La Ciotat

This quaint fishing village has a long tradition of building and refitting ships going all the way back to Phoenician times! La Ciotat was one of the major French commercial shipyards until 20 years ago, when they declared bankruptcy. For years, the locals kept faith and fought anyone who threatened to dismantle any of the shipyard infrastructures. Today, La Ciotat is one of the major centres in the world for Superyacht refits. The yacht companies inherited a 485 metre dry dock with 11 metres draft, 1.5 kilometers of quayside, a 660 ton crane and a lot of smaller equipment, together with the huge sheds and parking spaces that are the envy of every other shipyard complex in the Mediterranean. The port of La Ciotat is also equipped with a heliport. The site is administered by Semidep, a semi-state body and their policy has been to encourage as many complimentary yacht-related activities as possible to locate here, with the aim of providing every service a visiting Superyacht could need, all within the one 35 hectare secure site. Monaco Marine has successful opened its new ‘state of the art’ shipyard, featuring an impressive painting shed, a 2000 ton syncrolift and facilities to cater for a dozen Superyachts up to 90 metres long. Other highly acclaimed and successful yards are Composite Works and H2X with an emphasis on high technology materials, whilst Classic Works deals with older yachts, replicas and fine woodwork on yachts of any type.

Amongst other services available in this unique site are the world renowned Rig Pro, the service branch of Southern Spars; along with a growing number of high quality companies, covering pretty much every aspect of yacht refit. Best of all, La Ciotat, located midway between Marseille and Toulon in a gorgeous region, is in the middle of the Bandol and Cassis wine regions. The small charming Provencal town is in walking distance from the yards and, close by, there are three international airports: Marseille, Toulon and Nice. La Ciotat is also a sport lover´s heaven, and world-class ski resorts are only two hours away.