Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice and President of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, has reiterated his opposition to the large cruise ships that dock near Nice in the French Riviera. The French politician shared his frustration at the Norwegian Epic arriving at the nearby seaside town and gateway port for Nice, Villefranche-sur-mer. The massive cruise ship, which stopped for a day on Saturday, April 12, has a capacity of around 4,000 passengers and measures 1,081 feet in length.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, where he shared footage of the Norwegian Epic arriving in Villefranche-sur-Mer from France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, he wrote: “From July 1, you won’t have to tolerate this anymore! These monsters of the seas: almost 4,000 passengers, 35 chartered buses and 2 chartered maritime shuttles, with no economic benefits for the hotels, and spending two to three times less than that of regular tourists.”
He added: “48 tonnes of nitrogen produced each year at Villefranche-sur-Mer.
“This represents 71% of total emissions in the municipality, emissions are up 25% since 2015, with clouds of smoke affecting Nice, Villefranche, Beaulieu and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat during the same stopover…”
This follows the recent changes to the regulations concerning cruise ships arriving in the area.
Estrosi recently revised his stance on the ban that initially restricted cruise ships with more than 900 passengers, raising the limit to 2,500.
Starting July 1, the maximum number of passengers per ship is set to be reduced to 2,500 passengers in Villefranche-sur-Mer, with only ships with less than 450 passengers allowed to dock in the port of Nice.
The new regulations will also limit port calls to one ship per day and restrict them to just 65 days per year.
This means that cruise ships like the Norwegian Epic will no longer be allowed to dock in the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer.
The city of Nice will be hosting the United Nations Conference on the Oceans: UNOC 2025 from June 9 to June 13.