Merger of four ports into one since January 1, 2022

The lakeside town of Port Grimaud was built in three phases under the aegis of visionary architect, François Spoerry.

Upon completion of each of the districts, Port Grimaud I, II, III, a port concession contract was concluded by the State in order to allow owners to have access to mooring in front of their homes.

Additionally, the communal port of 70 moorings created by the SNPG (Société de Navigation de Port Grimaud) has been directly operated by the Municipality since November 9, 2009.

The concession contracts were due to expire on December 31, 2025 for Port Grimaud I and II and on December 31, 2028 for Port Grimaud III.

They were terminated in advance and the Municipality of Grimaud took over all port services on January 1, 2022.

The objectives of this merger are as follows: 

• to provide a single port to all users, whoever they may be
• to ensure the completion of certain essential projects, such as the removal of sand from the pass entrance outside the concession
• to combine the expenses currently incurred separately by the 4 operators
• to standardise tariffs, farm-out contracts, operating sub-contracts, etc.

All Port Grimaud residents and boaters received an information letter in January on this subject. This letter, which you can read in its entirety on the Grimaud Town Hall website, indicates among other things the appointment of Mr. Peter Murray-Kerr as Port Director.

In addition, the letter intended for farmees states that new contracts will have to be signed.

Procedure for Port Grimaud co-owners

The year 2022 is a year of transition. In the anticipation of being able to sign a long-term occupancy contract (up to 35 years), you are invited to sign a contract for the year 2022.

There are two types of contracts: 

• the mooring contract (for the entire year of 2022)
• the winter season contract (for the period of January 1 to April 30, 2022)

Both are available on the City Council’s website.

There will be an information desk set up between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm at the Capitainerie on Wednesday, April 6th and 20th, and again at the “Bureau de la régie” in Port Grimaud 2 on Wednesday, April 13th and 27th.

If you are unable to reach the information desk in person, you can contact the Capitainerie by telephone at 04 94 56 29 88.

What will change?

These new contracts will allow owners to have one representative: the Commune of Grimaud.

The mooring areas that were previously allocated to you will remain so for boats that comply with the specifications of the farm-out contract in order to preserve the mission of Port Grimaud: to have a boat in front of your house. 

Regarding the price of contracts, « if the current rate respects the legal clauses of the terms of contract, the amount paid by users should not be changed ». The city hall website also states that from January 1, 2022, « the users will pay the part related to the use of the port to the port manager and the part related to the co-ownership of Port Grimaud directly to the managing association (in theory less the management costs of the port which will no longer be his responsibility, except for the common parts) ».

The amount voted by the mayor’s office is 20 euros/m2 of mooring or on average between 900 and 1800 euros per year.

If these changes are not warmly welcomed by everyone in Port Grimaud and still require some modifications, discussions will be held between the former concession holders and the Grimaud City Council so that co-owners can sign their new farm-out contracts as smoothly as possible.