La Ciotat site is ideally located on the edge of the Calanques National Park in the heart of one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Its beautiful surroundings together with a rich history and heritage makes La Ciotat a prime destination for captains and their crews. The preservation of this environment and its biodiversity is a major priority both for our planet and the future of our shipyards.
La Ciotat Shipyards is committed to striving to become the world’s leading clean industrial port by applying the Avoid-Reduce-Compensate approach. This is a sustainable development method that lays out a pathway for the site to minimise the impact of its activities on the environment.
LCS have already implemented a wide range of initiatives to achieve this objective.
Onshore power is available across the site. This allows the yachts being refitted in La Ciotat to meet all their electricity needs though the local power grid. With their engines and generators turned off the emission of pollutants into the bay is greatly reduced. LCS has also invested in additional mobile transformers to meet the growing needs of our visiting vessels.
La Ciotat Shipyards plans to reactivate two dormant moorings in the bay of La Ciotat by 2023. These were originally installed for the gas tankers that used to be built locally. This pre-emptive measure will allow yachts of more than 80 metres in length that arrive at the shipyards at very short notice, (which is rare but not unknown), to drop anchor offshore in an area where they will have minimal impact on the local marine biodiversity while awaiting entry into the shipyards. This measure will safeguard the Posidonia meadows. This project was co-financed by the Région Sud – Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and the Fonds d’intervention maritime (Ministry for the Sea and Fisheries).
All of the site’s technical platforms (the great dry dock, yacht and superyacht platforms) are equipped with rainwater collection and treatment systems. Rainwater and water used in the cleaning of the yachts is systematically collected and treated before being discharged into the sea, thus minimising any risk of pollution of the natural environment.
The climatic and topographical characteristics of the La Ciotat site are very favourable to the development of “green” energy. La Ciotat Shipyards thus intends to become self-sufficient in energy over time. A preliminary study has already been undertaken to assess the possible solutions (photovoltaic solar, wind, marine and hydraulic energy) in light of the site’s technical and regulatory constraints. Implementation is expected to begin by 2025.
La Ciotat Shipyards have decided to install a number of innovative systems that will reproduce the natural habitats of local species. These will foster the development of both marine and terrestrial coastal ecosystems. An artificial nursery will be installed on the quays of the future ship refit platform for megayachts and bird nesting boxes will be fitted on to the “memory” trees around the Yachting Village.
La Ciotat Shipyards have developed strong partnerships with local associations working to promote respect for and protection of our region’s biodiversity. Our partners are experts in the marine environment and offer the general public and crews visiting La Ciotat the opportunity to discover and share in their expertise through exhibitions, documentaries and guided dives. They also provide support to our technical teams on environmental issues.
