The Port of Toulon in Southern France says it experienced an exceptional situation last weekend with a record activity level. The port acted as host to 18 ship movements arriving unexpectedly to shelter including six vessels in distress and four cruise ships diverted to the port from elsewhere.

The four cruise liners diverted to the French port were Costa Serena that arrived on Saturday, followed by L’Horizon on Sunday, Costa Luminosa on Monday and Grand Holiday on Tuesday. A total of some 12,000 cruise passengers used the port in the four day period

"The storm that swept across the weekend in south eastern France, from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday night, with gusts of winds approaching 130/150 km an hour has forced a majority of vessels operating in the Mediterranean to divert their routes to dock in Toulon harbour, the best protected port in all weather conditions of the French Med, from Genoa to Barcelona," the port said.

These weather conditions caused the closure of the Port of Marseilles and all ships of the  ferry companies SNCM and CMN were diverted to Toulon. A special authorisation was given by the prefectural government to provide and maintain the vessel activity to Corsica.