Leading shipbuilders STX France and Italy's Mariotti group and Italian ship repairer San Giorgio del Porto have joined forces in a bid to set up a centre for the repair of very large cruise ships in the French port of Marseilles.
The three groups, which have gone into consortium for the purpose, have been selected by the port of Marseilles to go into exclusive negotiations with it for the concession to operate its giant number 10 drydock. The port said that it hoped to reach agreement with the consortium before the end of March with a view to bringing the currently disused 465-metre by 85-metre drydock back into service for the end of 2014.
The port indicated that the consortium was aiming to have the drydock back in operation in time for the arrival on the cruise market of a series of new 330-metre-long cruise ships which are due into service in 2014 and 2015. The number 10 drydock was the only one in the western Mediterranean capable of accommodating these ships.
However, the consortium, which has indicated that it wants to open its ranks to cruise ship operators in the future, is not planning to devote the new centre exclusively to cruise ship repairs. It has told the port that it will to attract business from operators of offshore platforms, large gas tankers and very large container carriers.
The port said that it was pleased by the high quality of the consortium's project, as well as by the fact that its backers comprised the second- and fourth-biggest cruise shipbuilders in the world and the leading ship repairer in the Mediterranean. They clearly met the criteria it had set that bids should come from established international operators with real experience of ships over 250 metres long.
Genoa-based San Giorgio del Port is already established, moreover, at the port of Marseilles, where its local subsidiary CNM has been in activity for the last 18 months after winning the operating concessions for the port's number eight and nine drydocks.
The number 10 drydock was brought into service in 1975 for the repair of large oil tankers but was effectively made redundant by the 1973 and 1979 oil crises. It was used, nevertheless, on a sporadic basis until 2000, since when it has been out of service. Marseilles-based container line operator CMA CGM was awarded the concession to operate the drydock in 2008 but abandoned the project after getting into financial difficulty.
Andrew Spurrier
