Monaco Marine, which comprises seven shipyards and one marina from Monaco to Marseille, has announced a new, dual-management structure at its La Seyne-Toulon shipyard.

Sean Blair will manage the project managers, the projects themselves and customer relations, while Thomas Guerry will be responsible for the site itself as operations manager, the-triton.com reports.

“With this new way of management, all the important decisions will be discussed and taken by two people,” Blair said. “Separating the competences will allow the yard to reach new levels of excellence.”

According to a company press release, the La Ciotat and Marseille shipyards will implement the same organisational changes in the next few months.

Meanwhile, work began on September 2 on the group’s shipyard in Golfe de Saint Tropez, including water-tightening the berths, increasing boat storage capacity, the installation of new cranes to ease boat handling, and building renovations. Renovation of the entire yard is expected to be complete by summer 2021, although all work will be put on hold between Christmas and July 2020 to avoid inconvenience to the yard’s clients.

The yachting world continues to become more international, with English as the leading language both onboard and ashore. This is why Monaco Marine has continued to bring on bi-lingual speakers to optimise relationships with clients, the company said. Jonny Sutton, originally from the UK and fluent in French, made the move from London to join Monaco Marine at the beginning of the year.

Jonny joined the group within the commercial team, which now boasts a strong combination of English, French and Italian speakers. The team is currently growing with a focus on becoming more internationally minded. “My role is to build and strengthen the relationships we have with the key individuals involved in the refit and repair process. Whether that be the Captain, Yacht Manager or the Owner and their advisors, my objective is to increase the industry’s positive awareness of the Monaco Marine network and the capabilities of each of our shipyards”, Jonny said.

PHOTO: Jonny Sutton Monaco Marine ORIGINAL SOURCES: the-triton.com, Monaco Marine