“A modern port is not a boat park”, the new port will complete the metamorphosis of this coastal town

In Pornichet, the port will begin a historic transformation. The first port of Loire-Atlantique with its 1,500 rings is starting a 40-year concession from 2026. It will have to respond to new uses and new standards.

Like every year, at this time, the port of Pornichet slows down. The last boats are coming out of the water, activity will resume in the spring. It is a place alive all year round, open to the city and the bay, that the town of Pornichet wants to build.

After months of discussions and calls for tenders, the project is finally back on track.

“The first big step is the environmental studies which will give us the right to build it. And then, we start with the maritime works,”explains Rémy Raher, CEO of the mixed economy company for the construction and operation of the port.

Once the maritime works are finished, we will destroy the existing buildings, rebuild them and this will allow us to inaugurate the port in 2029.

Remy raher

CEO of SEM for the construction and operation of the port

The development of navigation at the end of the 19th century gave birth to the Vieux Môle, a pier serving as a shelter for boats.

In the 1960s, the project for a marina was implemented. Its construction began in 1976. Fifty years later, the aging infrastructure will be transformed, the water port enlarged, the buildings rebuilt according to bioclimatic standards, new services offered.

“A modern port is not a boat parking lot. It is a living port, where boats move, where the diversity of people who use the port is also much greater than before, explains Emmanuel Jahan, director of Loire-Atlantique nautical, that is to say that we really want to encourage, for example, the activity of nautical companies which offer rental services, for example, or boat clubs. Improved quality of welcome and service.”

The project is estimated at nearly 42 million euros.

“The company we created is self-financing, that is to say it will make loans, and then, it will have revenue from boaters, from restaurateurs, and all that self-finances over time, of the 40 million, more than 20 million are paid by the boater. explains Jean-Claude Pelleteur, mayor (SE) of Pornichet.

These boaters, there are more than 500 of them, they have a berth guaranteed for 40 years, and they paid for this berth.

Jean-Claude Excavator

Mayor of Pornichet

The first marina in the Pays de la Loire region will have 1,550 spaces. Launch of work in 2027, with the start of maritime works, the extension of the median and the strengthening of the dike

At the end of 2027, the main port building will be demolished.

Completion of the work is planned for 2029.

The report by Myriam N'Guenor, Christophe François, Valérie Brut

The town of Pornichet has embarked on major redevelopment work for several years.

The fourth and final phase of the Sea Front redevelopment operation, initiated three years ago, was launched at the start of the school year.

At the same time, the heart of the city has also been the subject of several major projects, the Place du Marché, Avenue de la République, and Place de la Poste.

Find us on our social networks and on france.tv