A very busy shipyard

So observed Arnaud Le Joncour, SVP sales & marketing, who also pointed out Chantiers de l'Atlantique in recent months delivered replenishment vessel Jacques Chevalier, first in a series of four, to the French Navy and is working on the first of two electrical offshore substations for RWE's offshore wind farms in the North Sea, Nordseecluster A.

MSC Euribia was handed over in May. Celebrity Ascent is due for delivery in November, and Utopia of the Seas and Ilma in 2024. MSC World America, the sister of 2022's MSC World Europa, is due in 2025, along with Luminara, Ilma's sister, and Celebrity Cruises' Edge class 5, which will have a Wärtsila flex fuel engine with the ability to use three types of fuel, including methanol.

MSC's World class 3 is scheduled in 2026, along with Accor's Orient Express Silenseas, with World class 4 and the second Orient Express ship to follow in 2027.

New Ritz-Carlton series

Now it appears Chantiers is poised to capture multiple more superyacht orders and perhaps expedition newbuilds for The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, which aims to build for other Marriott International brands.

As Jim Murren, executive chairman and CEO, RCYC, told Seatrade Cruise News last week: 'We already have plans under way for ships four and five, to be built on a different platform, to be disclosed, and beyond that we're looking into maybe getting into the expedition space and other yacht types, to get our fleet up to eight to 10 yachts within the next several years.'

The next newbuild could come in 2027 or 2028, Murren said.

Toasting Ilma's float-out, from left, Chantiers de l'Atlantique GM Laurent Castaing, Arnaud Le Joncour and Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection Executive Chairman/CEO Jim Murren

Meeting the ultra-luxury challenge

Le Joncour described the relationship with Ritz-Carlton as 'very good, very easy, very transparent and very efficient. We are very aligned.'

When Chantiers de l'Atlantique went after the Ritz-Carlton business, 'We took this challenge of ultra-luxury very seriously,' Le Joncour said. 'It is almost a new market segment.

Accor and Ponant

Great effort went into elevating the quality standard for Ritz-Carlton. Clearly, that's paying off — not only with Ritz but also Accor, and Chantiers de l'Atlantique is in the running for Ponant's carbon-neutral sail-cruise newbuild thanks to its Solid Sail concept.

The Saint-Nazaire shipyard currently employs 3,500 workers with more than 8,000 in total on site counting subcontractors.