Chantiers de l'Atlantique is part of the South Korean STX Shipbuilding Group and one of the world's largest shipyards, based in Saint-Nazaire, France. It was owned by Alstom since 1984, and was acquired in 2006 by STX Europe, a subsidiary of STX Shipbuilding. In 2008, the French Republic became a strategic substantial minority-shareholder with 33.34% of the shares.[1]
The largest ocean liner, and for a while also the largest passenger ship -until the 2006 launch of MS Freedom of the Seas, the RMS Queen Mary 2, was built at the shipyard and completed in late 2003 and delivered to Cunard Line in January 2004.
Its location near Nantes, France, at the mouth of the Loire and the deep waters of the Atlantic makes sailing large ships in and out easier.
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Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire and Chantiers de Penhoët merged in 1955 to form Chantiers de l'Atlantique. The yard started by building ships for the French transatlantic line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. In 1961, it built the trans-Atlantic superliner SS France, then the world's longest passenger vessel.
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 (Basin C) was planned for the construction of tankers over 1,000,000 tonnes but this fell through with the re-opening of the Suez Canal.
Chantiers de l'Atlantique delivered the luxury cruise ship, Crystal Serenity of Crystal Cruises in July 2003.
The yard built the giant superliner RMS Queen Mary 2 for the Cunard Line in 2003. Shortly after construction a gangway connecting the ship to the dry dock collapsed killing 16 people.[2]
Aker Yards and Alstom announced on 4 January 2006 their intention to join forces in shipbuilding and create together one of the world leaders in this industry, focused on high-value-added ships, including world-class cruise ships.
The parties plan to establish a new company consisting of the shipyards in Saint-Nazaire and Lorient. Aker Yards would own 75% of this new company and Alstom would commit itself to keep the remaining 25% until 2010. The transaction would enable continuity in management and the actions taken as part of the “Marine 2010“ performance improvement and cost reduction programme already under implementation in Alstom Marine.
Ships built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique include: