Activities taken up separately
An important player in the nautical industry in the Channel, the Chantereyne shipyard was liquidated in the summer of 2022. Located in the Cherbourg marina and in Granville, the company was both a boat dealer for Bénéteau and other brands, a maintenance yard and a hardware store under the Accastillage Diffusion franchise. Following the court decision, the assets related to the various activities of the Chantereyne shipyard were taken over separately.
In Cherbourg, the Accastillage Diffusion store was taken over by Carteret Marine, while the former sales manager, Julien Govys, set up a structure to relaunch the boat sales business as a Bénéteau agent. In Granville, all service and sales activities were taken over by the Ville Audrain shipyard in Saint-Malo.
Exploiting the potential of France's leading port of call
For Pierre Candoni, manager of Carteret Marine, the acquisition of the Accastillage store presented an obvious opportunity: "We took over the lease for the store and all the assets related to the sale of fittings. There is a potential business in Cherbourg linked to the boats that call there. It is the first port of call in France with more than 5,000 visitors per year. The franchise is well known and can be operated here in an ideal location. We have kept the 2 salesmen and the person employed for the administration and have given them the means to work. There are obviously synergies with our Accastillage Diffusion store in Carteret, in terms of purchases or personnel. It's only a half-hour drive."
Complete the offer in the Granville Saint-Malo basin
On the Granville side, it is the logic of the sailing basin that prevailed in the choice of the owners of the Ville Audrain shipyard in Saint-Malo, as explained by its manager Karine Bidard. "We have the same customers who sail in the bay between Granville and Saint-Malo. The desire is to work in symbiosis with Saint-Malo, with the same logo and the same website. All the staff has been taken over in what is now the Ville Audrain Granville. We did a refit of the Accastillage Diffusion store, keeping the Bénéteau and Suzuki brand, adding White Shark and Nova Jolly. Our desire is that boaters find the same thing in Saint-Malo and Granville."
While the Granville store and yard opened on February 7, 2023, the Cherbourg store is scheduled to open in early March.
