Inauguration of the dry port of Lorient
On Friday morning, at 11:00 am, in the city of Lorient, the dry port was inaugurated. Installed in the former submarine base, this covered port will be able to accommodate 280 boats with a maximum length of 7.50 meters and a maximum weight of 2.5 tons. With a surface area of 3,000 m2, this project was conceived by Sellor, the semi-public company that manages Lorient's marinas. The project, handled by ACG, a company specializing in automated systems, involved the construction of two 14-meter-high automated systems. Installed on rails and equipped with two pivoting forks, they were custom designed for the cells of the former submarine base. "In each cell, we can put 140 boats, stored on racks, a kind of four-level shelves" explains Christian Garnier, General Manager of ACG.
The operation is simple, each owner who wants to launch his boat must inform the port the day before. The machine, equipped with sensors and cameras, will recognize the registration of the vessel and will launch it automatically.
Responding to a real need: the lack of space on the pontoons
This project, which has been underway since October 2013, cost a total of 2.6 million euros, partly funded by the department. The development of the slipway was, for its part, financed by Lorient Agglomeration and the regional council.
Despite the six ports of Lorient and their total capacity of 2,400 places, demand remains high and the waiting lists for a place are constantly increasing. As proof, the first storage cell is already full. Brieuc Morin, director of the Sellor ports, explains that "developing ports can no longer be synonymous with just building more docks", it is necessary to invest in alternative solutions to digging docks. Norbert Métairie, mayor of Lorient and president of Lorient Agglomération, explains that the dry port will allow for the freeing up of space in the pontoons for boats over 7.5 meters long, but also for boat dealers to sell without worrying about the lack of space.
Today, the manager of the dry port of Lorient gives himself three years to fill it.
