African Catamaran builder charts growth

by Ronnie Morris on 23 Sep 2007 Robertson and Caine, the world's third-largest catamaran builder, based in Cape Town South Africa, aims to be number one in five years.

The 10-year-old company recently inked a black economic empowerment deal, in which it sold a 31 percent stake to Treacle, a black-controlled private equity fund.

Robertson and Caine, which builds 85 boats a year at its Woodstock yard, has already completed 500 Leopard catamarans, the top-selling model in the US, and is now looking to expand its footprint.

In 2005 the US named the Leopard as boat of the year and the best overall export boat.

Ellian Perch, a co-owner and director, said the company expected that its tender to build another boatyard in the economically depressed suburb of Atlantis would be finalised this month. It would then create 700 jobs, mostly for women, Perch said on Friday.

The new premises would increase the company's capacity to a minimum of 300 boats a year, selling at an average price of US $500 000 (R3.5 million) and allow it to expand its current range of four models to nine, including a greater number of Powercats.

Perch said the company wanted to launch several new models every year, with the help of specialist machinery. The plant would feature improved fusion technology, which would be safer, from an occupational health point of view, than the open moulding technology previously used.

The company's biggest client is UK-based First Choice Marine, the biggest global sailboat chartering company, which is closely involved in the company's boat designs and layout. First Choice Marine had put Robertson and Caine under enormous pressure to expand its building capability, he said.

'They have a large maintenance exposure for their 1,500-plus charter fleet,' Perch said.

'We have a very open exchange of ideas about what ought to go into the next designs.'

Robertson and Caine had now secured the consulting services of Gino Morelli, the man who built the yacht that won the Americas Cup for the US in 1987, Perch added.

Ebrahim Rasool, the Western Cape premier, said in an address that Robertson and Caine's expansion plans were an example of how South Africa could compete with mass manufacturers in China.

'Robertson and Caine is not only one of the world leaders in boat-building but this company is leading from the front in our quest to showcase South African skills in a highly competitive global market,' Rasool said.

'The plans for a new boatyard in Atlantis are a significant boost to the Western Cape economy. In the face of the onslaught of mass production in China, here is a prime example of how South Africans are able to attract international clients by meeting high standards within tight time constraints.'