Education

Schools

The primary schools of Saint-Nazaire (Carnot, Jean-Jaurès, Lamartine, Jules Ferry, Ferdinand Bush, Boncourt, etc.) educate nearly 8,000 pupils in 30 school complexes. The junior schools have nearly 7,000 pupils in 12 colleges: public colleges Albert Vinçon; Pierre Norange; Manon Roland; Jean de Neyman; Jean Moulin, accommodate around 1,350 pupils each. Private colleges include: Saint-Louis (1,000 pupils, boarding school; historically a college for boys), Sainte-Therese (historically a college for girls).

The high schools educate 6,000 pupils into 11 lycées, with the mainstream education and technical school Aristide Briand having some 2,500 pupils, one of the largest lycée of France; an experimental lycée, public lycée managed jointly by the teachers and the pupils; the private lycée of Saint-Louis mainstream education; the hotel private lycée Sainte-Anne; the private of mainstream education and technological college Our-Lady-in Espérance. The Cité Scolaire of Saint-Nazaire is one of largest of France, with nearly 4,000 high-school pupils.

University

The University of Saint-Nazaire is a college of the University of Nantes, the second largest university in France with approximately 35,000 students, including nearly 5,000 on the university campus of Saint-Nazaire.

Transport

thumb|right|The [[Pont de Saint-Nazaire, which crosses the Loire]]

The Route nationale N165/N161 (E60 route) connects Saint-Nazaire to Nantes and Rennes via the Pont de Saint-Nazaire, which crosses the Loire. Paris is then accessed via the A10/A11 in Nantes. Valves, Lorient, Quimper and Brest are accessed via the N165.

A project to review a second crossing of the Loire between Nantes and Saint Nazaire is being considered, planned to be constructed and operational by 2025.

Railway

thumb|right|The old Saint-Nazaire station building

Saint-Nazaire railway station is served by both the TGV and regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire. TGV (high speed train) connection to Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, and Strasbourg, with trains to Paris via the LGV Atlantique taking just over 2 hours. TER Pays de la Loire provides links to Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, La Roche sur Yon, and other regional cities and towns.

Air travel

Saint-Nazaire airport is located south-east of Saint-Nazaire, in the commune of Montoir-de-Bretagne. It has an annual capacity of approximately 150,000 passengers, and is the operational and maintenance base for Eagle Aviation France.

International travel is via Nantes Atlantique Airport, the biggest airport in western France, linking with several French and European cities as well as Montreal in Canada (seasonally) and some cities in North Africa. A new airport was planned that was to be situated to the north-west of Nantes in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Called Aéroport du Grand Ouest, it was officially cancelled in 2018.

Economy

thumb|The shipyards of Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire

The economy of the city is founded on the activity of the port, including export of manufactured goods but also on services. Commercial fishing has almost completely disappeared with just a small fleet of fisheries and fishing vessels.

Saint-Nazaire suffered heavily from the downsizing of shipbuilding activity in western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, after the completion of the national passenger liner, SS France. For a long time in the 1980s, Saint-Nazaire remained an economically depressed area with unemployment rates above 20%. Today, the local economy is more diversified and its situation is more in line with that of France as a whole. The major industries are:

thumb|[[Airbus A380 transporter ship Ville de Bordeaux]]

  • Shipyard – having previously concentrated on both naval and cargo ship construction, Chantiers de l'Atlantique has completed a successful reconversion to cruise ship building and is now one of the world leaders in this sector. Purchased by Aker Yards, the Cunard Line's new flagship, RMS Queen Mary 2, was built in Saint-Nazaire.
  • Airbus – Saint-Nazaire is one of the European centers of Airbus, responsible for the fitting out of aircraft fuselage sections. Originally a factory built for SNCASO, it is located at Penhoët, immediate north of the sites of Chantiers de l'Atlantique. An additional facility was built in Gron in 1980. For the Airbus A380, the Airbus Roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ship brings fuselage sections from Hamburg, (Germany) for larger, assembled sections, some of which include the nose. The ship then unloads these sections plus wings from Filton, Bristol and Broughton in North Wales at Bordeaux. From there, the A380 parts are transported by barge to Langon, Gironde, and by oversize road convoys to the assembly hall in Toulouse. New wider roads, canal systems and barges were developed to deliver the A380 parts. After assembly, the aircraft are flown to Hamburg, XFW to be furnished and painted.
  • Aeronautical engineering – Famat, a joint-venture company between Snecma and General Electric, has a factory in Saint-Nazaire. Employing approximately 450 people, Famat specializes in the manufacture of structural elements for turbojets.
  • Mechanical engineering – SEMT Pielstick, a manufacturer of diesel engines intended for naval and railway applications and for electrical production. Now part of MAN B&W Diesel, the SEMT Pielstick factory employed in 2006 670 people in Saint-Nazaire.

thumb|The [[Saint-Nazaire Offshore Wind Farm|Saint-Nazaire wind farm from space]]

  • Port – the primary French port on the Atlantic coast. Now busier than its rival Nantes, it is managed by the Port Authority of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire. The port terminal handles high volumes of food products, and methane, and oil company Elf de Donges and many other industries.

Saint Nazaire hosts the first French offshore wind farm with 80 wind turbines that

will produce enough power to cover consumptions of around 700,000 people.

thumb|right|AMYNTAS, new VLCC inaugurated in February 2019 berthing at Donges / Saint-Nazaire (France)

thumb|right|Rear view of the AMYNTAS

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Saint-Nazaire is twinned with:

  • Avilés, Spain
  • Saarlouis, Germany, since 1969
  • Sunderland, England, United Kingdom, since 1953

Cooperation agreements

  • Kribi, Cameroon
  • Mahdia, Tunisia

Cultural references

  • 1943 British film Tomorrow We Live, directed by George King, and starring John Clements, Godfrey Tearle, Greta Gynt, Hugh Sinclair and Yvonne Arnaud
  • In the book of Das Boot Saint-Nazaire was the base used in the novel. The film changed the location to La Rochelle because its appearance had not changed to such a large degree in the years following World War II.
  • Saint-Nazaire, under the Arabicized name "Nsara", is the setting for Book Nine in Kim Stanley Robinson's 2002 alternate-history novel The Years of Rice and Salt.
  • In the Franco-Canadian CGI Cartoon Skyland, Saint Nazaire is a name of a pirate flagship participating in a losing rebellion trying to overthrow a corrupt military dictatorship.
  • The video game Medal of Honor: European Assault opens with the British raid on St. Nazaire.
  • Cyllage City from the Game Pokémon X & Y is based on Saint-Nazaire.
  • Saint-Nazaire is the title of a song from American alternative rock band Pixies on the album Beneath the Eyrie.
  • The song, "Mademoiselle from Armentières", has the lines, "Mademoiselle from Saint-Nazaire:/She never heard of underwear."

People from Saint-Nazaire

  • René-Yves Creston (1898–1964), artist, ethnologist, resister and Breton nationalist, founder of the artistic movement and social Art Seiz Breur
  • Odette du Puigaudeau (1894–1991), ethnologist
  • (1914–1994), scholar, type-setter, historian, journalist devoted mainly to the soil of the peninsula guérandaise 5
  • Yann Goulet (1914–1999), sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany who headed the Breton Bagadou Stourm militia. He later took Irish citizenship and became professor of sculpture at the Royal Hibernian Academy
  • Marie Léra (1864-1958), journalist, novelist, translator
  • Roger Lévêque, (5 December 1920 – 30 June 2002), a professional road racing cyclist from 1946 to 1953
  • Colonel Moutarde (born 1968), illustrator
  • Stéphane Hoffmann, (born 1958), writer
  • Tony Heurtebis, (15 January 1975), football goalkeeper who played for FC Nantes Atlantique.
  • Pierre R. Graham (born 1922), 6th US ambassador to Burkina Faso
  • Sandra Gomis (born 1983), athlete
  • Bryan Coquard (born 1992), Professional Cyclist for Team Europcar – 2012 Olympic Silver medalist
  • Serge (born 2005), llama that became an internet meme after being kidnapped by five drunk students in November 2013
  • Vincent Talio (born 1981), footballer

Demographics

Breton language

In 2008, 0.41% of the children attended bilingual primary schools.

See also

  • Port of Saint-Nazaire
  • Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department
  • Parc naturel régional de Brière

References

  • Perrett, Bryan (2003). For Valour: Victoria Cross and Medal of Honor Battles. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.
  • Braeuer, Luc, L’incroyable histoire de la poche de Saint-Nazaire, Batz-Sur-Mer 2003.
  • Guériff, Fernand. Saint-Nazaire sous l'occupation allemande: le Commando, la Poche. Éditions du Paludier (In French)
  • Moret Henri, Histoire de Saint-Nazaire et de la région environnante, Bruxelles, 1977 (In French)
  • Barbance Marthe, Saint-Nazaire : la Ville, le Port, le Travail, Marseille, 1979 (In French)
  • Website (English)
  • St-Nazaire submarine base (English)
  • Lancastria Association of Scotland (English)
  • Official website (French)