Marseille, the dry dock.
Palumbo's graving docks, Monaco Marine's deep-draught quay, the industrial bedrock of the Grand Port Maritime — and an international airport some twenty kilometres from the yards. You come to Marseille for the yard period, not for the show berth.
Marseille is not a superyacht port of call. There is no dedicated big-yacht marina; the Vieux-Port — some 3,200 berths run by the Aix-Marseille-Provence Métropole, harbour office on VHF channel 9 — keeps only a handful of visitor berths for larger units, with admissible lengths and draughts to be confirmed with the harbour master. What Marseille offers a vessel of 50 metres and above is of a different order: the graving docks of the Grand Port Maritime, with two dedicated superyacht yards inside the port precinct, and the western logistics gateway to the cruising grounds.
In concrete terms:
- —Palumbo Superyachts Refit — the former ITM yard, taken over by the Palumbo group in 2014, concession-holder of the "petites formes" sector on Boulevard des Bassins de Radoub (concession renewed for 21 years in 2020). Four graving docks dedicated to yachting — from 85 m up to docks 5 and 6 at 125 m with 6.5 m of water — around 500 m of quay over some 35,000 m², and a climate-controlled floating paint tent roughly 90 m long, billed as the only one in the area, allowing paint work year round.
- —Monaco Marine Marseille — 114 Digue du Large, inside the port precinct: 8,700 m² and a 360 m deep-draught quay for afloat works on vessels from 24 to 160 m, running seven to eight superyacht projects a year.
- —The great docks — docks 8, 9 and 10 are operated by Chantier Naval de Marseille (San Giorgio del Porto group) for merchant ships and cruise liners. A business distinct from yachting, but one that keeps the industrial tooling on site: dock 10 (465 × 85 m, commissioned in 1975) remains the largest graving dock in the Mediterranean, one of the largest in the world.
That industrial base doubles as a gateway: Marseille-Provence airport — over 11 million passengers in 2024, more than 70% international traffic, a new Terminal 1 — lies some twenty kilometres from the yards, Saint-Charles station (TGV) about three kilometres from the Palumbo sector, and Cannes a day's steaming away, roughly a hundred nautical miles. A yacht can leave the dock, embark her crew and rejoin our Côte d'Azur zone without an intermediate stop.
Two refit networks,
one industrial bedrock.
Palumbo: seven yards, one network
The Marseille site belongs to the Mediterranean's largest superyacht refit network: seven yards — Marseille, Malta, Naples, Ancona, Savona, Messina, Rijeka — steered from Monaco. For an owner, that means shared standards and the option to place the yard period at whichever site fits the schedule.
Monaco Marine: the big-unit link
Marseille is the "large units" site of an eight-yard network across southern France, from Marseille to Beaulieu-sur-Mer, certified ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001. Work here is carried out afloat, along the 360 m quay — an alternative to dry-docking when the underwater hull is not in scope.
The ship-repair bedrock
France's leading cruise port — around 2.5 million passengers and over 600 calls in 2024 — Marseille repairs liners too: Chantier Naval de Marseille mans the great docks 8, 9 and 10. Yachting leans on that industrial ecosystem, a depth of trades and heavy plant no marina can muster.
The yard period, end to end.
Yard tendering — before anything is signed, we turn the work list into a specification, consult the yards — graving dock at Palumbo or afloat at Monaco Marine, depending on whether the hull is in scope — and compare bids line by line, under a yacht management mandate or as a one-off engagement.
Owner's representation through the refit — weekly yard meetings, approval of additional work orders, budget discipline, hull inspections on the dock floor and a final check before refloating.
Crew through the works — a vessel in dock is still a manned vessel. We size the crew to the yard period, arrange shore accommodation and rotations — the airport and the TGV keep reliefs simple — and hold MLC compliance through our crew management service.
Yard exit and transit — trials, documentation updates, a check that the works have opened no ISM non-conformity before heading back to the cruising grounds. And where the route skirts the Calanques National Park, we verify the préfet maritime's orders in force: anchoring for units of 24 m and over is tightly restricted there to protect the Posidonia seagrass beds, and the rules change from one season to the next.
A refit to plan in Marseille?
From yard tendering to recommissioning, we represent the owner — specification, compared bids, schedule held, financial reporting. Detailed proposal within 48 hours.
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