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The launch of the last boat felt like a one-way trip. On Wednesday, July 22, 2026, Nicols Yacht employees saw off the final vessel built at the Cholet shipyard in Maine-et-Loire. This departure marks the end of a shipyard founded in 1986 that specialized in building license-free houseboats for rivers and canals.
One last outing organized by the employees
The closure of the facility had been announced to the 17 employees a few days earlier. Since management had not made a public statement, the team decided to mark the departure of the last boat on their own.
The moment was marked by two conflicting emotions. First, there was pride in having maintained industrial expertise dedicated to riverboats for four decades. And then there was the bitterness of a sudden closure, even though Locaboat?s acquisition of Nicols had raised hopes for the consolidation of the business.
Since its founding by Jean Ollivier, the shipyard has built more than 700 boats. A large number of them have been added to the Nicols rental fleet, both in France and abroad.
An industrial project scrapped four years after the acquisition
Locaboat acquired Nicols in 2022 with the goal of bringing together two long-standing players in the riverboat rental industry. The plan called, in particular, for the Cholet facility to serve as the production center for the new group?s boats.
The shipyard was scheduled to build vessels for the Nicols fleet, as well as the new Pénichettes for Locaboat. Production of these boats had even resumed after several years of hiatus.
The group formed around the two brands adopted the name Riverly in January 2026. A few months later, the closure of the factory brought an end to this industrial strategy.
Riverly focuses on riverboat rentals
The closure of Nicols Yacht means that Riverly will no longer directly build the boats operated at its rental bases. The Nicols and Locaboat brands will continue to market houseboat vacations, but fleet renewal will now have to be outsourced to external shipyards. As of July 22, 2026, the group had not specified which manufacturers would take over this production.
This decision clearly separates the two business lines. Riverly focuses on fleet management, rentals, and serving recreational boaters, while manufacturing is outsourced.
The closure affects the last 17 employees at the Cholet site. The shipyard brought together several trades related to boatbuilding, including hull lamination, assembly, carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, and the installation of onboard equipment.
A Shrinking French Construction Market
The closure of Nicols Yacht further reduces the number of French manufacturers active in the river houseboat market. The Les Canalous shipyard, located in Digoin in the Saône-et-Loire department, remains one of the few national players that combines boatbuilding with the operation of a rental fleet. Other rental companies purchase their vessels from partner shipyards, either in France or abroad.
This trend illustrates the challenges facing the industrial model associated with river tourism. The boats have a long service life, production runs remain limited, and orders depend largely on the replacement programs decided by the charter companies.
The last boat in a series of more than 700 units
Over the course of four decades, the boats manufactured in Cholet have sailed on numerous European waterways. Their production has gone hand in hand with the growth of license-free boating on canals and rivers, a sector that began to take shape in the 1980s.
The departure of the last unit brings this chapter in the company?s history to a close. Nicols boats will continue to sail, and the brand will continue its rental business. But they will no longer roll off the assembly line at the Route du Puy Saint Bonnet facility in Cholet.
