oil tanker at the end of its construction in saint nazaire being refueled by the port vendres chantiers de l atlantique is a shipyard based in saint nazaire france . it forms part of the stx france sa business unit majority owned by stx europe with a 66.6 % stake and the balance 33.34 % held by the french state . 1 2 it is one of the world s largest shipyards constructing a wide range of commercial naval and passenger ships . the shipyard was owned by alstom from 1984 and became part of aker yards when aker group acquired the alstom marine business in 2006 . 3 4 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 . 5 its location near nantes france at the mouth of the loire and the deep waters of the atlantic makes sailing large ships in and out easier . contents 1 history 2 ships built 3 references 4 external links history edit the giant superliner rms queen mary 2 under construction russian amphibious assault ship sevastopol awaiting delivery december 2014 ateliers et chantiers de la loire and ateliers et chantiers de saint nazaire penho t merged in 1955 to form chantiers de l atlantique . the yard started by building ships for the french transatlantic line compagnie g n rale transatlantique . in 1961 it built the trans atlantic superliner ss france then the world s longest passenger vessel . after the construction of the last compagnie g n rale 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 basin c was built for this purpose and would have allowed the construction of tankers over 1 000 000 tonnes but it remained unused between the 1970s and the construction of the queen mary 2 in 2003 because of the lack of demand for such large tankers with the re opening of the suez canal . chantiers de l atlantique delivered the luxury cruise ship crystal serenity of crystal cruises in july 2003 . the yard built also built the superliner rms queen mary 2 for the cunard line in 2003 . near the end of the construction period a gangway to the dry docked ship collapsed killing 16 people . 6 aker yards and alstom announced on 4 january 2006 their intention to join forces in shipbuilding and create together one of the world leaders in this industry focused on high value added ships including world class cruise ships . 3 4 aker asa sold its interest in the chantiers de l atlantique shipyard to the south korean company stx corporation in 2008 and the shipyard became part of stx europe formed by the renaming of aker yards . 5 the same year the french government took a 33.34 % stake in the shipyard . 1 ships built edit ships built by chantiers de l atlantique include ss normandie entered service in 1935 world s largest ship until cunard s queen elizabeth held blue riband . capsized in new york harbor 1942 . scrapped in nj 1946 . sans souci class 4 sloops designed as seaplane tenders but built as escorts all launched in 1940 . the belle abeto built 1952 as laennec 66 belle abeto passenger cargo ship . ss france launched in 1961 the world s longest passenger ship from 1961 to 2004 became the ss norway . ms ancerville a former passenger ship built in 1962 integrated as part of sea world a multi purpose complex in shenzhen china since 1983 . ss shalom zim israel flagship 1964 ms renaissance a french cruiseliner that entered service in 1966 for service on the marseilles haifa route . batillus class supertankers 4 ships launched 1976 9 mv gastor and mv nestor two lng carriers built in 1976 1977 for the dutch nsu later nedlloyd and ocean group now owned by bonny gas transport . the large drydock that was later used for the queen mary 2 was specially built for the building of supertankers in the 1970s among which these two ships . the drydock was never used again until the qm2 was being built . 7 the ms thomson spirit then the ms nieuw amsterdam was finished by chantiers de l atlantique in 1983 for the holland america line . mv bretagne brittany ferries ship that operates between portsmouth and st malo was launched in 1989 . royal caribbean international s ms sovereign of the seas which was the largest cruise ship in the world from 1988 to 1990 and its sister ships ms monarch of the seas and ms majesty of the seas . ms dreamward entered service in 1992 . ms windward entered service in 1993 . ms paul gauguin currently sailing in french polynesia . grand mistral entered service in 1999 . nowadays it is operated by ibero cruceros . ocean princess formerly tahitian princess was launched in 1999 . pacific princess was launched in 1999 and is a sister ship to ocean princess . gts millennium built in 2000 and sailed by celebrity cruises . mv adonia formerly royal princess formerly r8 was launched in 2001 . seven seas mariner launched in 2001 and operated by regent seven seas cruises formerly radisson seven seas cruises . this is the world s first all balcony luxury cruise ship . a plaque inside the coral princess coral princess launched in 2002 by princess cruises island princess launched in 2003 by princess cruises . she is a sister ship to coral princess . crystal serenity entered service in 2003 queen mary 2 floated in 2003 is the longest tallest widest and the largest ocean liner and at the time of her construction the largest passenger ship and is currently the last ship to undergo regularly scheduled transatlantic crossings . completed in may 2006 alstom built kogo a yacht owned by mansour ojjeh who also part owns the mclaren formula one team . kogo has been used by lewis hamilton and the yacht has an onboard gym and jacuzzi . part of ms baltic princess launched in 2008 . norwegian cruise line s norwegian epic built in 2010 and currently the world s third largest cruise ship behind the oasis class the quantum class and ahead of freedom class ships of rci . russian amphibious assault ship vladivostok later purchased by egypt . russian amphibious assault ship sevastopol later purchased by egypt . royal caribbean international s harmony of the seas & oasis 4 oasis class celebrity cruises project edge references edit a b 2012 investment climate statement france . june 2012 . retrieved 26 july 2012 . stx europe . stx europe . 2009 01 27 . retrieved 2013 10 22 . a b aker yards and alstom marine complete transaction . asdnews.com . retrieved 26 july 2012 . a b aker yards and alstom marine plan to join forces . alstom.com . retrieved 26 july 2012 . a b aker yards to be renamed stx europe . reuters . 3 september 2008 . retrieved 26 july 2012 . europe inquiry into cruise liner deaths . bbc news . 2003 11 15 . retrieved 2013 10 22 . documentary on discovery knowledge building of the queen mary 2 on youtube yt movie deleted because of copyright infringement external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to chantiers de l atlantique shipyard . stx france coordinates 47 16 59 n 2 11 19 w 47.2831 n 2.1886 w 47.2831 ; 2.1886 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title chantiers de l % 27atlantique & oldid 709498251 categories shipyards of franceaker groupsaint nazaire1861 establishments in franceships built by chantiers de l atlantiquebuildings and structures in loire atlantiquehidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidatacoordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages eestifran ais italianonederlands norsk bokm lportugu s sloven ina edit links this page was last modified on 11 march 2016 at 07 54 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view