France-Monaco sea shuttle: no call for tenders, but project not abandoned
The maritime shuttle project aims to relieve road congeestion between Nice and the Principality - © Monaco Tribune
For the moment, no satisfactory solution has been found, but a regular technology watch is in place.
The long-standing project was raised at the Public Budget Session on 12 October: the introduction of a maritime shuttle linking France and Monaco, to relieve traffic congestion.
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“I would like to remind the Government that the National Council remains very committed to this project, which will help to improve access to the Principality by offering a new mode of transport as an alternative to the car,” said National Councillor Marine Grisoul, referring to the project as a “serpent de mer” (a maritime pun for an “old chestnut”, Ed.).
In response, Céline Caron-Dagioni, Minister for Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development, stated that the Prince’s Government was still represented in the working group led by the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolitan authority.
“There is no new call for tenders at present, because the Métropole had suspended the call for tenders with a view to introducing a hydrogen-based shuttle, but the technologies were not yet sufficiently mature on an industrial level to do so. We are still in regular contact with them as part of this working group. Because innovations are happening so fast, they, and we, are always on the lookout for the best technologies to implement this project. So, no call for tenders for the moment,” she said.
Electric or hydrogen?
National Councillor Christophe Brico wondered: “Clearly, the project is not making much headway on the Métropole de Nice side, at least for the time being.(…) Why don’t we seize the initiative, why don’t we do it ourselves?”
“At some point, we’re going to dock in a French port. So we can’t do it alone,” said Céline Caron Dagioni. “One of the predominant criteria in the call for tenders is more carbon-neutral transport, or at least environmentally responsible. (…) It is not a dead issue for the Métropole. Hydrogen-powered shuttles are beginning to be industrialised, but are still in their infancy. At the same time, electric shuttles are still being monitored, despite a number of problems a few months ago. There are fewer issues now, but can they cope with heavy seas? These questions are still being raised in the working group. For now, there is no solution on the horizon.”