La Ciotat

Located midway between Marseille and Toulon, La Ciotat is a charming little town, in the middle of the gorgeous Bandol and Cassis wine regions, that produce some of the best wines in Provence. This quaint fishing village has a long tradition of building and refitting ships going all the way back to Phoenician times! Until 20 years ago, it was one of the major French commercial shipyards and today it is one of the main centers in the world for Superyacht refits. The yacht companies inherited a 485 meters dry dock with 11 meters draft, 1.5 kilometers of quayside, a 660 ton crane and a lot of smaller equipment, together with huge sheds and parking spaces that are the envy of every other shipyard complex in the Mediterranean. The port of La Ciotat is also equipped with a heliport and a 2000 ton syncrolift. The site is administered by Semidep, a semi-state body, and their policy has been to encourage as many complementary yacht-related activities as possible to locate here, with the aim of providing every service a visiting Superyacht could need, all within the 35 hectare secure site. Monaco Marine has its largest ‘state of the art’ facility there, featuring an impressive painting shed. Compositeworks and H2X provide refits with an emphasis on high technology materials, while Classic Works deals with older yachts, replicas and fine woodwork on yachts of any type. The small Provencal town, featuring a choice of excellent and inexpensive restaurants, is in walking distance from the yards. La Ciotat is truly a sport lover´s heaven with nice beaches, excellent conditions for water sports, climbing and skiing, with world-class ski resorts only two hours away.