AGM of Nantes Ports Maritime Union

The annual general meeting of Nantes Ports Maritime Union (UMNP) was held on 6th June. An opportunity to gather together the Loire Estuary port and maritime community on the theme "Successfully Adapting on Corporate Social Responsibility Together".

Jean-Rémy Villageois, Chair of the Management Board of Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port, and Nathalie Mercier-Perrin, Chair of the French Maritime Cluster, made the opening addresses at the meeting. Both reminded their audience of the issues involved in decarbonizing maritime transport operations and the importance for public- and private-sector port and maritime stakeholders of adopting a collective approach and of working together on such major projects.

Major environmental and social challenges need to be tackled together for the future of the maritime economy, at both a national and a regional level, to promote the attractiveness of the Regional Community, the specialisms of tomorrow and vocational training. The rest of the programme was structured around those topics.

Three Panel Discussions

The theme of the first panel discussion was "Decarbonization", with a focus on the low-carbon industrial activity zone project led by ADELE (the Loire Estuary Decarbonization Association), with Ludovic Bocquier of Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port’s Energy Sector Business Unit being one of the contributors.

The second panel discussion on the theme "Teamwork" took a particular look at the ATLIC European Maritime Economy project driven by Nantes Atlantique Design School. Among the contributors also under the Oportunity banner were Pascal Vialard, Chair of UMNP, and Pascal Fréneau, Member of the Management Board of Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port.

Lastly, the third panel discussion was entitled "Attractiveness", with contributions from Simon Fradet for Saint Nazaire and its Urban Area District, Antoine Adam for the Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Development Agency, Aurélie Raffy for UN e-Sea (Digital University for Maritime Sciences) and Christophe Leclerc, an economist with Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port’s Marketing Directorate, who presented the creation of a University Diploma for Multi-skilled Port Operations Agents.

Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port and the Port Community as represented by Nantes Ports Maritime Union are uniting their efforts thanks to the Oportunity dynamic, and are on the right track for this major environmental and social transition, working alongside the Region’s development bodies.