Ports in Monaco, French Riviera

Monaco is a principality located along the Mediterranean Sea, on the Côte d’Azur, halfway between Nice and the Italian border. Monaco is the second smallest independent state in the world, after the Vatican.

The climate of Monaco is Mediterranean and humid subtropical with mild and humid winters and hot summers with lots of sun. The average temperature in the xx th century, over 75 years of observation is 16.3 ° C. The average temperature ranges from 10.2 ° C in January to 23.7 ° C in August. Temperatures are never too high in the afternoon, thanks to the sea wind. On the other hand, the nights can be very hot and humid (+20 ° C) in summer because of the high sea temperature (up to 26 ° Cin August). The average annual sunshine is around 2,500-2,600 hours and the number of rainy days is low to very low: 62 per year.

Reclamation works
In recent years, major works have enabled Monaco to extend by almost 40 hectares, mainly reclaimed from the sea by embankments. The very first filling works started in 1865to create the railway, followed a few years later by the creation of the first industrial district of Fontvieille, which made it possible to gain 5.5 hectares on the sea. The bottom of the port of Monaco was then filled in, and in the 1960s, the Grimaldi Forum and the Larvotto were built. In 1965, on an initiative of Prince Rainier III and in order to diversify the city’s activities, the construction of the Fontvieille district enabled the creation of 220,000 m2 of new additional building land as well as a new port. This district hosts among others the Louis II stadiumas well as a large area and a shopping center. The port of Monaco has also been extended to the sea.

The construction of a 352 m long semi-floating dyke for a total weight of 163,000 tonnes in 2003 enabled the establishment of 360 parking spaces, 25,000 m2 of storage, ferry stations as well as administrative premises and commercial. The artificial embankment to which the dyke is connected has made it possible to gain one hectare of land and has seen the creation of a building stock of 15,000 m 2. In 2006, Albert II of Monaco officially launched a call for tenders for an extension project at sea, which will eventually gain 10 new hectares on the sea. This project, estimated at 8 billion euros, would have enabled the construction of 275,000 m2 of floor and should have spanned until 2023, the first buildings delivered in 2014. However, it was abandoned in 2008, for officially ecological but also economic reasons, in the context of an international financial crisis. A more modest project was preferred over it, but marking the return of high-rise construction: the construction of a 49-story double tower, the Odéon tower.

Ports:
Monaco has two ports, one natural, the Hercule port having been the subject of an extension (finalized in 2008) by a floating concrete dam, the other artificial, the port of Fontvieille built in at the same time as the extension of the Fontvieille district on the sea.

Characteristics
The management of the ports of Monaco has been entrusted to a private operating company “Ports of Monaco” from 1 st January 2006. The price of places is also far below neighboring ports, the Monegasques have in addition a reduction of 75% on the basic price, hence a waiting time of about 2 years to get a place. The price of the seat has increased sharply: more than 50% in one year.

This fee is allocated according to a discount schedule approved by the princely government.

The shareholders of the “ports of Monaco” are 99% the Prince’s government, the remaining 1% going to the managing company “Ports of Monaco”.

Hercules Port
Hercules Port is a natural bay at the foot of the ancestral rock of the princes of Monaco. It is one of the few, if not the only deep-water port of the French Riviera.

It was used as a trading port by the Greeks and Romans but had the disadvantage of being poorly sheltered from the easterly winds. This prompted the erection of two piers in the early twentieth century which went some way to providing better protection.

More recently, at the instigation of HRH Prince Rainier III, studies were conducted in the 1970s to better protect the stretch of water by placing, before the two existing piers, a new sea wall and a lee breakwater intended to provide the port with full protection from the swells of the eastern sector.

These studies were to lead to the construction of a colossal structure 352 metres in length and weighing 160,000 tonnes at the foot of the Rock of Gibraltar. It has the unique feature of being semi-floating in order to conserve the marine fauna and flora. It was towed to the principality and moored at the foot of the rock. It was completed by a lee breakwater 145 metres in length. The new sea wall also makes it possible to welcome major cruise ships (up to 300 metres in length).

Inside the original port, HRH Prince Albert II, who continued the work started by his father, wished to see the stretch of water undergo comprehensive redevelopment to make the port in Monaco the most modern and most practical marina in the western Mediterranean. This redevelopment enable large and luxurious pleasure craft to be welcomed in response to the development of ocean cruising.

Port of Fontvieille
Only fifty years ago Fontvieille was nothing more than a narrow stretch of sand where the rock plunged into the sea. The emergence of a new area in Monaco was linked to the economic development of the principality. During the development of these new plots of land (17 hectares encroaching on the sea) one section was set aside for the creation of a marina. Sitting at the foot of the Rock of Monaco to the east, the Port of Fontvieille is certainly one of the most sheltered in the region, being protected from the easterly winds by the rock and from the southerly and westerly swell by the large sea wall, which provides protection to the entire Fontvielle area.

At the very heart of the residential area of Fontvieille, the marina offers full facilities for both amateur sailors who are simply passing through and longer-stay visitors. This haven of peace can accommodate up to 275 boats with a maximum draught of three metres. Leisure sailors have at their disposal all the services required for the proper functioning of a marina: water and electricity at each berth in addition to toilet facilities and showers. A shopping centre, hypermarkets, the Monaco heliport and the sporting complex of Louis II stadium can also be found in the vicinity.

Numerous restaurants on the waterfront and nearby shops make the Port of Fontvieille a place of vitality to be explored at a leisurely pace in any season.

French Riviera
The French Riviera is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from Cassis, Toulon or Saint-Tropez on the west to Menton at the France–Italy border in the east, where the Italian Riviera joins. The coast is entirely within the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region of France. The Principality of Monaco is a semi-enclave within the region, surrounded on three sides by France and fronting the Mediterranean. Riviera is an Italian word that corresponds to the ancient Ligurian territory, wedged between the Var and Magra rivers.

The climate of the Côte d’Azur is temperate Mediterranean with mountain influences on the northern parts of the departments of Var and Alpes-Maritimes. It is characterized by dry summers and mild winters which help reduce the likelihood of freezing. The Côte d’Azur enjoys significant sunshine in mainland France for 300 days a year.

This coastline was one of the first modern resort areas. It began as a winter health resort for the British upper class at the end of the 18th century. With the arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century, it became the playground and vacation spot of British, Russian, and other aristocrats, such as Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II and King Edward VII, when he was Prince of Wales. In the summer, it also played home to many members of the Rothschild family. In the first half of the 20th century, it was frequented by artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Francis Bacon, Edith Wharton, Somerset Maugham and Aldous Huxley, as well as wealthy Americans and Europeans. After World War II, it became a popular tourist destination and convention site. Many celebrities, such as Elton John and Brigitte Bardot, have homes in the region.

The eastern part (maralpine) of the Côte d’Azur has been largely transformed by the concreting of the coast linked to the tourist development of foreigners from North Europe and the French,. The Var part is better preserved from urbanization with the exception of the agglomeration of Fréjus-Saint-Raphaël affected by the demographic growth of the maralpin coast and the agglomeration of Toulon which has been marked by urban sprawl on its part West and by a spread of industrial and commercial areas (Grand Var).