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 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.[3][4] 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).[5]
After the bankruptcy of STX Corporation, the shipyard was acquired by the French government and reverted to its original name of Chantiers de l'Atlantique.
The oil tanker Batillus at the end of its construction in Saint-Nazaire, being refueled by the Port-Vendres
It was renamed to its current name in 1955 by the merger of Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire and Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët. In 1961, it built the transatlantic ocean linerFrance, the world's longest passenger vessel only overall, but not at the waterline.[6] 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 Gastor and Nestor and then again idle until construction of Cunard's liner Queen Mary 2.[7]
On 4 January 2006 Aker Yards purchased the Marine Division of Alstom, which included the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard.[3][4] 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.[5] The same year, the French government purchased a 33.34% stake in the shipyard.[10]
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.[citation needed]
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.[11]
The shipyard in 2018
In 2022, a new crane entered service during the construction of Celebrity Ascent, replacing the older crane from 1967.[12]
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.
MVGastor 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 Queen Mary 2 was being built.[citation needed]
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€2.39 billion [1] (2023)
