By testing a sniffer drone in the port of Marseille, the Interregional Directorate for the Mediterranean Sea (Dirm Med) has placed Stéphan Rousseau, a kind of “Ship smoker” in the service of the State, in the spotlight. If the experiment was “interesting” – 80 boats checked, one report drawn up – “it does not represent the alpha and omega of the fight against pollution linked to maritime traffic”, believes Stephan Rousseau. Zoom on a long-term fight in which the port of Toulon is at the center of the game.
How do you verify that ship emissions comply with regulations?
Our Ship Safety Center (CSN) carries out inspections on board. We look at the certificates to know the quality of the engine; records, to ensure proper fuel has been loaded; samples can be taken from the tanks; check the operation of the scrubbers…
What did the checks carried out in Toulon show?
On the Mediterranean coast, last year, there were 240, for four violations noted. Seven of these controls were carried out in Toulon. None of the boats inspected was found to be in default of compliance with environmental standards.
Seven checks on more than a thousand stopovers of cruise ships and ferries, that’s not a lot…
Certainly, and we would like to reinforce these actions. But it should be noted that we check a lot, in Marseille, of the cruise ships which also stop in the harbour. It’s more practical for us: in the absence of an approved laboratory in the Var, it is to Martigues that we have to bring our samples.
Have you inspected the liner Valiant Ladyfrom the company Virgin Voyages, whose fumes do not go unnoticed?
Yes. We had a report on this boat. But he too was compliant. We have also had several cases of brand new ships, equipped with scrubbers, which tended to generate a lot of smoke. And yet, the plume respected the SOx level…
Does that mean that the impression can be misleading?
When it’s yellow smoke, it’s harder to accept… Except that we don’t have any standards on smoke or fine particles. As part of the implementation of a charter for sustainable cruising, shipowners are therefore encouraged to go beyond the regulatory aspect. For example, boats that smoke are advised to stop using their scrubbers and switch directly to 0.1% sulfur fuel. Even if they are in the nails.
What’s the use of a scrubber?
In order to be able to continue to use a high sulfur fuel, and therefore much less expensive, many shipowners have invested in this device which washes the fumes. If it’s an open-loop scrubber, where the sulfur, which is very acidic, is discharged into the sea, that poses yet another problem… And it’s only prohibited near the coast. Above all, the scrubber does not resolve the issue of NOx emissions or fine particles.
The controls wouldn’t be very effective, would they?
It serves. But, it takes time, energy… and 99% of the boats now respect the sulfur level. At some point, the question may therefore arise to continue to multiply them or to try to do something else. The problem today, in terms of public health, is NOx and fine particles. But it’s much harder to control. Their emissions depend on many parameters. And the international regulations are insufficient
Is the drafting of charters with shipowners, as you work there for cruises, or as was done in Toulon with Corsica Ferries, a solution?
In Toulon, the Metropolis has indeed chosen, in agreement with Corsica, to go further than the regulations in force. Whether their stopover is short or long, yellow and white ships must use 0.1% sulfur marine diesel. They even change fuel right from the piloting area. It’s positive.
Is Corsica Ferries one of the virtuous companies in terms of ecology?
If the company agrees to comply with the rules laid down by TPM, it is also because it benefits from financial compensation from the public authorities for this… Afterwards, it’s true, it also undertook to connect electrically to the quay as soon as This year. This is a good thing.
What about NOx pollution?
Under the so-called “grandfather clause”, the latest NOx regulations do not apply to its outdated ferries. However, the older the engine, the more nitrogen oxides it generates… We should be able to impose retroactive rules. Or that the ports undertake to welcome more virtuous boats.
Will the electrification of the docks, as we are “sold”, remove all the smoke?
No. Already because a ship that starts its engines spits out a lot of smoke. Especially old boats… But it’s still an interesting solution.
Except that it would only be compulsory for stopovers of more than two hours. However, the Corsica ferries make a lot of short stopovers, especially in summer…
Basically, the electrical connection operation takes a quarter of an hour…
Your speech is quite pessimistic in the end, isn’t it?
On environmental issues in the maritime sector, awareness is late but it is there. The regulations are changing and the shipowners are following, even if it is at a forced march. For me, now, the future depends on the electrification of ships at quays and the rejuvenation of the fleet. As well as other measures that we are considering, particularly in the context of the cruise charter.
What measures, for example?
In the city, the establishment of Low Emission Zones (ZFE) only concerns rolling vehicles. When there is a pollution peak, and the prefect asks for traffic restrictions, some boats should perhaps not be able to stop over if they are not electrically connected to the quay.
