The Compagnie des Ports du Morbihan is now the leading marina operator in France, with 14 marinas along the department's coastline. Its turnover reached 22.2 Meuros in 2016. After the integration of the ports of Vannes and Saint-Goustan in the municipality of Auray in 2017, BoatIndustry wanted to take stock with Michel Le Bras, director of the company, on the role of the company and its future projects.
You have just integrated the ports of Vannes and Auray into the Compagnie des Ports du Morbihan. Was this a request from the municipalities? How does this fit in with the company's mission?
Michel Le Bras: The demand comes from elected officials, who remain the decision-makers for their ports. Today, local authorities are concentrating on their core business, such as schools or roads. The management of a port, which is more of a commercial activity, is a different business. Municipalities such as Vannes or Auray, which want to develop their offer, are now asking themselves if they should invest. When they entrust us with the management, we take charge of the investment and they benefit from the dynamics of the Compagnie des Ports du Morbihan. Since 2013, we have become a local public company, which has enabled us, by merging the aspects of port management and investment, to give new impetus to the former SAGEMOR. We benefit from the willingness of the Morbihan department to invest in infrastructure that it considers very structuring.
How does this work in practice for the integration of new ports?
Michel Le Bras: In general, the requesting city enters the capital of the Compagnie des Ports du Morbihan. They send us a program document, a sort of specification of their request. We respond to it as in a call for tenders, without having any competitors. In the end, it is always the elected officials who vote. Our role is to manage the port well. The staff of the municipal authorities who wish to do so, join the company. Today we have 150 full-time equivalent staff over the year, with a rise from 120 in January to 250 in August.
What investments are planned in Vannes and Auray?
Michel Le Bras: We plan to spend 4 to 5 Meuros over 2 to 3 years in the port of Vannes, first on dredging and then on changing the pontoons.
In Auray, where the town hall wishes to revitalize the port, 500 to 600 keuros will allow the installation of pontoons.
Does the Compagnie des Ports du Morbihan, despite its name, have a vocation to develop outside the department?
Michel Le Bras: We are sometimes solicited outside the limits of the department and carry out consulting and engineering missions within the framework of the Passeport Escale network. As the majority shareholder is the Morbihan department, we do not have the vocation to manage ports outside the department, but we are thinking about the possibility of developing intellectual services outside Morbihan.
