The Le Pellerin Floating Dock at the Service of the Loire Ferries!

A free service provided by Loire Atlantique Departmental Authority, the Loire ferries carry around 2.3 million passengers every year on two routes between Couëron and Le Pellerin, and between Basse-Indre and Indret. The two ferries that operate these links, the Lola and the L'Île Dumet, are dry-docked every year for inspections to be conducted and for any maintenance operations as may be required.

To do this, the Department Authority calls on the services provided by Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port, through the use of the floating dock and the know-how available at the Les Coteaux maintenance workshops. On 9th April, the Loire ferry Lola was taken out of the water at Le Pellerin. Metal fabrication work on the hull was carried out by teams from Nantes ‒ Saint Nazaire Port, while routine maintenance operations were conducted by the Compagnie des Bacs de Loire Ferry Company. The Lola was relaunched on 25th April.

Of German construction dating back to 1942, the floating dock was used during the Second World War to maintain the German Navy’s submarines. It was handed over to France as war reparations. The floating dock is part of a series of facilities and infrastructures dedicated to shipbuilding and ship repair, along with the Joubert sluice dock and the three dry docks in Saint Nazaire.

Contact at Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port – Ludovic Boutin