YachtForums.Com - View Single Post

Hawk · 01-03-2006, 02:04 PM

I believe many BC and likely most Canadian boat builders either became complacent with the exchange advantage or their overheads grew because of that advantage and then did not react fast enough when it started to shift. If you look from 20,000 feet at the management and non-productive/non-billable infrastructure of Westbay, the overhead costs appear to become too much of a burden on the projects. From a lower altitude the causes are likely a lot more complex, certainly the increase in quality and greater overall acceptance of vessels built offshore -namely China- in their price and size range must play a significant role. That being said this is really not the only cause of their troubles. I doubt we will see the true depth of their issues or the root causes but their marketing strategy and market position in relation to sizes of vessel built as well as price pressure are likely a couple of major factors.

The restructured Crescent Custom Yachts is off to a very controlled and methodical start with the intention of holding on to a very small and very flat management structure and a strategy not to compete in a market niche that is dominated by a couple of very large and powerful players, most notably Westport Shipyard. Westport has and will continue to dominate in the production level megayacht marketplace. If you want a new megayacht at a good price with limited options for customization then Westport is a good option. If you are in the market and you know what you want and it doesn’t fall into the Westport or Benetti business model then yards such as Crescent, Burger, Trinity, Christensen etc are likely better choices.

We all hope that Westbay can dig themselves out of this hole, but I hope if they do that they realize that the marine marketplace is a different world than it was 5years and we must all be prepared to change and adapt as forces dictate. We must not only accept that offshore builders will continue to pressure US and Canadian yards, but embrace it and learn to stay ahead of the curve.

I’m sure you could write a thesis on all the issues and strategies surrounding North American yacht builders but this isn’t the place and I certainly don’t have that much time on my hands, I’m busy running a shipyard.

01-03-2006, 02:04 PM	#11
Hawk Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Vancouver BC Posts: 73	I believe many BC and likely most Canadian boat builders either became complacent with the exchange advantage or their overheads grew because of that advantage and then did not react fast enough when it started to shift. If you look from 20,000 feet at the management and non-productive/non-billable infrastructure of Westbay, the overhead costs appear to become too much of a burden on the projects. From a lower altitude the causes are likely a lot more complex, certainly the increase in quality and greater overall acceptance of vessels built offshore -namely China- in their price and size range must play a significant role. That being said this is really not the only cause of their troubles. I doubt we will see the true depth of their issues or the root causes but their marketing strategy and market position in relation to sizes of vessel built as well as price pressure are likely a couple of major factors. The restructured Crescent Custom Yachts is off to a very controlled and methodical start with the intention of holding on to a very small and very flat management structure and a strategy not to compete in a market niche that is dominated by a couple of very large and powerful players, most notably Westport Shipyard. Westport has and will continue to dominate in the production level megayacht marketplace. If you want a new megayacht at a good price with limited options for customization then Westport is a good option. If you are in the market and you know what you want and it doesn’t fall into the Westport or Benetti business model then yards such as Crescent, Burger, Trinity, Christensen etc are likely better choices. We all hope that Westbay can dig themselves out of this hole, but I hope if they do that they realize that the marine marketplace is a different world than it was 5years and we must all be prepared to change and adapt as forces dictate. We must not only accept that offshore builders will continue to pressure US and Canadian yards, but embrace it and learn to stay ahead of the curve. I’m sure you could write a thesis on all the issues and strategies surrounding North American yacht builders but this isn’t the place and I certainly don’t have that much time on my hands, I’m busy running a shipyard.