icon-casualty

+44 (0)20 7264 3250

Casualty Response

Get emergency support now

Filter

Fabien Thomas takes the helm at ABL France

We are happy to announce that marine warranty survey expert (MWS) Fabien Thomas has been promoted to country manager for ABL France. In his new role, he will lead the operations in France and the Republic of Congo, while supporting the development of ABL’s operation to additional Francophone Africa countries.

He takes on the role from Hugues Delanoue, who has been promoted to Regional Managing Director for ABL in Europe and West Africa.

I’m extremely happy for Fabien taking on his new role. He has been an invaluable asset to the French team, heavily contributing to its growth from the very early days of ABL France. I’m confident that under Fabien’s leadership, ABL France will continue its growth trajectory, providing first class support to our clients and the challenges they face.’’ 

Hugues Delanoue, Regional MD ABL Europe & W. Africa

After several years working as a naval architect for a large French engineering and technology company based in Paris, Thomas joined ABL in 2015 as a senior naval architect and marine warranty survey (MWS) project manager in the oil and gas and renewables sectors. He is specialised in transportation and installation (T&I), operations and maintenance (O&M) and all related marine services for fixed and floating structures for shallow and deep waters.  

In 2022, Thomas was appointed head of MWS for ABL France, to improve technical consistency and efficiency, promote cross team collaboration and strengthen our range of services to better support the growth of the French operations.

”I am really excited to take on this new role and would like to thank Hugues Delanoue for all the great achievements, his continued trust and support along the years and this fantastic opportunity. Since we opened the office in Paris in 2015, it has been a very rewarding journey. We have been working very hard to serve our clients and deliver first-class services to support the growth of the emerging offshore wind industry in France as well as many other energy projects, especially in the Republic of Congo. Our foundations are solid and we have a great team of motivated professionals in Paris. We will keep building upon the great work and our existing relations and markets we serve and will look to grow and development new areas of the business within the renewables, maritime and oil and gas sectors in France and Francophone countries, with the support of the other ABL Group entities in Europe.”

Fabien Thomas, Country Manager ABL France

During his time with ABL, Thomas actively participated to the successful construction of the first offshore wind projects in France (Floatgen FWT, Sain-Nazaire OWF, Fécamp OWF), as well as many other assignments and key projects in the region, including onshore and offshore attendances onboard the most famous construction vessels in the world.  

He is a recognised figure in the offshore wind industry in France, and is still deeply involved in the current developments, as well as in Belgium with the construction of the first artificial energy inland on the MOG2 project.

Thomas began his new role on the 1st of November 2024.


About ABL France

ABL has been operational in France since 2015 and the establishment of our Paris office. Since then, the team has grown to over 25 members of staff offering multi-disciplinary engineering and consulting services to the local market as well as Francophone Africa and the wider Benelux and Iberia region.  

The team combines multi-disciplined expertise across marine and engineering, including marine engineers, marine surveyors, master mariners, structural engineers, subsea engineers, naval architects and marine civil engineers. Through key new hires, the local expertise has recently extended to clean shipping and port & harbours to support local port infrastructure feasibility and the overall maritime sector’s decarbonisation targets. 

The Services ABL France offers include:

ABL France Renewables track record

ABL France, benefiting from the specialised engineering support in renewable energy and technologies from its sister company Innosea – part of OWC, based in Nantes, has been part of all major steps in France’s offshore wind development. ABL’s track record includes working on over 80% of France’s current offshore wind projects, 50% of France’s floating wind projects, and supporting the construction of France’s first offshore wind farm. 

  • 12+ offshore wind projects
  • 3GW+ of combined capacity
  • Multi-disciplinary and engineering support to France’s first operation offshore wind farm, Saint Nazaire

ABL France recent news:


Find out more about ABL France: