It wasn’t until 1978 the the idea took shape. François Héry, determined Mayor of the town, made it his mission to convince the State, the region and the country of the merits of this project.

On the 16th of July 1988, head of the regional council, Charles Josselin, launched work on the “Nouveau Port de Saint-Quay-Portrieux”. Entirely reclaimed from the sea, this deep-water marina is a one of its kind from Cherbourg to Brest. The 2 years it took to build the marina required a huge amount of work : rock blasting, building breakwaters, docks and quaysides. Fleets of trucks carrying the 2.3 million tons of rocks, went back and forth between the local quarries and the marina. It was at the time, the biggest construction site in Brittany.

Inaugurated on July 12, 1990 with Éric Tabarly, the “Nouveau Port de Saint-Quay-Portrieux” was a turning point in the development of both yachting and fishing activities for the area. With 1.7km of breakwaters, the 17-hectare marina is occupied in its northern part by a fish market that overlooks the fishing port. In its southern part, 1000 berths are available to leisure boats, with 100 visitor berths. Thanks to its new marina, Saint-Quay-Portrieux was to become one of the most dynamic marinas in Brittany.

At the beginning, the marina was conceded to a private company, the Société du Nouveau Port (SNP), and the marina and commercial areas in the vicinity, saw a moderate success. So it was that in 1988, the department and the town decided to create a publicly owned company, the “Syndicat Mixte Saint-Quay Port d’Armor”, to ensure the management of the marina which was then renamed “Saint-Quay Port d’Armor”. It was a new start for the marina and the town, which quickly allowed them to regain the success that we all know of and that has not faded to this day.