Much has changed since famous solo sailors, such as the Frenchman Bernard Moitessier, took advantage of their calls in distant ports to work for a few months in the shipyards. Repainting the hulls of fishing boats, scratching mollusks embedded in the sides or caulking wooden vessels, they saved to continue with the journey. The artisan and personalized style of the refit it has given way to much more industrialized systems with cutting-edge technology that make the so-called blue economy sector increasingly profitable. Nautical hobby has also changed, especially that of the richest people in the world: from the classic and elegant sailboat, it has gone to the superyacht, in an unstoppable race to add meters and meters to the lengths of these floating mansions.
The shipyards of the Marina Barcelona 92 group (MB92) are an example of how the two trends have come together. Founded at the Olympic Games to repair pleasure and sports boats, the company has undergone a logistical and technological transformation that has made it a world leader in the development of large yachts, among which are the jewels of the greatest billionaires.
Over the years, one thing has not changed: wood is still the best material for holding ships in dry dock. Supported by iron structures that move on rails, the sturdy yet flexible wooden cushions are the resting point for these huge, thousands of ton whims. Currently more than 20 superyachts rest there. When they have to paint, they take shelter inside large tents that, in the eyes of the people of Barcelona who see it from the city, look like traveling circuses.
When Pepe García-Aubert, president and CEO of MB92, came to the group in 1993, the yard was for yachts up to 25 meters. But it was a wreck. We saw it clearly: for it to be profitable, the boats have to be bigger ”, he recalls. In the mid-1990s, the largest ship in the world was 75 meters long. Now this is the average length of the ships arriving at MB92. They gained space by taking over the Barcelona Naval Union concession when it closed in 2010, and MB92 now has 82,500 square meters on land and 41,400 square meters in water.
The group began by weaving agreements with European superyacht builders so that the after-sales and repair service would be in Barcelona. But the first step was to professionalize the sector. “Most of the pleasure boat yards at that time had a traditional style and with all their own services. We choose to have subcontractors for each project, ensuring that it is always the best ”, explains the president. These external companies have premises in the facilities and are part of a kind of city within the port through which there are more than 6,000 daily entries and exits.
Job positions
The MB92 group has 170 workers in Barcelona, the subcontractors have more than 1,000 and the crew of the ships that are being repaired exceeds 800 sailors. The crews live aboard the ships while repairing themselves both in the water and in the dry. “This is very important, because they move around the city, consume and contribute to the economy of Barcelona. We have a team dedicated only to organizing activities for the crew ”, highlights the president. García-Aubert adds that the company has been training young people in the naval industry. “We have more than 70 naval engineers trained here. Before we were looking for talent abroad and now they ask us for it, it is a pride ”, he says.
The business of refit Superyachts is very juicy and there are few that are as specialized as the MB92 group in large boats. In 2016, the company bought its main competitor, the La Ciotat shipyard. More than half of the yachts of length greater than 100 meters in the world have passed through one of the two centers of the group. “France is the cradle of the superyacht, there is a lot of industry, management companies, captains … The La Ciotat shipyard has more expansion capacity,” explains the president of the group, who does not rule out more acquisitions in the world. The profits of the company in Barcelona alone are around 3.5 million euros per year, according to the commercial register. The company plans to close 2021 with a turnover of 191 million, and of these, 120 million will correspond to Barcelona.
In 2020, the year of the pandemic, the total turnover was 122.1 million, and in 2019 150.3 million. This 27% increase compared to the last year prior to the pandemic is due to higher productivity thanks to the installation of a large lifting platform inaugurated in 2019 that allows large ships to land. The investment since 2010, the company points out, stands at 70 million euros. And the commitment in La Ciotat until 2023 is 75 million more. Shareholders (in 2019, the Squircle fund bought 77% from the Turkish investment group Dogus Group, which continues with a minority stake) want to take advantage of the sector’s growth projection – they estimate that the global superyacht fleet will grow 10% until 2025 – and consolidate Barcelona and La Ciotat. “The big producers are in the Netherlands or Germany, but the life of the yachts is here. The Mediterranean continues to be the most glamorous and safest sea, ”explains García-Aubert.
The yacht owner signs up for the voyage when he wants or rents it out. “In the 19th and 20th centuries they had six or seven mansions in the best places in the world. Now they have a single floating mansion that goes where they want. During the pandemic they have been used as a refuge ”, he reasons. One ship stands out these days, a huge three-masted sailboat with classic lines, the 90-meter Athena, owned by Silicon Valley billionaire James Henry Clark. It is rented for 340,000 euros a week. The largest yacht in the world has passed here, the Azzam (180 meters), owned by the Emir of Abu Dhabi; the Fulk Al Salamah, of the Sultan of Oman, or the classic Getty family yacht. But García-Aubert does not release a pledge, since confidentiality with the client is strictly followed. “The contact is more with the agency of management, but some have a lot of naval fondness and are interested ”, he explains. The jobs commissioned range from periodic maintenance to massive interior renovations when, for example, the boat changes ownership: “We must not forget that the yacht is a whim and must be treated as such,” he concludes.
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