Chantiers de l'Atlantique

Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river and the deep waters of the Atlantic, which make the sailing of large ships in and out of the shipyards easy.

The oil tanker Batillus at the end of its construction in Saint-Nazaire, being refueled by the Port-Vendres

The shipyard was owned by Alstom from 1976 onwards, became Alstom-Atlantique, and was later part of Aker Yards when Aker Group acquired the Alstom Marine business in 2006.[1][2] In 2008, the South Korean company STX Corporation acquired Aker Yards, and the shipyard became part of STX Europe (formed by the renaming of Aker Yards).[3]

A plan is currently under review by the EU's Competition Bureau[4] for Italy's Fincantieri to acquire a 50% stake in the shipyard. After the bankruptcy of STX Corporation, the shipyard reverted to its original name of Chantiers de l'Atlantique.

History

The giant superliner RMS Queen Mary 2 under construction

Russian amphibious assault ship Sevastopol awaiting delivery, December 2014

Chantiers de l'Atlantique was formed in 1955 by the merger of Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire and Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët. The shipyard's first ships were built for the French transatlantic line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. In 1961, it built the transatlantic ocean liner SS France, the world's longest passenger vessel at the time.[5] After the construction of the last Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner and the closure of the Suez Canal, the yard began building large tankers, including Batillus, Bellamya, Pierre Guillaumat and Prairial. A new dry dock was built for this purpose and allowed the construction of tankers exceeding one million tonnes, but it remained mainly unused except for the construction in 1975-1976 of the sister-ships MV Gastor and Nestor and then again idle until construction of Cunard's liner RMS Queen Mary 2.[6]

Between 1985 and 1998, the shipyard built several cruise ships for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL). In 1987 the first of these ships, Sovereign of the Seas, was delivered, and was the first mega cruise ship in the world. Subsequent deliveries to RCCL included Monarch of the Seas, Majesty of the Seas, Nordic Empress, Legend of the Seas, Splendour of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, and Vision of the Seas. In 2003, the shipyard also delivered Crystal Serenity to Crystal Cruises and RMS Queen Mary 2 to Cunard Line.[7] During the construction of RMS Queen Mary 2, a gangway to the dry-docked ship collapsed, killing sixteen people.[8]

On 4 January 2006 Aker Yards purchased the Marine Division of Alstom, which included the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard.[1][2] In March 2007 Aker ASA divested its interest in Aker Yards, with South Korean STX Corporation acquiring a 39.2% stake in Aker Yards in October. By 3 November 2008 STX Corporation had acquired a controlling stake in the company, renaming it to STX Europe.[3] The same year, the French government purchased a 33.34% stake in the shipyard.[9]

After the bankruptcy of STX Corporation in 2016, STX France was put up for sale, and the Italian state-owned shipyard Fincantieri showed interest in acquiring STX France.

In September 2017, after difficult negotiations and a brief nationalization of the shipyard by the French government, the involved parties reached an agreement, with Fincantieri acquiring a 50% stake in STX France, and the remainder being held by the French Naval Group and the French government. A month later, it was announced that the Saint-Nazaire shipyard would regain its original name, Chantiers de l'Atlantique.[10]

Ships built

Notable passenger liners built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique include:[11]

Passenger Ships

	Ship Name (as built)	Year Completed	Built for	Hull Number	Current Status	Notes
1910s
	SS France	1912	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique		Scrapped 1936
1920s
	SS Paris	1921	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique		Burned and Capsized at Dock 1939, Scrapped 1947
	SS Ile de France	1927	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique		Scrapped 1959
1930s
	MS Lafayette	1930	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique		Burned, scrapped
	SS L'Atlantique	1931	Compagnie de Navigation Sud Atlantique		Burned, and scrapped
	SS Champlain	1932	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique		Sunk WWII
	SS Normandie	1935	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique		Burned and Capsized at Dock 1942, Scrapped 1948	It was the world's largest ship until Cunard's Queen Elizabeth, held Blue Riband. Capsized in New York Harbour, 1942. Scrapped in NJ, 1946.
	SS Pasteur	1939	Compagnie de Navigation Sud-Atlantique		Sank 1980 on way to scrap yard
1950s
	SS Bretagne	1952	Société Générale de Transport Maritimes		Scrapped 1963
	MS General Mangin	1953	Cie de Nav Fraissinet et Cyprien Fabre		Scrapped 1986
	MV Jean Mermoz	1957	Cie de Nav Fraissinet et Cyprien Fabre		Scrapped 2008
1960s
	SS France	1962	Compagnie Générale Transatlantique		Scrapped 2008	Launched in 1961, the world's longest passenger ship from 1961 to 2004, became the SS Norway.
	MS Ancerville	1962	Compagnie de Navigation Paquet		Hotel Ship	A former passenger ship built in 1962, integrated as part of Sea World, a multi-purpose complex in Shenzhen, China since 1983.
	SS Shalom	1964	Zim Israel Navigation Company		Sank on way to Scrap Yard 2001	Israel flagship (1964).
	MS Renaissance	1966	Compagnie Francaise de Navigation		Scrapped 2010	A French cruise liner that entered service in 1966 for service on the Marseilles-Haifa route.
	MV Yaohua	1967	China Ocean Shipping Company		Possibly Hotel Ship	Last ship to be launched from slipway at St. Nazaire[11]
1980s
	MS Niuew Amsterdam	1983	Holland America Line		Scrapped 2018
	MS Noordam	1984	Holland America Line		Scrapped 2020
	MS Sovereign of the Seas	1987	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		Scrapped 2020	Was the largest cruise ship in the world from 1988 to 1990, and its sister ships, MS Monarch of the Seas and MS Majesty of the Seas.
	MS Star Princess	1989	Sitmar Cruises/Princess Cruises		Laid up	Ordered for Sitmar Cruises as the Fair Majesty[11]
1990s
	Nordic Empress	1990	Admiral Cruises/Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service	Ordered as Future Seas for Admiral Cruises.[11]
	Monarch of the Seas	1992	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		Scrapped 2020
	Majesty of the Seas	1992	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service
	Dreamward	1992	Norwegian Cruise Line		In Service
	Windward	1993	Norwegian Cruise Line		In Service
	Legend of the Seas	1995	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service
	Splendor of the Seas	1996	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service
	Rhapsody of the Seas	1997	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service
	Paul Gauguin	1997	Services Et Transports / Radisson Seven Seas Cruises		In Service
	Vision of the Seas	1998	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service
	R One	1998	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	R Two	1998	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	R Three	1999	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	R Four	1999	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	Mistral	1999	Festival Cruises		In Service
2000s
	R Five	2000	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	R Six	2000	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	Millenium	2000	Celebrity Cruises		In Service
	R Seven	2000	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	R Eight	2000	Renaissance Cruises		In Service	8 sister ships
	Infinity	2001	Celebrity Cruises		In Service
	Summit	2001	Celebrity Cruises		In Service
	Seven Seas Mariner	2001	Radisson Seven Seas Cruises		In Service	This is the world's first all balcony luxury cruise ship.
	European Vision	2001	Festival Cruises		In Service
	European Stars	2002	Festival Cruises		In Service
	Constellation	2002	Celebrity Cruises		In Service
	Coral Princess	2003	Princess Cruises		In Service
	MSC Lirica	2003	MSC Cruises		In Service
	Island Princess	2003	Princess Cruises		In Service
	Crystal Serenity	2003	Crystal Cruises		In Service
	Queen Mary 2	2004	Cunard Line		In Service	Floated in 2003, is the longest, tallest, widest, and the largest ocean liner, and at the time of her construction, the largest passenger ship, and is currently the only ship to undergo regularly scheduled transatlantic crossings.
	MSC Opera	2004	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Musica	2006	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Orchestra	2007	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Poesia	2008	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Fantasia	2008	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Splendida	2009	MSC Cruises		In Service
2010s
	Norwegian Epic	2010	Norwegian Cruise Line		In Service
	MSC Magnifica	2010	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Divina	2012	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Preziosa	2013	MSC Cruises		In Service
	Europa 2	2013	Hapag & Lloyd		In Service
	Harmony of the Seas	2016	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service
	MSC Meraviglia	2017	MSC Cruises		In Service
	Symphony of the Seas	2018	Royal Caribbean Cruise Line		In Service	World's largest passenger ship as of May 2020 (228,081 tons)
	Celebrity Edge	2018	Celebrity Cruises		In Service
	MSC Bellissima	2019	MSC Cruises		In Service
	MSC Grandiosa	2019	MSC Cruises		In Service
2020s
	Celebrity Apex	2020	Celebrity Cruises		Awaiting Entry to Service
	MSC Virtuosa	2021	MSC Cruises		Under Construction

Other ships built at the yard:

A plaque inside the Coral Princess

• Sans Souci class - 4 sloops, designed as seaplane tenders, but built as escorts. all launched in 1940.
• The BELLE ABETO - Built 1952 as LAENNEC 66 BELLE ABETO Passenger/cargo Ship.
• Batillus class supertankers - Four ships launched (1976-1979)
• MV Gastor and MV|Nestor - Two LNG carriers built in 1975-1977 for the Dutch NSU (later Nedlloyd) and Ocean Group (later owned by Bonny Gas Transport). The large drydock, which was later used for the Queen Mary 2, was specially built for the building of supertankers in the 1970s, among which were these two ships. The drydock was never used again until the QM2 was being built.[12]
• MV Bretagne - Brittany Ferries ship that operates between Portsmouth and St Malo, was launched in 1989.
• KOGO - Completed by Alstom in May 2006. It was a yacht owned by Mansour Ojjeh, who also part-owns the McLaren Formula One team. KOGO has been used by Lewis Hamilton and the yacht has an on-board gym and Jacuzzi.
• MS Baltic Princess - A part of it was launched in 2008.
• Russian amphibious assault ship Vladivostok - Later purchased by Egypt.
• Russian amphibious assault ship Sevastopol - Later purchased by Egypt.

References

1. "Aker Yards and Alstom Marine Complete Transaction". Asdnews.com. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
2. "Aker Yards and Alstom Marine plan to join forces". Alstom.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
3. "Aker Yards to be renamed STX Europe". Reuters. 3 September 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
4. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-262_en.htm
5. "SS FRANCE, SS NORWAY". Maritime Matters. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
6. Documentary on Discovery Knowledge Building of the Queen Mary 2 on YouTube. retrieved:12 Sept 2020
7. "Discovery Knowledge Building The Queen Mary 2 PART1 [Documentary] FreeHDFilms - video dailymotion". Dailymotion. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
8. "Europe | Inquiry into cruise liner deaths". BBC News. 2003-11-15. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
9. "2012 Investment Climate Statement - France". June 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
10. http://www.saintnazaire-infos.fr/saint-nazaire-retour-du-nom-les-chantiers-de-l-atlantique-23-49-3787.html
11. Baul, Patrick J. (2003). Half Century of Cruise Ships in Saint-Nazaire. France: Coop Breizh Publications. ISBN 2 84346 167 7.
12. Documentary on Discovery Knowledge Building of the Queen Mary 2 on YouTube - YT movie deleted because of copyright infringement

External links

• Official website