The shipyard STX France have returned to their historical name of ‘Building sites of the Atlantic,’ lost in 2006 (Photo by MARCEL MOCHET. AFP)
The shipyard STX France have returned to their historical name of “Sites of the Atlantic,” lost in 2006 during the acquisition of the company by the Norwegian group Aker Yards, has announced the company in a statement Wednesday.
This return to the old historical name of the building had been promised by the minister of the Economy Bruno Mayor in 2017. The general assembly of the company has voted in favour of the name change Tuesday night.
The name of the “Building of the Atlantic” was born in 1955 after the merger of the Ateliers et chantiers de la Loire and Chantiers de Penhoët. The name has been lost in 2006, when the sale of the building to the Norwegian group Aker Yards and Alstom (PA:ALSO).
The Building of the Atlantic are now temporarily detained “to 84.3 % by the French State, 11.7% Naval Group, and 1.6% by local businesses (COFIPME) and in the next few weeks by employees at height of 2.4 per cent”, adds the company. She recalls that, “in accordance with the agreement of the franco-Italian of September 2017, the Italian group Fincantieri will enter the capital as soon as the necessary authorizations have been obtained”.
The order book of the shipyard, who did work for more than 8,000 people, of which 2.900 employees, is full for several years with eleven ships to be built, six for the Italian shipping company MSC, and five for the shipowner american RCCL. The company has completed more than 1,000 hires in the CDI since 2013.
Go on sale in 2016, by its majority shareholder, south Korean STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the shipyard is still not passed into the hands of its Italian competitor Fincantieri. In spite of an agreement signed between France and Italy in September for the acquisition of 50% of the share capital of STX France, the two parties are still waiting for the permission of the authorities of the european competition, “by the end of 2018 beginning of 2019,” according to Bruno Le Maire.
The tensions between France and the new Italian government are also a source of uncertainty.
“The only uncertainty, I admit, this is the position of the Italian government, but I believe that an agreement entered into by a State exceeds the policy changes. Governments change, but the commitments of States remain. I hope that this commitment from the Italian State remains,” was assured in June during a visit to Saint-Nazaire, Mr. Mayor.
