The department of Côtes d'Armor (22) has created with several coastal municipalities the local public company (SPL) Eskale d'Armor, intended to manage its ports. Christophe Baudry joined the structure on March 15, 2021, as general manager. He answers questions from BoatIndustry.
Can you remind us of your career path and the motivations that led you to the head of Eskale d'Armor?
I was the communications director for the 2008 Vendée Globe. I then participated in the creation of Lorient Grand Large, whose goal was to develop ocean racing in Lorient. I have always been interested in creating tourism and economic development from the maritime sector. In Lorient, we have gone from less than 300 jobs in 2010 in ocean racing to over 700 today. My motivation is to develop a company in the maritime sector, by developing yachting and its new ways of practice. Today, we are a start-up company starting from scratch.
What is the roadmap for Eskale d'Armor?
The SPL is going to take responsibility for the departmental ports whose concession is coming to an end. On January 1, 2022, there are Binic (350 berths afloat and 168 berths ashore), Paimpol (350 berths) and the Lézardrieux commercial quay. The municipal concession of Tréguier (310 berths) expires on December 31, 2022. Discussions are also underway for Pontrieux and Perros-Guirec, in the longer term. There is also the port of Saint-Quay. We are currently presenting the contracts in the port councils for signature during the new term of office (Editor's note: the departmental elections take place on 20 and 27 June 2021). Our vocation is to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the SPL management model, which has already been demonstrated elsewhere, and to develop by convincing new delegators. The statutes of the SPL only provide for the management of infrastructures that are entrusted to us.
How are the relations with the communities and the marina agents?
Today we are working with all the municipalities on the data needed for the transfer. There have been many questions and assumptions, but today I think we have been able to reassure them with the draft contracts that we have presented. The municipalities are listening to their users and their inhabitants, which is logical. Today, nothing changes for the users. We will have the same harbour masters and the teams will be integrated into the SPL, respecting their acquired rights. For the municipalities, there is the question of the city/port articulation. The internal regulations of Eskale d'Armor provide for a strategic committee with them to regulate joint life. There will be no standardization. The SPL will adapt to the needs. The life, the stakes and the development plans are not the same according to the ports. We are at the service of the economic life of a territory.
What are the concrete projects you are planning for Eskale d'Armor?
We will look at the different needs at the level of the navigation basins. We can think, for example, of the management of waiting lists in common between the different marinas. There are more and more RIBs and boats on trailers. We can envisage reception pontoons to facilitate the life of summer customers to load or embark the crew and encourage more boats to leave the water.
We are also going to work on characterizing our navigation basin on the scale of the department in order to create a sort of navigation brand as exists in the Morbihan. We are fortunate to have ports in the heart of the city. We must work with tourism and yachting professionals. Brexit is also an issue for us, as British boaters are close neighbors.
