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Perfect Pedigree
Michael Verdon
02/02/2004
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Velema believes that is why Feadship has not lost its edge in 50 years. "Many demanding clients come to Feadship, wanting things that have never been built before," he says. "We are used to forming new ideas." That has happened time and again in use of materials, says Velema, in hull shape, and noise and vibration reduction. The company has a long list of practical breakthroughs.
German shipyard Lürssen is also respected for the technology and innovation in its yachts. But the brand is known for size, rather than quantity of builds, and its reputation has developed over the last 15 years with a succession of famous yachts, including 2003’s largest new launch, Octopus, at 413 feet. According to ShowBoats’ annual Order Book, which tracks yacht builds, Lürssen has only seven builds under way, but the average size of each build is a colossal 284 feet—making the builder the undisputed world leader in terms of hull length.
Lürssen started flexing its yacht-building muscles in the 1990s (taking the yacht world by storm in 1999 with Al Salamah, the world’s largest yacht at 459 feet), but the Lürssen family has been building boats since 1875. Chairman Peter Lürssen says the company was heavily involved in military shipbuilding until the late ’80s, when it decided to branch into yachting. Now, yachts account for about 60 percent of its business.
How has it built a pedigree that is now the envy of many older yards? "We have a strong engineering background," says Lürssen, noting that 300 of the 1,000 employees are engineers. "We put the engineering innovations of the larger yachts onto the smaller yachts we build, so everyone is well-served."
The second path has been the yard’s custom approach. Of the 13 yachts launched since 1988, no two look alike. "You can pull into any port and tell most other builders’ yachts," says Lürssen. "But our yachts are all unique." Regarding his brand name’s fast track to pedigree status, Lürssen says simply: "The market has recognized that we can build what the client wants."
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