2023-06-28 12:02:15
For Emmanuel Macron, the port of Marseille, the leading French port on the Mediterranean, too often left behind by its rivals Genoa and Barcelona, does not occupy the place it deserves. At the end of a three-day visit to Marseille, the Head of State will speak on Wednesday June 28 at the start of the afternoon in the maritime station to sound the recall of the troops.
It is a question of mobilizing all the actors, the port authority, chaired by its former Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner, the local champion CMA-CGM, third shipowner in the world, the local authorities but also the actors of transport river. As he did during his first five-year term for Le Havre, Rouen and Paris, Emmanuel Macron aims to create a “large port” as far as Lyon and even Chalon-sur-Saône, by taking the wide-gauge canal linking the site from Fos to the Rhône.
The objective is to simplify the administrative formalities and to offer shippers a single point of contact, in order to double or even triple the traffic of goods (today 80 million tonnes per year) which goes up the river and thus relieve the A7 motorway, which follows part of its route.
Getting off the road 100,000 containers per year
“Last year, river transport of goods increased on average in France by 4% but barely 0.7% on the Rhône, deplores the entourage of the President of the Republic. Today, 80% of goods arriving in Marseille by boat leave by truck. The rest is transported for two thirds via rail, which will benefit from the plan of 100 billion released by 2040 in favor of rail, and only one third via the Rhône. The goal is to have 100,000 containers use the river rather than the road each year. »
To relaunch the port and its vast hinterland (hinterland), Emmanuel Macron is betting a lot on ecological transition. In his speech, he will undoubtedly talk about the electrification of the quays of Marseilles to prevent ships from keeping their engines on and continuing to cause, very close to the center and the northern districts, pollution which is increasingly exasperating. the inhabitants. “The quays from which ferries leave for Corsica have been electrified. Those welcoming cruise ships will soon be, we say at the Elysée. An envelope of 150 million euros, half-financed by the State, is planned for this purpose. »
The Head of State also expects a lot from the entry into service, scheduled for 2030, of the undersea pipeline which will transport from Barcelona to Marseille huge quantities of hydrogen which could eventually cover 10% of European needs. . In particular, to help “reduce carbon emissions in the Fos basin by 30%”.
Marseille, a major energy port
The aim is more broadly to position Marseille as a major energy port, for example by supporting the creation by the start-up Carbon, still in Fos, in 2024, of a “gigafactory” for the manufacture of solar panels (for the annual equivalent of 8.5 gigawatts, resulting in 3,000 jobs). To help the population seize the job opportunities that are looming, a “blue economy high school” should be created in the northern districts.
Part of the funds necessary for these multiple measures, which are part of the presidential plan “Marseille en grand”, has already been budgeted under the State-Region plan contracts, that of the South region but also that of Auvergne. -Rhône-Alpes for the river transport of goods. The total investment made by the State “will greatly exceed one billion euros”assesses the entourage of Emmanuel Macron.
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