The move comes after complaints that the liners are an eyesore and cause environmental damage.
ADVERTISEMENTThe French city of Bordeaux has long been popular with cruise ships. The number of liners that dock in the city centre has doubled over the past 10 years.
Authorities have been seeking to reduce their presence in the city and previously managed to limit their number to 40 per year.
However, mayor Pierre Hurmic has now said he wants a complete ban on cruise ships in the city centre.
Residents have complained that they spoil the city’s beauty and generate pollution.
Bordeaux battles against eyesore cruise ships
Cruise liners travel inland from the Atlantic Ocean to Bordeaux via the river Gironde estuary and are currently permitted to dock at Port de la Lune.
Given that this spot is in the heart of the historic city and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bordeaux authorities have proposed relocating the mooring site further north to an area along the right bank of the Garonne instead.
This way, ships would be positioned downstream from the Chaban-Delmas lifting bridge and away from the historic sites of the city centre.
The move comes after complaints that the liners are an eyesore and cause environmental damage.
« More and more people in Bordeaux are being disturbed by the arrival of cruise ships in the city centre, and it’s becoming increasingly unpleasant, » mayor Hurmic, from the Green Party, told news agency AFP.
He added that they looked like « actual floating buildings in some of the most aesthetically pleasing parts of the city. »
One Bordeaux resident told AFP that « visually, they are not the most beautiful,” while another called the ships “big polluters” with “no place in the city centre. »
Bordeaux cruise ship ban meets resistance
Cruise ship passengers bring income to the city, which means the proposal to shift the mooring site out of the centre has been controversial.
Speaking to regional newspaper Sud Ouest in July, the president of the Bordeaux-Gironde Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), Patrick Seguin, said that moving the docking site « would have heavy consequences for Bordeaux trade. »
Passengers flock to Bordeaux for its wine and can spend hundreds a day purchasing bottles.
Georges Simon, president of the Bordeaux Mon Commerce association of traders and artisans, told AFP that though he supports the environmental reasons for the move, he is still concerned.
« If tourists stop in Bordeaux, it’s to visit Bordeaux. It’s not to visit empty quays a few kilometres before the city centre. There will need to be some kind of solution, » he said.
Local authorities say there will be a river shuttle and bus services to ferry passengers to the city centre.
