Cruise

Des milliers de lits, avec restaurants, shopping, casinos, boites de nuit, scènes de spectacles, piscines, le tout posé sur la mer car il faut bien mériter l’appellation de croisière. Seuls l’infirmerie, les locaux de quarantaine et les lits d’hôpital sont sous dimensionnés. Le court séjour en mer est le dernier avatar du tourisme de masse. Lorsqu’il flotte, le Gigantic défigure le paysage et trimbale pollutions, nuisances, désordres et un personnel domestique surexploité. En cas de naufrage ou d’incendie, 4000 à 8000 personnes sont menacées.

Arctic : Ponant, the French cruise company, has made a white duck

7 Sep 2018

While Ponant published inner views from its future icebreaker, Commandant Charcot, a fiasco upset the French flag in its conquest and pollution of the Arctic Ocean.

Lire la suite

(Français) Le brise-glace qui fait froid dans le dos

10 Jan 2018

(Français) Le brise-glace qui fait froid dans le dos

Only in French.

Lire la suite

Beware of Gigantics !

31 May 2017

“If there was a first mistake, it was to think that a human creation was impervious to all forms of destruction, and the second was to be persuaded to also not develop a rescue solution in case of such a disaster,” says Pierre Bayard. “The Titanic will sink,” Editions de Minuit, Paris (France), October 2016.

Mega-cruisers like the MSC Meraviglia are the worst nightmare of maritime authorities and at-sea rescuers. Evacuating 7 to 8,000 people in case of a collision, fire, attack, or a shipwreck in high seas or at night is mission impossible. Ship owners do not even dare to practice this global drill in a sheltered and sunny bay. It is worth noting that in July 2016, Bermuda Islands, and in September 2016, 2 evacuation crewmen drills aboard the Norwegian Breakaway and the Harmony of the Seas (Marseille) have been marked by the sudden fall of 2 launchboats totalling 2 lives lost and 7 seriously injured.

Lire la suite

Departure of Saint-Nazaire of Monster of the Seas*

13 May 2016

Departure of Saint-Nazaire of Monster of the Seas*

Those who live in housing projects will not really be removed from their usual surroundings. The type of cruise ship that is Harmony of the Seas are apartment blocks. On land, the tendency is to their burst. At sea, they are considered as progress. 6,360 passengers are threatened by seasickness, gastroenteritis, and the crumbling of old fashioned decorations. They are serviced by 2,400 crew members of 70 nationalities living in tight quarters in the lower decks, similarly to the time of the Titanic.

Lire la suite

No to Discordia

23 Jul 2014

Subject : towage of the Costa Concordia

Robin des Bois welcomes the achievement of operation Concordia. The NGO believes that is possible to tow the wreck with minimal risks. The final destination which was ultimately decided by the Prime Minister of Italy Mr. Matteo Renzi reinforces Robin des Bois’ positive assessment. Genoa was once an important ship-breaking yard for vessels at the end of their life and was, amongst all the options evoked over the last year, the most logical option with the best safeguards for a positive end to the demolition of the Concordia.

Lire la suite

Costa Concordia – Press Release #6

15 Sep 2013

Press Release #6

Tomorrow, at any point during the hours-long raising of the wreckage, the cruise ship containing 50,000 tons of scrap, waste, and polluted water could split open like an old, cracked bathtub. While the Costa Concordia is now in a relatively confined area, tomorrow this dump could be spread out over the Island of Giglio, and the Mediterranean sea. The only reassuring thing is that the wreck has been drained of its propulsion fuel. For the past 19 months, the hull of the Costa Concordia has been subject to the corrosion caused by waves and offshore currents. Therefore, there is a pressing risk of pollutant dispersal.

Lire la suite

The Cruising industry Hits the Wall

1 Jan 2013

Costa Concordia – Press release # 5

The refloating of the Costa Concordia should have taken place at the end of 2012, followed by its removal to a port of demolition (or to a submarine graveyard?) in January of 2013. The work of the Italian-American consortium between Titan Salvage and Micoperi was estimated at a cost of 300 million US$. Complications arose with the project and both the time and budget were drawn out. The unforeseen hardness of the undersea granite slows down the setting up of the platform needed to remove the ship. The workers and the Italian authorities are now looking at retrieval in 2014.  In the meantime, the wreck on the rocks experiences the pressure of the sea on its exterior and the one of 100,000 tons of polluted water on its interior.  The risk of the ship dislodging is increasing.  Should the removal of the ship take place according to plan, two key points demand clarification: 1. The methods of treating the water and waste on the interior of the wreck, and 2. The destination of the wreck. Italy has not displayed the ability to properly dismantle ships. The Costa Allegra was sent to the junk-yard in Turkey (1). The transport ferry Repubblica di Amalfi from Grimaldi Lines is still awaiting demolition in India. Thirty-seven ships belonging to Italian companies such as Ignazio Messina, Stradeblu, BM Shipping and SNAV headed for the junk-yard in 2012. Not a single one was demolished in Italy: 19 went to India, 10 to Turkey and 7 to Bangladesh.

Lire la suite

Two ships under early retirement at Marseille

19 Sep 2012

Marseille has inherited two out of age cruiseships that should go to a museum or more logically to scrapping. They no longer meet the requirements of international conventions on the protection of passengers and crews, and on the protection of the environment (SOLAS and MARPOL Conventions of the International Maritime Organization). In 2011, the average age of passenger ships to be withdrawn from operation was 36 years.

The Athena was built in 1948, she is 64 years old now. She was the subject of a Robin des Bois’s press release on July 25, 2012 (See Alert in the Arctic). Robin des Bois repeats that the journey of this ship to the Arctic presents considerable risks. Her immobilization in Marseille due to unpaid bills if proof that the Portuguese shipowner does not have the means to properly maintain his ships, or even to pay his crews. Athena, under the name Stockholm, collided with the Italian cruise ship, Andrea Doria, off New York in July 1956 (see photos and records in the press release “Alert in the Arctic”).

Lire la suite

Arctic Alarm

25 Jul 2012

Arctic Alarm

Fifty six years ago today, the Andrea Doria, the Italian star of the transatlantic cruise liner sunk off the coast of New York taking the lives of 47 passengers.

Lire la suite

For a Packaged Deal onboard Concordia I

25 May 2012

Costa Concordia – Press release # 4

Tomorrow, Saturday May 26, in Marseille, will occur the maiden voyage of the MSC Divina, aka the new mass destruction weapon of the cruise industry. It means destruction of the pleasure of being at sea, of the environment, landscapes, and of human dignity. These tourist transports are like huge containers of tools for globalization and sociological mass phenomena. Sophia Loren will be the godmother of the MSC Divina. This is perhaps her best character, but not her best film.

Lire la suite