The British Department of Business and Trade (DBT) has launched the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (SCGS) in a bid to help buyers purchase UK-built ships and revitalise the domestic shipbuilding industry. 

"We’re delighted with this announcement and confirmation of its applicability to Superyacht projects," Stephen Hills, Commercial Director, Pendennis. "Pendennis is a leading provider of bespoke new build, conversions and refits and we welcome this as another positive reason to choose the UK as a great location for Superyacht Projects."

The initiative is part of the UK’s £4bn National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh plan to improve the industry, which contributes £2.8bn a year to the country’s economy and supports around 42,000 jobs.

“Shipbuilding is an integral part of the UK’s industrial identity and through this scheme, we are backing our great maritime businesses to get ahead of the competition,” says Nusrat Ghani, Minister for Industry and Economic Security. “With cutting-edge vessels designed and built here in the UK this will be a boost to high-skilled careers and every company involved in the supply chain for shipbuilding, helping us to grow the economy.”

The scheme provides a partial guarantee of up to 80% to a lender making a loan to a ship-buyer or operator, for a maximum repayment period of up to 12 years. This accounts for new vessels and refits, retrofits or repairs of existing yachts in UK shipyards.

The loan is expected to be typically repaid over a period of two years or longer by the borrower, while the shipyard receives cash payment via the credit facility.

The UK is known globally for its expertise in shipbuilding, with a history of building some iconic custom superyachts such as the world’s largest privately owned sailing catamaran, 44m Hemisphere, built at the Pendennis shipyard in Falmouth . This has somewhat waned in recent years.

The scheme has the potential to provide hundreds of jobs and an injection of cash to the British economy over several years that would otherwise go elsewhere.

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