Arriving from Toulon on November 24, the ex-Suffren is still quietly moored at its quay, at the Bassens terminal. Even rusty on all sides, its imposing hull, 158 meters long, weighing 5,335 tonnes, is impressive. But, for the moment, there is nothing to suggest that we are facing the largest deconstruction project ever carried out by the port of Bordeaux.
Everything will speed up in a few weeks. After the missile frigate, a second ship of the national navy, The Meuse, also from Toulon, will arrive in Bassens between Christmas and New Year’s Day. After an asbestos removal phase which will be carried out at the quay for the two ships, it is the 157 meter tanker which will first join the 250 meter form of refit (or dry dock) of terminal 3 of Bassens, to be cut.
“We are going to move the boats like we move pawns”
“ The Meuse will enter the form first, at the beginning of March, because there is less asbestos and preparation work than on the Suffren,” explains Alexandre Cuenot, project manager at Cardem. The company will work with the companies Snadec Environnement (for the decontamination and asbestos removal) and Sirmet (for the scrap metal recovery part).
The next two boats, the ex-Jean-de-Vienne and the ex-Montcalm, will first be stored at the Grattequina terminal before docking in Bassens to be removed asbestos, then cut up, in turn. By this summer, five boats in all will have been transported to the port of Bordeaux from Toulon, while the ex-Albatross And the ex-Georges-Leygues will arrive from Brest, and the ex-D’Entrecasteaux from Lorient, a little later. These are only large tonnage vessels of the French Navy such as frigates, tankers, patrol boats and oceanographic vessels.
To receive this work, the port of Bordeaux, which is one of the 18 sites approved by the European Union for the dismantling of ships, highlighted its expertise in the matter, after welcoming the cutting of the Jeanne D’Arc and Colbert, between 2014 and 2017. The 36-month project must be completed by 2026 at the latest, within a tight schedule. “We will take one ship, put it in shape, while the other will be processed at the dock, etc. We are going to move the boats like we move pawns in a game of chess, but making sure to move them as little as possible,” explains Alexandre Cuenot.
Each boat has been carefully studied
This is a very big piece for the Cardem company. This Vinci subsidiary is used to large-scale industrial projects, but its director, Nicolas Masson, recognizes the “specificity” of this contract. “It is not common to have so many boats at once, hence the importance of having a quality tool like the large port of Bordeaux which allows the storage of ships upstream, within the framework of a market that we designed from the beginning. »
Cardem carefully studied the file for each boat sent by the national navy. “The port of Bordeaux also provided us with feedback on the Jeanne D’Arc and Colbert, with regard to the fitting, that is to say the installation of the tins in the form of refit, on which the ship will land when we are going to remove the water” explains Alexandre Cuenot. This will be the most delicate part, because it is necessary to ensure foolproof stability for these iron monsters, and to allow workers to work on them in complete safety.
The cutting operation will be carried out from bottom to top, using a crane for the upper part, and with large shovels and large shears for the lower part. “We are going to tear the boat apart like a dinosaur would do to its prey,” summarizes Alexandre Cuenot. With this type of vessel, we are dealing with scrap thicknesses of 10 to 14 mm, thinner than a boiler, but thicker than a fishing boat. If we don’t want to spend months and months there, we will have to work quickly, with almost permanent overcapacity, and evacuate around a hundred tonnes of scrap metal per day. »
Recycled into tins, cans or supermarket carts
And after ? “The scrap metal will go to the foundry and be used to remake metals,” explains Nicolas Masson. It is the Sirmet company which intervenes for this part, by directly loading the piles of scrap metal into boats, which will leave to the four corners of the world. “A very large part of these ships that we dismantle are recoverable,” continues Nicolas Masson, “the materials which are not, asbestos, lead, hydrocarbon residues, being evacuated to approved sites. »
In total, some 25,000 tonnes of scrap metal should be recovered – between 2,500 and 4,000 tonnes per boat – for a total weight of 32,500 tonnes for the eight ships. Once recycled, this scrap metal can be reused in building and construction, or in the manufacture of everyday objects: tin cans, cans, household appliances or even supermarket trolleys.
New generation of ships within the national navy
This contract is one of the largest contracts ever awarded by the French navy in terms of number of boats, for an amount of the order of “several million euros”. “We have been engaged in a dynamic of renewing our fleet for around ten years,” explains Captain Grégory Lerenard, deputy director of the Brest fleet support service. We have received new air defense frigates, anti-submarine frigates, nuclear attack submarines and replenishment tankers, which allows us to withdraw old ships from active service, and to carry out place in our naval bases. »
Before 2005, military boats were oceanized, that is to say, sunk offshore, sometimes after having served as exercise targets. Since then, this practice has been banned and the ships are destroyed in France or abroad after the launch of calls for tenders by the fleet support service. “The last oceanization was carried out in 2005 on the ex-Champlainsince then, when we do not resell the ship to a partner, we dismantle the boats,” explains frigate captain Alban Simon, spokesperson for the maritime prefect of the Atlantic.
“When we decide on the end of the life of a boat, we first remove all its sensitive equipment, and anything that can be reused, then we secure it to make the hull watertight,” continues the spokesperson of the maritime prefecture. Before being deconstructed, the hulls are generally stored for a while to be used as breakwaters in military ports, to shelter them from swell and wind. This was the case with the Suffren in Toulon, or even the D’Entrecasteaux in Lorient…. “But as the hulls deteriorate over time, we renew them, which is when we move on to the deconstruction phase. » Phase which is now “integrated and budgeted for in all new boat programs of the French Navy”.