Nice's administrative court has ordered the termination of a shipyard operating permit at Vallauris Golfe-Juan's Port Camille Rayon, ruling the local authority failed to follow proper competitive bidding rules when it awarded the contract to Spanish yacht maintenance firm MB92.
The dispute traces back to a July 2024 concession agreement between the commune of Vallauris Golfe-Juan and operator D Marinas Hellas, covering the redevelopment and running of the port as a whole. Within that same contract, MB92, which also operates a major yard in La Ciotat, was designated to run the port's shipyard under a temporary occupancy permit for public land. The court found that while the wider port concession had gone through a proper tender process, that process could not automatically extend the shipyard authorization to MB92 without giving other candidates the chance to compete for it separately.
The challenge was brought jointly by the Alpes-Maritimes préfet, a municipal councillor, and Rodriguez Yachts, an unsuccessful bidder for the shipyard contract. Rather than ordering an immediate termination, the court delayed the ruling's effect by nine months, giving the commune time to run a compliant new procedure without disrupting ongoing work for subcontractors, yacht owners and businesses currently operating at the site.