Yacht builders change tack to keep up production
Although most yards ceased production or were operating at a vastly reduced capacity during March and April, yacht manufacturing continued in some countries. Some European countries had less stringent measures in place, which meant yachts were still getting built and order books fulfilled.
Yards in the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia and Finland all reported positive news. All Hanse Yachts’ production sites, including its main facility in Greifswald in Germany, and those in Poland and France, remained in operation. The company says it has taken precautions to safeguard all staff, including isolating work areas, and it has carpentry stock to carry it through to the end of June.
“But we can already foresee that we can no longer let today’s very high production speed continue as planned,” warns Hanse Yachts AG’S CEO Dr Jens Gerhardt. “We will continue to produce, but with slower belts. Unfortunately, all of the factories lack staff, mainly because the schools remain closed… or because the borders to Poland have been closed and cross-border workers can no longer get to work.”
Hanse’s work in Giebelstadt in Bavaria continued at a steady pace. “At the moment we are producing and delivering all placed orders in time,” says marketing director Marcus Schlichting.
“We have again increased safety measures to further minimise the risk of infection for our employees.”
Saffier Yachts in Ijmuiden revised the shift rota to provide maximum separation for its boatbuilders. It has been working three different teams in eight-hour shifts for the 20 hours between 0400 and 0000.
“This is all to divide our employees so that we can absolutely guarantee a working space with a distance of 1.5m or more,” reports
managing director Dennis Hennevanger. The result is that two-thirds of its workforce is still building boats.
Leonardo Yachts, which also builds daysailers in the Netherlands – see page 62 for our dream daysailers special, which includes Leonardo’s Eagle 38 and Saffier’s Se33 – is also running at near full capacity.
“Sales are also still going, with people spending more time browsing the internet, it seems,” says founding partner Steven Boersma.
Dragonfly trimaran builder Quorning Boats in Denmark remained open and working to schedule, but this is a company with large spaces and a relatively small work force.
Meanwhile, Magnus Rassy tells us
Swedish builder Hallberg-rassy remains at 100% capacity: “Some of our suppliers are temporarily in lockdown, but we have all parts needed for some months.”
The large Finnish shipyards Baltic and Nautor’s Swan are also still fully operational in the remote town of Pietarsaari, and composite specialists Mcconaghy also announced in early April that its yards in China and Australia remain in full production.
However, the situation in Poland, where many European production yards laminate their hulls, is more complex. IBI magazine reports: ‘Responses to the current situation have varied among boatbuilders as the majority of companies decided to maintain production at their shipyards, but others, including Groupe Beneteau’s local subsidiaries Delphia Yacht and Ostróda Yacht, temporarily halted their production activities, hoping to relaunch their shipyards later in April.’
Groupe Beneteau, which includes the Jeanneau, Beneteau and Lagoon marques, stopped all production in March (in France and Italy, followed by US and Slovenia).
So too did other major French shipyards including Dufour/fountaine Pajot, while some of the smaller yards continued building, albeit with minimal staff members on site.
An issue for the yards still producing yachts is what to do with the finished boats.
“People from many countries don’t have possibilities getting to us,” explains Magnus Rassy, “so we have several boats in the water ready for delivery where the boat owners just wait to be able to get here.”
Dragonfly UK’S Al Wood reports a similar situation in Denmark: “The indoor storage space is getting full, as the planned spring launches and handovers of around 50 new and serviced boats have been postponed while Denmark’s borders remain closed and clients cannot travel there. However boats are being delivered internationally by road transport.”