Heysea, the Chinese superyacht manufacturer, has announced the launch of its second superyacht project of 2020. During the first decade of Heysea’s existence (2007-2016) the yacht manufacturer focussed primarily on vessels in the 18-33m range, with over 20 Heysea 82 models being sold. However, in 2017 Heysea switched its attention to the superyacht market and the production of vessels in the 30-45m range. The yard reports that 30m-plus market accounted for over 90 per cent of its sales in 2019.

“We focused on the 30m-plus market because most of the project in this market are either custom or semi-custom projects. After 12 years of production, we have developed our competence in producing custom and semi-custom projects,” explains the Heysea senior management team. “In fact, Heysea respects clients’ aesthetic and demand…Secondly, China has a powerful furniture and interior supply chain, which is relatively advantageous compared to shipyards in other countries.

“We believe that most of our clients who want a 30m-plus superyacht would also demand custom or semi-custom services, especially custom interior design. Our European counterparts face the high cost of custom interior design and struggle to answer their clients’ demand, which made us advantageous in this sector. This has even led to some of the European shipyards cutting their customisation services for projects around 40m.”

This switch in focus is clearly visible in the statistics provided by The Superyacht Agency. According to the data, in the first 10 years of Heysea’s existence it only delivered five 30m-plus projects. In the following year alone (2018), Heysea delivered two superyacht projects, almost half the number of superyacht deliveries for the previous 10 years. In stark contrast Heysea failed to deliver a single superyacht project in 2019.

However, assuming 2019 was an anomalous year of transition and change, 2020 is set to be a bumper year for the Chinese outfit with eight superyacht projects due for delivery, four of which have already been launched. It should be noted that two of the launches were originally scheduled for 2019, which may or may not have a bearing on the yard’s ability to meet its eight scheduled deliveries for 2020.

According to the shipyard, the most recent launch, the Asteria 126 “inherited the concept of fluidity from the Asteria family [of yachts].” At 38m and 270gt the Asteria 126 has a cruising speed of 20kn powered by two Caterpillar 1925 HP diesel engines. She is scheduled to be delivered to her owner in around a month’s time.

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