Braemar Yacht Services has opened a new office in Palma, Mallorca. The Palma office will be based at the Astilleros de Mallorca shipyard. This location joins the many offices across the globe, including London, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Lisbon, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, New York, Miami, Seattle, Panama and Melbourne.

Richard Franklin, head of Braemar Yacht Services, spoke to SuperyachtNews to share his insight into the expansion. A key reason for the new office in Palma is to better serve clients and offer a rapid response when incidents occur. “When there is a fire, a flood or a collision, the underwriters need to have their surveyors on site as quickly as possible, to understand what has happened, to stop it from getting any worse, to work out what it is going to cost the underwriters and how to get the repair done, and to assist the captain through that process,” he says. “The clients expect us to be on-site very quickly.”

In addition to the need to be on-site quickly after accidents, Franklin explains that Palma was a natural choice for the company to open another office. “We have a number of ongoing large projects there, working as owner’s representation on major refits or major repairs. We have, at this moment, probably about three or four boats sitting at STP,” he offers. Palma, long established as a sailing yacht hub, also means that there is existing infrastructure to complement Braemar’s services. “Palma is the base for the world’s big sailing yachts. There is a huge amount of expertise and a number of contractors who are congregated in Palma and STP. So, obviously, we see a lot of the big boats there,” he adds. Looking ahead, Franklin reveals that Braemar are looking to expand further in the south of France, hoping to build a presence in Nice and Monaco.

The office at the Astilleros de Mallorca shipyard will be a base for Braemar’s surveyors, and Franklin says that the sheer capacity of the yard is a key reason for their offices to be situated there. “They are good to have as local partners, and we’ve worked with them a lot in the past. Astilleros de Mallorca can take the large yachts onto the slipways, and even bigger yachts alongside. Technically it’s a useful place to be.” The Palma office will be able to offer clients a number of services, including a full range of surveys (pre purchase, condition, pre risk and casualty surveys) sea trial supervision, owner's representation and project management for repairs and refits.

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