer of the Port of Dover stated that the port, through which a sixth of the U.K.’s trade in products is being transferred, will be able to deal with any disturbance experienced by a no-deal Brexit, accounting for predictions of chaos.
French EDF Renewables and Enbridge conducted a ceremony highlighting the beginning of the construction on the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind project in France. The 480MW wind farm will be equipped with 80 GE Haliade 150-6MW turbines manufactured in France and is planned to begin operations in 2022.
On 22 August, during the state visit to France of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an agreement was signed by CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Sivan K, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to start development and production of a constellation of satellites, to track tracking ships continuously.
During the G7 summit in Biarritz, the French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that reducing ships’ speed would be one way to decrease maritime transport’s carbon emissions footprint. This is a proposal that Greece has supported as well.
CMA CGM ships will not sail through the Northern Sea Route, an area with a unique and largely unexplored biodiversity, the CEO of the French shipping group, Rodolphe Saadé, announced last week ahead of the G7 meeting underway in Biarritz.
French maritime solutions provider Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group announced that, through its subsidiary Louis Dreyfus TravOcean, has signed its first contract related to the development of offshore wind farms in France. This came after Louis Dreyfus TravOcean won an international tender earlier in July.
French shipbuilder Naval Group launched on Friday, July 12, the Suffren nuclear-powered attack submarine, in presence of President Emmanuel Macron. The Suffren is the first of the six Barracuda-class series for the French navy. Its ceremony took place in the northern port of Cherbourg.
