Superyacht captains recall US shipyard experiences
Session five of the first day of ASF 2013 saw four superyacht captains recount their personal experiences with US shipyards, agreeing quality of workmanship needed to come under greater scrutiny.…
A cross section of captains from all corners of the world and all rungs of the superyacht ladder, namely David Clarke - M/Y Laurel, Mike Hein - M/Y Mea Culpa, Teddy Garsva - M/Y Fredd, Glen Allen - M/Y Harle took to the stage for a candid exchange about what the USA can do better in their opinion.
Hein started proceedings, explaining to the audience that he has built one new build in the USA, one in Argentina, and one in New Zealand. How does he make decisions on which new build and refit yards to use? He goes to the ones where they’ve proven they’re able to get the work done at a reasonable price and they've achieved what they said they would do. Allen, fleet captain with five yachts under his captaincy, would like to “see the yards cooperate with each other” and is of the opinion that if they got together and communicated, this would improve their lack of consistency. By example, Allen just had three different yards quote to do the same work and they quoted between $1.2million and $6 million to carry out the exact same work, creating a ridiculous situation that is going to put off captains and owners.
Clarke quoted from Hickling’s earlier presentation, stating that the ethics idea was, in his opinion, an incredibly valuable one, but it doesn’t go far enough. The principles are beneficial but the quality of workmanship that happens on board yachts needs to be addressed. There is an opportunity to have a standard for shipyards and the quality of their workers that meets a certain level of standardisation before they can work on board a yacht. Clarke would choose a shipyard over another yard if they had a three star rating for quality of workmanship, not just ethics. A training facility that educates shipyard workers and company workers and certifies them for attaining minimum standards would also be a valuable proposition that the industry should explore.
The MLC 2006 was raised, with Allen saying, “More regulation is not going to get you better people. It will just protect those people. What we need is better training and leadership.” He then went on to echo Clarke’s comment from the first session - that Feadship look after the crew and their yachts are crew friendly. This cultivates loyalty and brand preference from the crew, who can then influence the new build choices.
Redmayne accused some crew trainers of being “paper merchants”, in his opinion entry level crew cannot fail to get their qualifications. And with that bombshell statement we moved onto the final session of the day.
With special thanks to our title sponsors Awlgrip, MTN Satellite Communications and MTU.
Hein started proceedings, explaining to the audience that he has built one new build in the USA, one in Argentina, and one in New Zealand. How does he make decisions on which new build and refit yards to use? He goes to the ones where they’ve proven they’re able to get the work done at a reasonable price and they've achieved what they said they would do. Allen, fleet captain with five yachts under his captaincy, would like to “see the yards cooperate with each other” and is of the opinion that if they got together and communicated, this would improve their lack of consistency. By example, Allen just had three different yards quote to do the same work and they quoted between $1.2million and $6 million to carry out the exact same work, creating a ridiculous situation that is going to put off captains and owners.
Clarke quoted from Hickling’s earlier presentation, stating that the ethics idea was, in his opinion, an incredibly valuable one, but it doesn’t go far enough. The principles are beneficial but the quality of workmanship that happens on board yachts needs to be addressed. There is an opportunity to have a standard for shipyards and the quality of their workers that meets a certain level of standardisation before they can work on board a yacht. Clarke would choose a shipyard over another yard if they had a three star rating for quality of workmanship, not just ethics. A training facility that educates shipyard workers and company workers and certifies them for attaining minimum standards would also be a valuable proposition that the industry should explore.
(From left to right): Mike Hein, Martin H Redmayne, Glen Allen, David Clarke and Teddy Garsva.
Garsva’s
suggestion to the builders and brokers in the audience came down to
marketing. Hailing from South America and predominantly working for
Mexican and South American owners, Garsva said that they all have the
same complaint, and that is that Mexico is next-door to the USA but
Americans have not taken advantage of this. “They’re right next door,
how hard can it be?” There is a new wave of young rich Mexicans that are
being ignored by the American market, and instead these potential
owners are all building in Italy. Americans should do what the British
have done; steal the market from the Italians. Mirroring what South
Americans love about the Italian builds - the sexy lines - Sunseeker and
other British builders have mimicked this and then provided a better
after sales service, therefore retaining the business. Garsva asked the
audience “Can you imagine if 50 Sunseekers out there that are owned by
South Americans were built by American yards?”The MLC 2006 was raised, with Allen saying, “More regulation is not going to get you better people. It will just protect those people. What we need is better training and leadership.” He then went on to echo Clarke’s comment from the first session - that Feadship look after the crew and their yachts are crew friendly. This cultivates loyalty and brand preference from the crew, who can then influence the new build choices.
Redmayne accused some crew trainers of being “paper merchants”, in his opinion entry level crew cannot fail to get their qualifications. And with that bombshell statement we moved onto the final session of the day.
With special thanks to our title sponsors Awlgrip, MTN Satellite Communications and MTU.
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