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Dutch Industry Report 26-03-2007 15:36 Pagina 1
PROGRESS TOWARDS OPTIMUM
YACHT PERFORMANCE
1
Dutch industry momentum, part one
Yards building yachts over 80 feet in length have their production halls filled until well into the year 2009.
As the industry in the Netherlands is experiencing stable demand, management and technicians at the yards work
on innovative production techniques to meet the rising demand of their clients in terms of quality and ever shorter
production time. Optimised logistics not only lead to faster and more economic contsruction,
the often unspoken ambition of Dutch super yacht builders is to take advantage of the workfloor conversion to
make yachts that perform even better to meet highest design objectives.
HSB International Monthly will present an overview of capacities, projects and plans of twelve leading Dutch yards
in four parts.This month the first three: Royal Huisman Shipyard, Holland Jachtbouw, and Amels.
Coming up next months: Jongert,Vitters, Moonen, Heesen, Hakvoort,
Feadship (Koninklijke De Vries and Royal Van Lent), Bloemsma & van Breemen, Dutch Yacht Builders and Oceanco.
text: Hans Buitelaar
Royal Huisman Shipyard
Profile
Known as one of the pioneers in aluminum
yacht construction, Royal Huisman Shipyard
of Vollenhove has accomplished a reputation of delivering yachts of most balanced
weight management, advanced hydrodynamics and ingenious utilisation of interior
space. The yard has a history that goes back
to 1884, when the great grandfather of the
present managing director Alice Huisman
founded the yard. Initially only small, wooden fishing - and workboats were built that
became locally known as ‘ Vollenhovense
Bol’. A considerable number of these vessels,
mostly refitted for yachting puposes, still sail
the Dutch waters. They are popular boats to
sail the Waddenzee with its sandbanks that
dry out with the tide. A ‘Vollenhovense Bol’
can beach on such banks. In 1964, the grandson of the yard’s founder, Wolter Huisman,
takes blue water yacht building into a new
era as he decides to start building in the then
latest available material: aluminium. Royal
Huisman still builds with the ‘Alustar’ alloy
from the Dutch metal plant Hoogovens.
Expertise of Royal Huisman is the combination of aluminium hulls with carbonfibre
composite masts and superstructures, creating strong yachts of light displacement. The
yard distinguished itself by having literally
all aspects of yacht building under one roof.
Hull construction, interior design and furniture building, design and installation of electronics and carpentry is all done in-house.
The yard works closely together with deck
hardware manufacturer Rondal, which has
its production halls and offices at the same
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site as Royal Huisman. As the constructor of
‘Flyer’, in which Dutch skipper Conny van
Rietschoten won the Whitbread round the
world race, Royal Huisman has a worldwide
reputation of building ocean racers.
Software pioneer Jim Clark has chosen the
yard for three successive orders: the legendary yachts ‘Hyperion’, ‘Athena’ and
‘Endeavour II’, to be launched in the fall of
2008.
Projects
After recent deliveries of 32 meter sailing
yacht ‘Gliss’, 35.80 meter motor yacht
‘Arcadia’ and the refit of 25.85 meter sailing
yacht ‘Foftein’, Royal Huisman Shipyard has
orders for five sailing yachts of considerable
size, with delivery dates from this year up to
2011.
First yacht to be delivered is 51.59 meter
schooner ‘Meteor’. This classic styled aluminium yacht by naval architecture of
Gerard Dijkstra in co-operation with John G.
Alden Design will have a double owners
suite and two twin guest staterooms and
take four crew plus the captain and his partner in a double captains cabin. Exterior and
interior styling is by John Munford Design.
Delivery is set for june 2007.
In August 2008, Royal Huisman plans the
delivery of ‘Ethereal’, a modern styled 58.04
meter performance ketch by naval architec-
ture of Ron Holland Design and exterior and
interior styling by Pieter Beeldsnijder Design.
This yacht will have a full beam double owners suite aft with spacious bathroom, a large
desk and a settee. A VIP guest suite also has
a bathroom, settee and desk. Two twin guest
cabins, each with bathroom, make make it
possible to sail the yacht with a cruising company of eight. A double captains cabin and
six crew beds in three cabins make home for
an extensive company of personnel. Three
dining areas, at the deck house, the main
deck and the lower deck, as well as three
lounge areas, make the yacht a spacious and
comfortable world cruiser. And a fast one,
with a hull speed of 17 knots and 1573
square meters of sail area and a very profitable displacement over length ratio.
A very exiting project is the construction of
‘Endeavour II’, a replica of the legendary Jclass sloop by design of the even-so legendary Olin Stephens of Sparkman and
Stephens. This 42.09 meter classic sailor, the
replica being of naval architecture and exterior design by Gerard Dijkstra and interior
styling by Pieter Beeldsnijder Design, will be
launched in 2008.
The launch of a 57.53 meter flybridge ketch
by Dubois Naval Architects and interior and
exterior styling by Redman Whitely Dixon is
planned in 2010. A name for this yacht has
not yet been chosen. 42 meter sailing yacht
‘Gitana’ by German Frers is to be launched in
2011. Details of the last three yachts are not
known as to date.
Plans
Royal Huisman hopes to be able to serve a
new group of coustomers from Russia, as the
yard recently announced the opening of
their Moskow office, embedded at
Nakhimov Yachts. This company will be
responsible for detailed consultations for
Russian customers on new building projects,
preliminary specifications and general
arrangement negotiations, payment and
building schedules. It is envisioned that the
Moscow office will also offer monitoring of
the shipbuilding process in Holland, as well
as dealing with the interior designers, exclusive materials suppliers and the production
department of the yard as a client representative. Nakhimov Yachts operates since 2001
and offers professional services in new
builds, brokerage and the chartering of
super and mega yachts.
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Dutch Industry Report 26-03-2007 15:36 Pagina 3
phy World Class Manufacturing. Companies
applying this method strive to create transparent processes, minimise waste and implement ideas from the workforce up towards
mangement, instead of the usual top-down
approach. The preference to involve clients
in the projects neatly conform with this philosophy.
Projects
Holland Yachtbouw
Profile
A relative newcomer among the super yacht
yards, Holland Jachtbouw has proven itself
by delivering award winning and speed
record breaking yachts since the company
was founded in 1990. By opening the yard in
Zaandam, Holland Jachtbouw chose location
in the centre of clustered Dutch yachtbuilding industry. Whereas other yards that build
yachts over 80 feet length also offer predesigned hulls, to be customized by client’s
choice for shorter construction timeslots,
Holland Jachtbouw expressively chooses to
build full custom yachts. The yard wants to
actively involve owners in the project of conceiving a yacht, optimised to their desired
specifications and achieved by mutual effort.
Holland Jachbouw’s 2001 launch ‘Windrose’,
a 46.32 meter schooner of Gerard Dijkstra
naval architecture, broke the 97-year old
standing speed record for an atlantic crossing in the Transatlantic Challenge of 2002.
The André Hoek designed schooner ‘Skylge’,
launched in 2005 won the prestigious
Highest Technical Achievement in a Sailing
Yacht award from ShowBoats International.
‘Skylge’s’ clean deck lay-out and innovative
lifting keel mechanism were accountable for
winning the award.
Working procedures at the yard are optimised by the implementation of the management, logistics and processing philoso-
Production halls at Holland jachtbouw are
full with the major refit of 42 meter motor
yacht ‘Life Saga’ and the preparations for
the construction of André Hoek designed 62
meter schooner ‘Awesome Athos’. Current
production halls are not big enough to
house this enormous vessel, so it will be built
in a new hall. Construction of the casco hull
has started elsewhere, it will arrive when the
new hall is finished in September. Design
models for ‘Awesome Athos’ underwent
extensive tank testing at the MARIN institute
and wind tunnel tests at the Wolfson Unit in
Southampton. This led to the choice of an
aero and hydrodynamic shape with a deep-V
hull, shallow draught keel and integrated
centreboard configuration. The 11-metre
beam will allow for an enormous amount of
interior volume, including a private owners’
area aft with deckhouse and cockpit. The
aluminium structure will feature three
boarding platforms, two boarding ladders
and a wide passerelle that can connect to
the shore as easily as to the water surface.
Integrated side platforms will constitute
ideal landing possibilities for dinghies, while
large deck lockers provide storage for two
29-er sailboats, two optimists, two motor-
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Dutch Industry Report 26-03-2007 15:36 Pagina 4
bikes, and scuba gear. The sailing systems
will include furling booms, carbon spars and
captive winches on sheets and halyards, creating an almost entirely pushbutton-operated sailing yacht. One of the largest
schooners in the world, she will nonetheless
be capable of passing the Bridge of the
Americas. Launch is planned for early 2009.
The refit of ‘Life Saga’ has grown into a
rebuild. As work proceeded on the ship,
more and more items to be overhauled came
up. This led to completely stripping the yacht
until only a casco was left for refit. ‘Life
Saga’ will therefor be in the yard longer
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than foreseen, but will leave it as new late
2008.
Plans
As the construction of a new production hall
has already begun, some of the nearest
future plans of Holland Jachtbouw are quite
clear. With the hall finished, inhouse logistics
will dramatically improve. In between two
halls, one 44 meters, the larger one stretching 65 meters, will be a three store tools and
timber building, providing access to the
ships on different levels. Because of this
setup, fittings, furniture and accessoiries can
be prepared practically on site and be
mounted to the yacht directly on the right
spot. This saves extensive traffic over the
docked yachts’ deck, saving working time
and making the technicians’ work more
pleasurable. The new hall will increase production capacity by 80 per cent. When it is in
use, three yachts can be at the yard indoors,
with three more at the quays. Holland
Jachtbouw hopes to create a yard that is
attractive to yachting enthousiast clients, so
they will like the time they pass there, participating in the production of their own new
yacht
Dutch Industry Report 26-03-2007 15:36 Pagina 5
Tim Heywood. A client that chooses for the
quick delivery that is possible with these
yachts, will not change the hull. To speed up
production time even more, clients can
choose for one of the three pre-designed
interior lay-out and interior styles by Laura
Cessa. The 52 meter Limited Edition Amels
171 has been ordered 7 times since its introduction 2005, the first 64.7 meter Amels 212
construction starts in May this year.
Allthough only 20 per cent longer than the
171, the 212 is still about twice as big a ship.
Gross tonnage of the 171 is 612, whereas the
212 has a gross tonnage of 1503, with all the
interior volume that comes with it. Interior
design and lay-out of the 212 is by Andrew
Winch. The Limited Editions Concept saves
not only production time, but will save
money, too. Amels strives to give their clients
maximum yacht for money.
Projects
Amels
Profile
Located side by side with Schelde Naval
Shipbuilding, a yard producing fast ocean
patrol vessels and a company of the same
Damen Shipyard Group, Amels builds yachts
at the docks of Vlissingen, embedded in
Dutch maritime history.
The yard is known for building the finest
motor yachts, usually among the largest of
leisure craft of overall lengths from 33 to 75
meters. Two launches of yachts by the name
of Tigre d’Or, a 49,90 meter in 1997 and a 52
meter in 1999, have made Amels’ fame. The
extensive refit of motor yacht Rio Rita also
turned heads. The yard proved its capability
of flexible co-operation with the crew and
delivered this immense project as to schedule.
Clients like to have their yachts as soon as
possible, even if they order 200 feet vessels.
In order to shorten production time, Amels
has come up with the ‘Limited Editions’. Two
types of motor yachts with pre-designed
naval architecture can be built quite fast, as
the design process of the hull can be skipped
from the process and technicians at the yard
know the hull they are building from previ-
ous projects. ‘Limited Editions’ feature a 171foot long yacht and a 212-footer. Naval
architecture is by Amels, exterior styling by
Times are busy at Amels, as the yard is working on ten yachts at the same time. Two complete hulls are now indoors at the Vlissingen
halls, both yachts from the Limited Editions
Amels 171 design. Another yacht just like
that is docked at the quay, as it is reaching
completion.
‘My Shanti’, a 64.5 meter motor yacht of
Terence Disdale design is also nearing its
launch. This is the second Amels yacht built
for the owners, and she is largely a stylistic
development of their first yacht, a 50-metre
designed by Disdale. She is also the twelfth
Amels has built to Disdale’s design.
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Conceived to be self-sufficient during global
cruising, she features extra stowage, an
amazingly large sundeck, a hot tub and
swim-jet pool, extra-large monitors for
adults and children to watch films, and a
waterslide for the children She will accommodate the owners, 20 guests, and 18 crew,
and is Lloyd’s Register classed and MCA compliant. She is set for delivery in 2006.
Eight more Limited Editions Amels 171 steel
hull motor yachts are ordered, two of them
to be delivered 2007, two in 2008, two in
2009 and two in 2010. Two Limited Editions
Amels 212’s are to be launched in 2011.
Plans
To be able to keep up this high rate of production, Amels needs to expand. The yard
will employ two extra halls that have gotten
available on the shipyard terrain of Damen
Shipyard group in Vlissingen. These new
halls are being set up with the specific equipment that is needed to build a super yacht at
thids moment.
The yard has also reached agreement with
Schelde Naval Shipbuilding to share the use
of the dock hall. Vessels can sail into this hall,
that can be pumped dry and has all the
necessities for climate control to do paint
Nog een foto opzoeken!!
6 – HSB INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2007
jobs at the desired level of perfection. With
the new dry halls and the dock hall, the total
of yachts in the yard at the same time goes
up from two to five. More plans that are
being brought about, are the construction
of a new quay for newly built yachts to
receive final treatment and finish, plus an
new bridge over the yard terrain. All of
these construction activities will be finished
within one year, to make Amels able to meet
rising demand and have a doubled production capacity.