Creating the World's Superyacht Capital

by nzeditor@sail-world.com on 31 May 2007
Yesterday morning, Bob Harvey, Mayor of Waitakere City announced the expansion of the sailing and motor superyacht facility at Hobsonville with the acquisition of a further 15 hectares of land, which will be leased to superyacht builders on a commercial basis.

Worldwide, the superyacht industry has some 700 yachts currently in production, with a further 700 on backorder. In New Zealand there are just 16 of those yachts being built. That’s just 2.3% of the current production.

The current marine export value is around $570 million with the goal being to treble that figure.

Against this background there would seem to be plenty of scope for the expansion of facilities in New Zealand and the industry’s growth targets look rather modest.

In New Zealand there are 500 boatbuilding apprentices under training, which is claimed to be the highest number of any country in the world, per capita basis or not.

Another essential component is the fact that New Zealand is also unique in offering Yachting as a formal subject in the NCEA examination system in secondary schools. This course of study, can only increase the numbers of students making the transition from the school education system into careers in the boatbuilding industry.

The strong relationship between Yachting New Zealand representing the sailing clubs and the sport, the Marine Industry and the professional sailing teams is another factor that will lead to future export growth for New Zealand in this sector.

Yachting is unique in that success in the sport at world championship, Olympic and America’s Cup level is vital component and shop-window for the continued development and profile of marine exports. Many of those who have been top sailing competitors have gone on to transfer that technical know-how and competitive attitude into significant success on the marine export stage.

A key to the development of the Hobsonville facility is the proximity of deep water for launching, together with the cluster of related industries either in Hobsonville or in the Westhaven/Downtown area.

Future announcements, next month will focus on the future of Tank Farm and the Westhaven area, which are expected to play an enhanced role in the service industry associated with superyachts.

The intention is for new sailing and motor superyachts yachts to be built in West Auckland. For sailing yachts, the rigging and sea trialing to take place from the Westhaven/Downtown area. There is a simple reason for the split in function – the Harbour Bridge effectively prohibits the passage of yachts greater than 85ft long when fully rigged.

Superyachts will be launched from a concrete ramp originally developed for use by seaplanes during World War 2 and which has since been used for keelboat haulage and school rowing. It offers all-tide access to deep sheltered water and is ideal for its new purpose. Further launch facilities are understood to be planned.

The vision for Auckland and New Zealand is for the Waitemata to become the Superyacht Capital of the World offering construction facilties at one end of the harbour, and a service and fit-out facility at the other.

Eventually it is expected at factories and production facilities located outside these two venues will move on site, and become concentrated in the same area. This will have the advantages of sharing of information and technology, as well as removing many of the transport barriers, as large components can be easily moved between factories, or transported by water from Hobsonville to the Auckland location.

The overall scheme is for a new suburb to be created alongside the Hobsonville comprising housing and two schools.

While there have traditionally been issues surrounding the vulnerability of the export marine industry to the value of the NZ Dollar, Sail-World understands that the Superyacht industry is somewhat immune from this linkage, due to the fact that 50% of the content of a Superyacht is labour, which is not linked to fluctuations in the exchange rate. Further, the current exchange situation is more of a weakness of the US Dollar rather than a strength of the NZ Dollar.

A key point of difference with the NZ marine and superyacht industry is the fact that it is built on a foundation of America’s Cup and Whitbread/Volvo success and the technology developed in these spheres is carried across into Superyachts. No other country has this heritage spanning more than 20 years, and it is not unrealistic to expect that every person working on a superyacht, in NZ, will have some practical sailing experience.

Certainly with a location like Hobsonville, there will be no excuse not to get out on the water after work - with a yacht club very close to hand!

Yesterday’s announcement is a real milestone for the marine industry in New Zealand, and offers companies the opportunity to lift their game and greatly increase their market share of the booming superyacht market.

All New Zealanders should be following these developments with real interest. They represent a very significantly different approach to the more accepted moves by many overseas manufacturers, to set up or re-locate their facilities in China and other locations in Asia.

And, in years to come, thanks to the package of initiatives outlined above, plus others already in hand, New Zealand will be able to offer some very significant and compelling points of difference in the high-growth superyacht market.


Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

PS This story was first published as Editorial comment in the www.Sail-World.com/nz newsletter. To subscribe to this newsletter goto: www.sail-world.com/subscription and click the NZ newsletter option