Chantiers de l'Atlantique
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. 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). 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. History. Chantiers de l'Atlantique was formed in 1955 by the merger of Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire and Ateliers et Chantiers de Penhoët. The shipyard's first ships were built for the French transatlantic line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. In 1961, it built the transatlantic ocean liner , the world's longest passenger vessel at the time . 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 MV "Gastor" and "Nestor" and then again idle until construction of Cunard's liner RMS "Queen Mary 2". Between 1985 and 1998, the shipyard built several cruise ships for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL). In  1987 the first of these ships, "Sovereign of the Seas", was delivered, and was the first mega cruise ship in the world. Subsequent deliveries to RCCL included "Monarch of the Seas", "Majesty of the Seas", "Nordic Empress", "Legend of the Seas", "Splendour of the Seas", "Rhapsody of the Seas", and "Vision of the Seas". In 2003, the shipyard also delivered "Crystal Serenity" to Crystal Cruises and RMS "Queen Mary 2" to Cunard Line. During the construction of RMS "Queen Mary 2", a gangway to the dry-docked ship collapsed, killing sixteen people. On 4 January 2006 Aker Yards purchased the  Marine Division of Alstom, which included the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard. 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. The same year, the French government purchased a 33.34% stake in the shipyard. 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. 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. Ships built. Notable passenger liners built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique include: Other ships built at the yard: