This is good news for Lorient, already very involved in offshore racing. This Tuesday, April 30, 2024, Fabrice Loher, the president of Lorient Agglomération and mayor of Lorient, announced the installation of the future base of the French Orient-Express Challenge of the America’s Cup in the Péristyle district at the beginning of 2025. At these sides , Stéphane Kandler, co-director of the team (French Orient Express Team Challenge) and director of the company K-Challengethe company leading the French project for the America’s Cup.
The base in Lorient at the start of 2025, with around sixty jobs
In the world of international sailing, the America’s Cup is the oldest of the major prestigious competitions. The next edition will take place from Barcelona next summer, precisely on August 22. The French teams are already in Barcelona to prepare. Then, they will move to Lorient for at least two editions. In other words at least until 2028.
This news marks the French Challenge in the long term. And for Lorient, it is about welcoming around sixty employees: athletes, but also Research and Development engineers, who will work on issues of decarbonization of the maritime sector.
Hydrogen boats
Stéphane Kandler, founder of K-Challenge, the company leading the French project for the America’s Cup, explains: “There will not only be sailboats. But also hydrogen-powered boats. We want to use sport as a spur to decarbonize the maritime industry.“The mayor of Lorient, Fabrice Loher, is delighted: “The welcome to our territory of the teams of the Orient Express Racing Team goes well beyond participating in the pride of supporting very high level athletes, in particular for the first time, a Women’s team. The K teams -challenge are mainly composed of engineers whose missions greatly fuel advances in ecological, digital and energy transitions. It is this know-how and future developments linked to the human wealth of our territory around training and development. research that will contribute to the decarbonization of mobility.”
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