Geographical location
Le Havre is a commune in Normandy, bordered to the west by the English Channel and to the south by the Seine estuary. It is the most populated municipality in Upper Normandy with 177,259 inhabitants. The Port of Le Havre is the second largest French commercial seaport after Marseille and the 50 th world port but today, we will focus on the two marinas of Le Havre, the Main Port and the Vauban Port.
The marina of Le Havre: Main port and Port Vauban
The Port of Le Havre consists of the Main Port with 1,150 floating berths, without tidal constraints and 3 metres of draught. "We are currently working on the complete renewal of the marina, of all the pontoons, starting in October 2015 and which will take place over several seasons."
Opened in 2012, the Port Vauban extension offers 200 berths in the inland port with access via a lock. " It is a city centre port, close to the station, the shopping centre, the swimming pool with free Wifi access and wide pontoons" explains Julien Lebas, Port Master. " It is intended for 10/15 metre boats, which make long sea trips." Indeed, the Port Vauban rather welcomes a Parisian or Rouenese clientele, who do not take their boat out every day.
For boaters on a stroll, the visitor pontoon reserves 60 places. "For periods of more than a week, without going out to sea, they are directed to Port Vauban."
Access to Port Vauban is via the Quinette lock and then the Pont de l'Eure in about 40 minutes. Two daily openings are planned from April to October and only one at high tide during the low season. Requests for passage must be made the day before, before 5:30 p.m., at the harbour master's office (telephone, e-mail, fax).
The services of the main port
- Deep water port
- Accessible at any tide
- Fuel station on pontoons (24 hours a day)
- Sanitary equipment
- 2 launching wedges
- Mobile crane
- 30-ton elevator
- Electric jib crane 3.2 tons
- Container for used oil, batteries, glass and plastic
- Launching hold
- 2 platforms
- Crane 4 t
- Crane 30 t
The services of Port Vauban
- Parking lot
- Secure access to the pontoons by badge
- Video surveillance
- Free Wifi
- Dynamic display for weather and information
- Call station to the harbourmaster's office
- Water and Electricity terminals (badge management)
- Sanitary facilities + showers on pontoons
- Waste management
- Technical and business area: crane operation, fairing, wintering, construction sites, etc.
- 24-hour refuelling station (main port)
- Possibility of routing the vessel to the main port
- Delivery of onboard food shopping
In both ports, the majority of boats belong to the inhabitants of the communities of communes and the proportion of sailboats is higher than in the other ports. " The specificity of the Le Havre marina is to accommodate more than 70% of sailboats, unlike other ports."
The marina of Le Havre also benefits from a new technical area since July 2014, which includes a 35-tonne lift 6 metres wide.
Access to the port of Le Havre webcam
Daily rates Main port from 17 euros (less than 5 m) to 53 euros (16 meters)
Vauban Port Rate 60% of the annual fixed price of the Main Port / No daytime reception / From one week. All the rates
The Escault Technical Zone
Since July, the marina has been offering boaters a new technical area, located on a 7-hectare platform between the Quai du Brésil and the Quai de l'Escault. It houses a fairing area, two wintering areas with 145 seats and a 10,000 m2 activity area dedicated to companies in the nautical sector. It is equipped with 2 new lifting devices: a PDN 30 t lift for boats up to 6 metres and a Boat Eagle forklift truck, with a capacity of 2.5 t for boats up to 8 metres. Grounding/watering is done with adjustable desangles. This trolley can also be equipped with a basket, or forks. The new fairing area, which meets the latest environmental standards, allows the collection and treatment of fairing water, and the parking / wintering areas allow a large number of boats to be parked.
The Harbour Master's Office in Le Havre
The Harbour Master's Office is open from 9 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm in winter and from 8 am to 8 pm in summer.
Contact information
125 Boulevard Clémenceau - 76600 Le Havre
Tel: 02 35 21 21 23 95
The harbourmaster's office has just been completely refurbished, and the new premises were delivered on Friday. "We've reviewed the customer reception, the Internet station, a giant weather screen has been installed... We spoil our customers! The website will also be redesigned this year. We're moving forward on a lot of projects."
An important regatta port
To complement the range of sports boats, numerous within the Le Havre marina, the port offers adequate "tourist" services We have developed a sports offer with an electric stem accessible to private individuals for a one-day training course. Boaters can have a place ashore for their boat and access to an electric crane as well as the place afloat for the weekend. It's an ideal performance for the J80, which doesn't necessarily have an antifouling and is better ashore."
The marina of Le Havre has a rather important sporting activity. "Regattas are organized every weekend. We have 17 J80s used by sail clubs and a fairly strong activity at the level of regattas corpo (business school). We also host major maritime events such as the Transat Jacques Vabre (which takes place every 2 years from Le Havre), the Solitaire du Figaro (which started in 2010 from Le Havre), the sliding weekend..."
Le Havre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Many monuments are classified as "Historic Monuments" and the city has had the label "City of Art and History" since 2001. The city centre of Le Havre was declared a World Heritage Site in 2005, rebuilt by Auguste Perret.
The oldest building is Graville Abbey and the Saint-Michel d'Ingouville Chapel completes the city's medieval heritage. Many buildings demonstrate the maritime and military vocation of the city: hanging gardens, Tourneville fort, Vauban docks, maritime villa.
The Malraux Museum presents the 1 period impressionist collection of France after Paris, the fishing port is quite typical and a stroll along the beach will allow you to enjoy the coastline, huts and restaurants.
