Cécile Andrieu : “To have three projects claiming victory in the Route du Rhum 2030”

Appointed joint Managing Director of MerConcept with Thibault Garin in April 2025, Cécile Andrieu deciphers the company’s strategy for the coming years and makes no secret of her ambitions for the Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe 2030.

Can you talk about your career?

After studying political science, I worked in the field of economic diplomacy, in particular for the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Economy at Business France for eight years, in London and then Paris, working with foreign investors from a wide range of sectors. In 2020, I felt a strong urge to embark on the adventure of the Mini Transat 2021. At the end of the race, I was lucky enough to receive a call from François Gabart telling me that MerConcept had found a partner for the trimaran, the Kresk Group, which is behind the SVR and Lazartigue brands. So I joined MerConcept at the beginning of 2022. Initially I was in charge of the trimaran project, and then I gradually took over the whole ocean racing side of things. With the announcement of François’ voyage, the company was reorganised, and since this spring, with Thibault Garin, we’ve been jointly in charge of management to support its development.

What does this reorganisation involve, with François Gabart taking a break?

On the operational side, we still want to have three core businesses within MerConcept: ocean racing, construction and maritime mobility. Within the ocean racing division, we have three projects: the Ultim SVR-Lazartigue, the Imoca Macif and the Ocean Fifty UpWind by MerConcept. Each is led by a project manager. Pierre-Alexis Michel recently joined us on the construction side. Finally, Antoine Jarry-Lacombe is in charge of the maritime mobility part. Thibault Garin and I share responsibilities so that together we can decide on strategy, any investments, new markets, major HR decisions and so on. Thibault focuses more on the internal side, optimising the building and the human and logistical resources associated with our activities. For my part, I’m more focused on our current and future customers, the development of the company’s new activities, innovation and CSR commitments. Today, MerConcept employs between 60 and 70 people.

What are MerConcept’s ambitions in these three areas?

As far as ocean racing is concerned, our ambition is to have three projects that can claim victory in the Route du Rhum 2030. In 2026, we’ll have three boats in three different classes, something that’s never been done before. That’s something to be proud of. After that, we’ll have to maintain this high standard for another four years, which will mean signing contracts with our various partners and re-launching a dynamic with them. In the construction division, we have so far assembled one Ultim and several Imoca boats, sometimes for our own projects, sometimes for those of other teams, in collaboration with CDK Technologies and Multiplast. We intend to continue this activity, but also to develop the alternative materials and LCA (life cycle analysis) part. We have been investing in developing skills in these areas for several years now. Finally, we want to diversify further into the production of complex parts, and even into other niche industries that may use composites, and it’s very important for MerConcept to keep these skills in-house. We also want to go after other international customers, and in other series, such as TF35s, GC32s or SailGP. Five engineers are dedicated to maritime mobility. Over the next three years, we would like to double this number within the design office. Our first priority is therefore to promote our expertise and our successes, so that we can offer them to other shipowners and new developers of decarbonisation solutions. Our ambition is to position ourselves as a benchmark consultancy in maritime decarbonisation.

MerConcept also defines itself as a company with a mission. Can you tell us more about this?

There are three pillars to this concept. The first is to be a player in high-performance, sustainable ocean racing. We think about the way we manage our projects, but also about logistics, the lives of our teams and the way we manage to influence our ecosystem on the life of ocean racing. The other aspect, which is part of the performance and sustainability dimension of ocean racing, is the use of alternative materials. There’s also a lot of work to be done on the emission factor of carbon fibre, and we need to succeed in improving our LCA tools. The second pillar is maritime mobility and the transfer of skills and expertise between the two worlds. The final pillar is the ambition to manage the company in line with our human and social values. We are thinking of equal pay, gender diversity and prevention, particularly of harassment.

What is your connection with Brittany?

I’m a neo-Bretonne, I grew up in La Rochelle, but my two families are from North Brittany and South Brittany, Locmariaquer and Plougasnou. I’ve been coming to Brittany since I was a little girl and I’m very happy to have been able to settle here. I prepared for my Mini Transat in Lorient, which was my chosen home port. The fact that we’re in Concarneau rather than Port-La-Forêt or Lorient fits in well with MerConcept’s business. When you look around us, the port is very diversified. There are fishing boats, military vessels, workboats, TOWT was built here, Piriou has a long history in Concarneau. The players in our diversification are already present here. This port and this town make a lot of sense for the structure’s activity. As far as ocean racing is concerned, we’re taking a small step backwards in relation to the lungs of Lorient. It’s true that we’re losing certain things, but it’s also an opportunity in itself. There’s a MerConcept identity and spirit forming with this link to Concarneau and that suits us very well.