Video surveillance, water management, connected buoy, smart terminal: marinas in the digital age

The five winning marinas received their prize in Palavas (Hérault). MIDI LIBRE – Yan.Phi.

Since 2020, the State and the regional council, in partnership with the UVPO (Union of Port Cities of Occitanie) have been supporting the transformation of marinas. In two years, 1.9 million euros have been subsidized for 13 municipalities, five new winners have just been designated on September 12.

“The boater arrives at the connected mooring buoy, with his smartphone he scans the QR code and can pay for his place directly at the port online. And we see the evolution of places in real time”. Carine Jouanaud is the director of the marina in Leucate (Aude), one of the five winning cities in the call for projects for the “digital transition of ports”, and illustrates how, in practice, dematerialization saves everyone time.

The initiative, supported by the State and the Region, in close partnership with the UVPO (Union of Port Cities of Occitanie), was launched in 2020 when the need to transform the marina became apparent in order to increase its attractiveness and economic development. It was initially a question of a call for projects on “greening” ports and now, therefore, digital transition.

“These are not boat garages but living spaces”

Eight projects in coastal municipalities were financed in 2023, for 1.26 M€ awarded equally between the regional authority and the State, five others since Thursday evening and an awards ceremony at the Palavas harbor master's office: Sète, Port-Leucate, Port-la-Nouvelle, Banyuls-sur-Mer and Palavas, the winners sharing 700,000 euros.

“We need digital development while ensuring the relevance of the projects” indicates Serge Pallares, president of the UVPO. “We need to stimulate and accelerate these projects”claims Sébastien Denaja, vice-president of the Mediterranean commission at the regional council, where François-Xavier Lauch, prefect of Hérault representing the regional prefect, reminds us: “Ports need modern equipment because they are not boat garages but living spaces.”

More cameras and speed radars on the water

The solutions revolve around improving services for boaters (such as new websites, deploying Wi-Fi, and installing webcams to see the state of the sea in real time), optimizing management and precise monitoring of water consumption (and detecting breakdowns and leaks), but also electricity, or facilitating the management of port areas and transmitting, for example, a boater's files from one port to another by telephone.

The issue of security with the installation of video surveillance is also very present in the projects.“Security is becoming very important but is part of a territorial development puzzle", estimates Serge Pallares. "There is a strong demand from customers to monitor the pontoons" recalls Cyril Pagel-Grechi, director of the ports of Palavas.

"There are thefts on boats, especially out of season, GPS, depth sounder, sailing… Now, with the telephone, we can open the gate of the pontoons, parking lots or toilets with the smartphone" announces Carine Jouanaud. In Palavas, to better regulate the water level, “a first speed radar will be placed in the pond and we plan to place another one at the entrance to the port” indicates the mayor Christian Jeanjean.

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