Saint-Nazaire (France)

Saint-Nazaire is an Atlantic port city in Loire-Atlantique (Brittany, western France). Port St-Nazaire has a large harbor waterway, located on Loire River estuary's right bank and close to the Atlantic Ocean. The city covers a total area of approx 47 km2 (18 mi2). and has population around 70,000.

Port St Nazaire (locode FRSNR) has a deepwater harbor and is managed by Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port Authority. Its close proximity to Nantes makes it a preferable port of call for big cruise liners visiting France. The town is located to the south of France's second-largest swamp ("la Briere"). Given its location, St Nazaire has long traditions of commercial fishing and shipbuilding.

Chantiers de l'Atlantique (fka STX France) is one of the world's largest shipyards. Here, among many other cruise vessels, were constructed the iconic liners RMS Queen Mary 2 (operator Cunard, owner Carnival Corporation) and Harmony of the Seas (operator RCI-Royal Caribbean) - one of the world's top-5 largest passenger ship ever built.

The small village developed quickly into a large town in the 19th-century's second half. The growth was due to the seaport's development and construction of connecting railways. St Nazaire increasingly replaced Nantes. Being an important naval base for the Nazis, during WW2 (1939-45) the town was heavily bombed by the British in 1942. Until 1945, it was also heavily bombed by the Allies (Great Britain and the USA) as one of Europe's last territories liberated from Nazi Germany (on May 11, 1945).

Port's largest liner so far is Marella Cruises ship Marella Discovery which docked here in May 2018.

In 2017, the cruise port received 12 ship calls and ~9000 passengers.

In 2018, the port handled a total of 8 cruise ship calls and ~5500 tourists.

Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard St Nazaire (STX France)

St nazaire's Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard is currently part of the shipbuilding corporation STX France. Most of this business (66,6%) is owned by STX Europe (former Aker Yards). The balance 33,34% stake is state-owned (by France). Being one of the world's biggest shipbuilders, Chantiers de l'Atlantique constructs a wide range of marine vessels - passenger, commercial and naval/warships.

The shipyard was acquired by Aker Aker Group in 2006. STX Corporation (South Korea/1976-founded) acquired Aker Yards in 2008 and Chantiers de l'Atlantique became part of STX Europe. The company STX Europe (2004-founded as "Aker Yards Oy", renamed in 2008, Oslo Norway-headquartered) operates over a dozen large shipyards located in South America (Brazil), Asia (Vietnam) and Europe (STX France, Norway, Romania).

Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard is preferred for large cruise shipbuilding projects mainly due to its know-how, but also for its convenient location at Loire River's mouth and the Atlantic's deep waters.

In the mid-20th century, Chantiers de l'Atlantique started building French-flagged Transatlantic ocean liners for passenger and cargo transportation between Europe and America. Its first vessel was the famous SS France (1961-launched) - then the world's largest passenger ship. The yard's expansion included building a large drydock facility (Basin C), which was purposefully constructed for large vessels.

The first cruise liners were ordered by Holland America Line - ms Noordam (1983-launched/link to the 2006-built ship) and ms Nieuw Amsterdam (1984-launched/link to the 2010-built ship). The yard's first Royal Caribbean ship was Sovereign of the Seas (1987-launched) - the world's largest passenger liner at the time.

In July 2017 started a project that expanded the pre-assembly area by 17,000 m2 (183,000 ft2), or around 30%. The EUR 30 million project was completed in late-November 2018. Following the expansion, now the shipyard can move simultaneously 22 mega-blocks (16 previously). The project also included lengthening the rail track (by 135 m / 443 ft) of the 1400-ton gantry crane. This allows 6 more cruise ship blocks to be assembled simultaneously.

On February 2, 2018, Fincantieri signed with STX France a share purchase agreement for 50% of the shipyard's stock capital (valued EUR 59,7 million) previously owned by France (via the Government agency APE). Following this deal, STX France's stockholding structure is Fincantieri (50% plus 1% borrowed from APE), France (34,34% via APE, of which 1% lent to Fincantieri), Naval Group (10%), employees (2,40%), French companies (3,26%).

In 2019, the shipyard inaugurated a training facility (named L'Ecole / The School) that offers courses in metal works, welding, pipefitting, carpentering. The new 450 m2 sized school was designed to provide training and skills to both current and new employees. Around 80% of the training is practical, with classes led by shipyard's professional workers.

In 2022 was installed the shipyard's new 1440-ton gantry crane with lifting capacity 1050 tonnes. The new crane replaced the old (1968-built) 750-ton crane which was dismantled in 2021-Q3. The new EUR 30-million crane was first used for Celebrity Ascent's construction.

Saint-Nazaire cruise terminal