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Moonen bankrupt

Discussion in 'Moonen Yacht' started by Capt Ralph, Jul 20, 2019.

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  1. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Moonen, the Dutch superyacht manufacturer, has been declared bankrupt by a Dutch court.

    The previous investor was having problems and was arrested.
    The article I was reading also commented that a new investor was already interested and working out the issues.
  2. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    https://www.tradeonlytoday.com/industry-news/moonen-this-bankruptcy-came-at-the-right-moment

    While the bankruptcy is precipitated by the activities of Ancira, they have long been struggling and have fallen into the realm of builders that would end up with whomever wanted a boat built. Their volume has been very low for years and currently they have only one boat in construction. In an ideal world, someone stable and experienced would acquire them. Otherwise they may just continue to fade away. Ancira was never going to be a decent solution for them.
  3. captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    I hope that Moonen finally finds a solid investor with a maritime or a ship building background in lieu of client / new build owner investing in the shipyard. I thought that Moonen had it all together & down pat with the acquisition of their new building hall in Groot-Ammers in '07/'08 where they could build to 55 meters or so but I guess not. I was involved with their build #189 "Northlander" and as my first experience with Moonen & was impressed by the build quality top to bottom. Solid hull form by naval architects Stolk and then (here we go) a "Styled" superstructure and exterior 4 deck layout by Ren'e Van der Velden. Very stout and seaworthy '124 ft. vessel with solid machinery and electrical systems installs and a beautiful Art line interior. Moonen's new Caribbean series launch looked very nice and was reviewed well so here's to Hoping for the best outcome for them.
  4. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    I share your hopes, Captholli. I once considered Moonen as a builder potential for our next build one day but had to dismiss them from that over their financial and ownership situation. The one boat under construction is speculative and I'm only aware of two boats delivered in the last 5 years. In my mind, I stopped considering them to even be an active builder. It will take a lot of money and a lot of effort to again make them a builder. At their peak, they were delivering 3 boats a year. Then it dropped to one or two and now essentially one every three years or so. I'm not sure they're even needed now as they've been gone from the market for so long.
  5. Timezone

    Timezone New Member

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    Dutch financial newspaper FD (Article might be behind a paywall, apologies for that) states that Moonen's Groot-Ammers facility is no longer operational

    https://fd.nl/ondernemen/1308606/ja...s-door-brabantse-rechtbank-failliet-verklaard

    Parhaps Zeelander yachts will be using it to expand their operation?

    Potential buyers can take a look at Hakvoort, Mulder, or Wim van der Valk for example. So the competition in the market that Moonen is / was after even in Holland is strong. Not mentioning other European or non-European yards
    Any "investor" might make a return on his money but that will take many years I'm afraid. If there's no global recession or similar in the next three years....

    (In 2015 Moonen was granted suspension of payments, same as several weeks ago)
  6. Timezone

    Timezone New Member

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    I do not read all reviews in magazines and such, but I think finding a negative review might be near impossible: if a yacht yard advertises in certain magazines, it will be very difficult for such publications to say something negative about one of those products?
  7. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Moonen, as such, doesn't even exist in the market and they're clearly not needed if they've been building a boat every two or three years. That's the real problem. It's not taking over an active builder. Is the name of value? I'm not sure. There may be a little positive value but likely some negative too based on recent history and people wondering about their condition. I think it would take an existing successful builder taking over to salvage it. Someone new would need several years to build a brand and a lot of speculative builds in the process. Any builder who hasn't been successful the last few years in a strong market is really doubtful for the future.

    I would personally value the company at the depreciated value of it's physical assets. No goodwill. No customer lists. At best, it's an asset purchase.
  8. Timezone

    Timezone New Member

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    I agree. According to local media Moonen had 39 employees. If someone decides to buy the company, it better be fast. When experienced craftsmen find other jobs, it will be extra difficult to restart the yard
    And: for a restarted company, operating in Holland probably will be too expensive to compete on price. So a potential yacht buyer will have to start a several years long build period with a financially unstable yard. Might be quite risky for the yacht buyer
    Hopefully there will be good news for their workforce soon
  9. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    What condition is the spec hull in progress? Could this help jump start the company ?
  10. captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    I know that moonen had a couple semi custom builds in progress for their "Caribbean Series" vessels and one was launched several months ago but like so many builders in the Netherlands , Moonen subs out their hull and superstructure construction along with Hakvoort, Heesen and a few others to Gerb. Buijs Scheepsbouw just east of Rotterdam and the steel hulls and aluminum superstructures arrive joined and in epoxy primer ready for machinery to be placed so if they have a hull in their building hall than its complete and ready to be fitted out with systems and joinery if its not already started.
    Last edited: Jul 21, 2019
  11. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    The one currently in build is the second of the Martinique model. Brigadoon was the first. 36 meters and was projected for Spring 2000. I doubt seriously that it has made it to Moonen yet.

    Amazing how little capital and how few assets some yacht builders have as well as how few employees. Calling them yacht builders is stretching the definition.
  12. RER

    RER Senior Member

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    Probably more accurate to be called a Yacht Source. Not a builder. Some others too.
  13. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Or a finisher. But something important to know before one contracts for a boat. You get shown photos of beautiful yards and buildings but find out they own none of it.
  14. AMG

    AMG YF Moderator

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    This is what we reported not long ago ; https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/moonen-36-00m-yn199-sistership-brigadoon-2020.31525/
  15. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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  16. captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    Interesting to see the superstructure seperate from the high tensile steel hull as the vast majority of Bi-metal hull / superstructure deliveries from G. Buijs shipyards are mated due to the Triclad or Noble-clad structural joint and the attention to detail when welding this joint between the two dissimilar metallic structures. Most if not all aluminum Heesen hulls will come with seperate structures as they don't have to deal with dissimilar metals / alloys when mating aluminum to steel.
  17. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Steel Hull- Alloy Super;
    I have often wondered about this joint and just assumed (with-out deep thought) that an isolated yet mechanical joint was made and maintained thru the life of the ship.
    I have heard of mixed metal welding but could not reason it (South GA simple mind), in a marine environment.
    Skippy Holli's last comments just confused me more.
    I'm a FRP and (small craft) all same alloy guy. Can anybody open a new thread for mixed metals big boat construction (Yachts like this) 101 for us crappers from the swamps?
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2019
  18. captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    In the day it was referred to as explosive welding. Basically a long flat plate of steel with a thin layer of explosive material with an aluminum
    Flat plate on top in a press and autoclaved under negative pressure and exploded together so there is no defining line between the two and zero air or moisture because of heat and high vacuum in the process. The sheets are milled into flat bar .
  19. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    I remember that on T V long ago. But that involved small scrap bars or straps, out in an old explosive field. Your talking about a few hundred feet of gunnel joint? in a boat yard? With people all around it?
    I did not mean to de-rail this thread,
  20. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Or, it this joint already formed remotely (safetly) and then brought to the ships construction yard?
    One tab for the steel, the other tab for the alloy?