New Zealand warship builder holds talks about large yacht work

by David Foxwell IBI Magazine on 10 Oct 2003 Tenix Shipbuilding New Zealand, a company best known to-date for the construction of warships for the Royal New Zealand Navy, says it remains in negotiation with a number of unspecified parties regarding the construction of hulls for luxury yachts at its facility in Whangarei, New Zealand.

Tenix spokesperson Liam Bathgate said that although no deals had been concluded yet, the company was talking to a number of organisations about building the steel hulls for large yachts at its superyacht facility at Whangarei.

Earlier this year, Tenix announced that it intended to enter the market for the construction of large yachts. Robert Salteri, chief executive of Tenix Defence, said at the time that the hoped the Whangarei facility would be able to draw on expertise in gained building high quality vessels for the Royal New Zealand Navy, and take advantage of New Zealand's growing reputation for building what he described as 'world class' large yachts.

'Building large yachts, especially motoryachts, has much in common with what we already do at Whangarei,' said Salteri. 'We can draw on these skills and our relationship with suppliers and sub-contractors to deliver a high quality product.'

The Whangarei site covers some 4 hectares, and offers a fabrication shop of some 2,600sq m, serviced by two 15 tonne and two 5 tonne overhead gantry hoists. The outfitting workshops are serviced by a pair of 5 tonne overhead gantry hoists.

The facilities at Whangarei - which are accredited to ISO 9002 standard, are complemented by a 1,200sq m warehouse, a dedicated, climate-controlled blasting and painting facility, and local access to a 250 tonne mobile crane and 100 and 300 tonne transporters.