L’ENSM at Assises de la mer 2025

The assembled maritime community heard the President of the Republic emphasise the need to continue the work begun at the Fontenoy Maritime Conference, with the number of graduates doubling between 2021 and 2027. This commitment is all the stronger because it is supported by leading enthusiasts. The President of CMA CGM, Rodolphe Saadé, affirmed his confidence in the School’s ability to carry out this project, announcing the addition of 10 new French-flagged ships to the fleet in the coming years.

These exceptional opportunities represent useful employment prospects for the School’s students, Merchant Navy officers and marine engineers, boosting the constantly growing maritime economy in our country.

The meetings at the School’s stand gave rise to in-depth discussions with students, companies, associations, etc., as well as visits from Minister Catherine Chabaud, AMPA CEO Eric Banel, and Secretary General for Maritime Affairs Xavier Ducept. The ENSM must be aware of the opportunity presented by this recognition and the great responsibility it entails, and must cultivate it by maintaining the school’s growth momentum in line with its strategic plan, the objectives and performance contract.

We should also mention the important exchanges between the students and the CMA CGM teams. The group’s delegation honoured us with an exchange with its executives, giving the students the opportunity to engage in very direct and free discussion, as they had done that same morning during the Masterclass given by Rodolphe Saadé himself to around a hundred young people.

The icing on the cake was that an ENSM student and a former student were honoured during the first round table discussion on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Assises, alongside eight other young people who were able to share their experiences.

Congratulations to Gabin Chevalier and Anaïs Ménard. 🌊

Wednesday began with the participation of François Lambert, Director General of ENSM, in the round table discussion entitled Training, employment, attractiveness: how can we strengthen links between schools and businesses?

This was an opportunity to highlight the school’s training programmes, remind attendees of the different types of internships and apprenticeships available in the Marine Engineering programme, and tease a little about Hydro 2040.🎤

The afternoon was devoted to attending conferences, followed by fruitful meetings at the stand and conferences on the assets of France and maritime Europe. ⚓

Thank you to everyone, especially Le Marin, the French Maritime Cluster and the DGAMPA – Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture for this wonderful edition of Les Assises de l’économie de la mer.

The ENSM was delighted to welcome you to its stand and to promote the School through its delegation.

During his speech at the Assises de la Mer conference, Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, announced that ten new 24,000 TEU vessels would be registered under the French flag. These vessels are the largest in the world powered by LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). The first ship will be delivered in June 2026 and the last at the end of 2028.

This strong commitment to French maritime power creates training and employment opportunities for ENSM students through the recruitment of 135 French merchant navy sailors. The CEO expressed his confidence in the ENSM and emphasised these employment opportunities.

Symbols of national pride, these ships will be named after iconic French monuments or places, a source of inspiration for our students who choose a career at sea. ⚓

During the conference, several discussions took place between the CMA CGM delegation and the ENSM delegation, both at the Group’s stand and during a student Master Class delivered by Rodolphe Saadé himself.

The Chief Engineer Officer and Marine Engineering students in attendance particularly appreciated this meeting with Rodolphe Saadé. They praised his speech, which was ‘tailored to them’, and his clear and inspiring answers on topics such as decarbonisation, geopolitics, AI and the future of the maritime sector. They said they felt proud, confident and hopeful about the future of their profession and the French maritime industry.

This is a challenge that ENSM officers and engineers are ready to take on, because they dared to take on the sea, they dared to take on ENSM.

ENSM would like to thank the CMA CGM Group for its trust and will strive to achieve its objectives to grow the French flag.