Huisfit, the dedicated refit arm of the Royal Huisman shipyard, recently announced that is has secured the exclusive use of deep water facilities at the Emden Dockyard in Germany. In addition to using Royal Huisman’s Vollenhove facility, Huisfit had previously rented deep water locations on a temporary basis in order to account for its growing refit department, Huisfit was displeased with the lack of flexibility and competitive pricing afforded by the rental model.

“We have, up to this point, been facing the problem of how best to schedule refits for a year down the line,” starts Bert Tromp, Huisfit’s sales manager. “The lack of exclusivity meant we found ourselves facing time delays when responding to clients with whether or not we were able to accommodate a refit.”

While Royal Huisman, and by proxy Huisfit, will always be internationally recognised as a Dutch enterprise, a move into neighbouring Germany provided Huisfit with the best opportunity for growth.

“We found that in Germany, just across the border, this facility had everything we needed; it’s a great non-tidal location behind a lock, as well as being a clean area with a lot of big sheds, open docks, two floating docks and a graving dock that we can make use of.”

As well as allowing Huisfit far greater flexibility in terms of timing and availability, this new venture will also provide Huisfit with a degree of pricing flexibility that was previous lacking. Under the previous model extra charges would be frequently incurred on projects that required renting space during the refitting high season.

With the Emden agreement in place, Huisfit has secured access to over 300,000sqm of modern facilities that can accommodate the world’s largest superyachts. Huisfit already has a number of large refit projects to its name, such as 93m M/Y Eos and 71m M/Y Skat, the Emden expansion clearly signposts Huisfit’s desire to work with the largest yachts in the fleet.

“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement, it provides a wonderful opportunity to expand Huisfit activity as refit continues to be a hugely important facet of Royal Huisman’s business plan,” adds Britta Bukenburg, Royal Huisman’s commercial manager. “With this agreement we have no limitations and we can accept nearly any yacht in the world.”

Emden at a glance

Multiple heated halls up to 120m length with gantry cranes
1,500m of along-side berthing at deep water quays
2 floating docks - 136 x 17m and 176 x 27m
1 graving dock - 218 x 30m
Hard standing - 250 x 75m
Several tower cranes with lifting capacities of up to 45t at dry docks and berths Additional mobile cranes
Power supply 400 V / 50 Hz 1.200A and 400 V / 60 Hz 500A

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