Germain Stoldick, director of the port of Arcachon, was elected to head the Association of Atlantic Marinas, or APPA, on January 27, 2023. He outlines what some of the major projects of the structure, which federates the ports of the southwestern French coast, could be.
How did you come to be the president of APPA?
On the occasion of the general assembly of the association, we elected a new board. Bertrand Moquay, the director of the port of La Rochelle, who had been at the head of the association for 12 years, had indicated earlier that he wished to hand over. The APPA was created on the initiative of Arcachon, La Rochelle and some other large ports. Before Bertrand Moquay, it was already the Port of Arcachon that was in charge of the presidency. I proposed my candidacy, and was finally elected by the new board.
What does APPA stand for?
The association represents 53 ports, spread out from Pornichet to Hendaye. The number of moorings is 23,000 and the capacity is 29,000 boats. This takes into account dry ports and other alternatives.
What is your mission as the new president?
I want to give a new impetus, with a new general delegate currently being recruited. A roadmap for 3 years will be presented within 3 months at the Arcachon show. It will be based on the 3 main missions of the association, which are
- Informing our members and port managers, for example on regulatory changes.
- Supporting members, for example in grant applications, or to push files. This allows us to get to know them better, to compare experiences and procedures in place to improve the service in all ports.
- To represent the interests of the Atlantic ports with the National Federation, public entities at all levels, and also with private partners, with partnership agreements to improve services.
What could be the first concrete tracks, without revealing the whole roadmap?
It is obvious that there will be regulatory aspects, on uses, on the environment. To give a concrete example. There are only two ports in the Atlantic that are certified as Clean Ports, whereas the dynamic is very strong in Brittany or in UPACA. There is no reason why we cannot push these issues.
We will also work on convincing the last 5-6 missing ports on the coast to join, to see how to facilitate the links between managers and private partners. Finally, one of the challenges is also to improve support for ports, whatever their size.
