They have always suffered from a nauseating image. In literature, ports have long been presented as a place of debauchery where lost sailors, thirsty people, pirates and sex workers mixed. Pillars of world trade, ports are nevertheless at the origin of the creation of thousands of large cities in this world, which became megalopolises because they had privileged access to the sea. Bombarded, pillaged, forgotten, these areas where the concrete has become king are often considered ugly, even dangerous, so much so that many cities have abandoned them. Here the fishing boats have left. There, the commercial port is nothing more than a tangle of multicolored steel containers. As hubs of the global economy, ports must today reinvent themselves to keep pace with the necessary decarbonization. As easy to do as mooring a cruise ship in a marina.
In Lorient, the question of this transformation is at the heart of the debates. This Friday, the city of six ports will present “at home” the efforts it has undertaken to green itself before the National Association of Coastal Elected Officials which holds its annual conference there. The opportunity for its mayor Fabrice Loher to present the work carried out but above all the ambitions of his city, which has become in a few years one of the references in the field. “When the base closed in 1997, there was nothing left here. Today, it has become a place to live for families, a place for tourists, for skippers. People meet here in the greatest simplicity,” assures the mayor of Lorient, saluting the work of his predecessors.
Offshore racing as a springboard
Fabrice Loher is of course talking about “La Base”, the new offshore racing center erected in this district developed by the Germans during the Second World War and then occupied for half a century. It is here that dozens of sailing racing teams have taken up residence to prepare their deckchairs and world tours. Ultimates like Gitana, Banque Populaire or Sodebo, a large part of the Imoca fleet and Class 40s are moored for a good part of the year on pontoons specially designed for them.
Although it is far from being impeccable on an environmental level, offshore racing has nevertheless given a second wind to this sinking port. Pontoons have been electrified, allowing boats to plug in instead of running their engines while docked, and dirty water treatment has been greatly improved. “I cannot guarantee that the waters are perfectly clean but today everything is controlled,” assures the mayor of Lorient, who will lead a round table this Friday around the decarbonization of ports.
According to a study carried out by the town planning, economic development and technopole agency of the country of Lorient (Audelor), this pole would employ 905 people all year round. Above all, it allowed Lorient to position itself on a very promising axis for the decarbonization of maritime transport.
Already experienced in the manufacture of composite masts 33 meters high, the Lorient ecosystem wishes to develop it for the sailing industry by building masts twice as large, intended to carry the sails of cargo ships or liners. “It’s a technology transfer that represents a tremendous opportunity. Today, we produce two to three months a year. In a year or two, we hope to do two or three per month,” assures the mayor. To achieve this, a “composite valley” will soon see the light of day in Lanester with the help of Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire.
This transformation challenge goes well beyond the borders of Morbihan. While 90% of the world’s goods are transported by ships running on heavy fuel oil, maritime transport absolutely must react. Announced objective: reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the sector by 50% by 2050, as requested by the International Maritime Organization. The use of natural gas, hydrogen but also wind by installing huge sails is part of the avenues envisaged to achieve this. But without certainty. “The technologies that would make it possible to decarbonize all ships are not yet known,” recently assured the general delegate of Armateurs de France Jean-Philippe Casanova. Faced with this plunge into the unknown, ports must anticipate in order to adapt. But in a sector where each development costs millions of euros, we must not make a mistake. At the risk of sinking.