The Piana, is a zero carbon ship with a brand new filter that eliminates 99.9% of fine and ultrafine particles, the most dangerous to health.

A Zero Carbon ship

It is a “world first”, already hailed by an air monitoring body and environmental activists. In Marseille, the French company La Méridionale has launched a ferry guaranteed to be particle-free, a promising innovation in a sector weighed down by its carbon footprint. After the electrification of its mixed cargo ships when they are at the quay, the La Méridionale company has just taken a new step to improve air quality. The shipowner now has an anti-pollution boat in its fleet. The “Piana” would now be the most virtuous mixed freighter in the Mediterranean. Flagship of the Marseille-based company, this merchant ship will make connections between Marseille and Corsica without emitting black smoke. A feat made possible thanks to an innovative filter that must be able to capture 99% of fine particle emissions and sulfur oxides.

Black smoke : a poison for Marseille residents

All the liner’s engines are now equipped with this technology which neutralizes part of the polluting emissions. A process already used in the majority of industrial incineration plants for 30 years. This process required three years of research before it was installed. An unprecedented solution in the maritime world hailed by the town hall of Marseille, a city where 39% of nitrogen oxide emissions are due to maritime activities and more particularly to cruise ships. As early as 2016, the Marseille shipowner – which provides freight and passenger transport between Marseille, Corsica and Morocco – was the first ferry company in the Mediterranean to electrically connect its ships to the quay in Marseille to limit polluting emissions. Today, it opens the way to a new, more ecological way of sailing : no more thick black smoke escaping from cruise ships and which has been poisoning the lives of Marseille residents for years.