Stabicraft opens plant in Seattle
Renowned Southland boat builder Stabicraft has expanded its operations, opening a manufacturing plant in Seattle, Washington.
The company, which is continuing to build aluminium boats in Invercargill, has increased its sales in the United States and decided to also build boats there, chief executive David Glen said.
Stabicraft was focusing its efforts on manufacturing, and on growth into the US.
‘‘We see considerable growth opportunity in the US,’’ Glen said.
‘‘We have been successful in growing our sales there, but the reality is our production capacity here in Invercargill is constrained in terms of skilled labour.
‘‘In this post-Covid world, it’s both difficult and expensive getting boats to the US, so we took the decision to set up a manufacturing operation over there.’’
The Invercargill manufacturing plant continued to go well, he said. ‘‘We are going to get more boats out of the factory this year than we have ever got out . . . And the good thing is the Australian and US markets continue to look like strong markets for us despite the gloom and the doom. We aren’t seeing any slowdown in those respective markets.’’
In May, Stabicraft moved its showroom from its Bluff Highway site, where it builds boats, to a new location in Dee St, Invercargill.
With the company’s focus now on manufacturing, it had sold the Dee St dealership, Glen said.
The Stabicraft dealership had always been an aside to the company’s manufacturing operations and was opened with the knowledge that it would be sold at some stage, he said.
The Dee St dealership was bought by the Trev Terry Group and is now operating as Trev Terry South, where it continues to sell Stabicraft boats.
‘‘It’s very much an independent arm’s-length dealership now, whereas it hasn’t been in the past,’’ Glen said.