Marine interior expertise seals heavyweight pact

A multi-million-dollar deal signed in Europe could see Whangarei become a leading international provider of luxury marine interiors and a power-house of specialist marine interior design.
Innovative Whangarei company SMI Group has announced an equity deal with ship builder/financier Cathay Atlantic Group which will finance expansion in Whangarei and offshore.
Cathay Atlantic is UK-owned and based in Hong Kong.
SMI Group is already heading for superstardom in the world of marine interiors with orders valued in excess of $US63 million on the books and the Cathay Atlantic capital will fund the expansion needed to meet these orders.
The deal with Cathay Atlantic has also added to SMI's already healthy order book, bringing firm orders for the interiors of two 80-metre hotel yachts and putting orders for 10 more vessels ranging in size from 65 to 120 metres "on the radar".
Hotel yachts are luxurious mini-cruise liners, usually with less than 36 passengers.
Boat-builder Grant Willis, and his wife Tracey Barnier-Willis, a marine interior designer, set up Specialist Marine Interiors in Whangarei in the late 1990s, investing in state-of-the-art equipment to make luxury prefabricated interiors for super-yachts.
For the past three years the company (now called SMI Group) has been installing interiors designed and made in Whangarei, in super-yachts being manufactured at Trinity Boat Yard near New Orleans.
A few months ago, the operation expanded into Europe when the company won a contract to instal a new interior in 72m superyacht Amadeus.
The finishing touches on this job are being completed at a base in Split, Croatia. The superyacht's owner, multi-millionaire Bernard Arnault, has put in further orders.
Mr Willis said the company planned to develop three satellite operations in unspecified locations in Europe, the United States and Asia where some of the less specialised projects would be manufactured and installed.
Design, intellectual property and high-end work would be kept in Whangarei.
"Key" people from New Zealand would be placed in the off-shore locations.
"We'll set up a training facility in Whangarei so offshore staff are thoroughly trained in the SMI process," he said.
He remains the majority shareholder of SMI Group under the partnership, which will be settled later this month.
• SMI Group took top honours in the 2007 American Chamber of Commerce-UPS Success & Innovation Awards, held recently in Auckland. The company beat other key players in the $9 billion two-way trade between New Zealand and the United States to take the supreme award, after first winning the exporter of the year category for sales over $5 million.
• Bernard Arnault, owner of the superyacht Amadeus, recently "borrowed" the vessel from the SMI Split workforce for a two-week holiday on which he hosted former British prime minister Tony Blair, his wife Cherie, and singer Bono.
• SMI Group is also completing the interiors for the off-shore patrol vessels being built by Tenix Whangarei for the New Zealand Navy.