Repair industry is shipshape

Brad Hall, general manager of new Port Whangarei Marine Centre site.

Walking under the hulls of a catamaran which spent the summer cruising passengers around Auckland harbour, you can almost hear the ghosts of the holidaying pilgrims.

At Whangarei's Oceania Marine, old girls like Starflyte are regular features in the ship yard as the fleet of ferries and commercial boats come to the yard for a little R&R; a splash of paint; some engine work.

Martin Gleeson doesn't flinch as we walk beneath the blue and white monster.

Jim Loynes, client liaison and marketing manager, with Escapade in the water at the north yard.

Up to 30 people are working on the ship, whether on-site or as part of the network of service providers that contributes to Whangarei's ship-repair industry.

"We support 500 suppliers, from pizza delivery for hard-working staff to the real estate for crew accommodation, as well as local services," the Oceania Marine managing director says.

Some of those include Marine Industry Electrics, McKay Electrical, Whangarei Engineering and Atlas Cranes.

Martin Gleeson, managing director, in front of Starflyte.

Even neighbouring Ship Repair NZ chips in with the industry's equivalent of a cup of sugar - some manpower.

"There is a massive co-operation amongst the ship repair community here."

The recent Northland Growth Study left Gleeson baffled when it said the Whangarei industry had "limited industry collaboration".

"Nobody contacted us for a comment or opinion on the status of the industry," he says. "We all work together here."

And while the February report mentions Oceania Marine, it fails to include that the company already had plans for the very haulout facilities the report claimed were needed.

Demand

The company has had to turn away three ships in the last six weeks as its slipway facilities cannot cope with the demand for services.

Taking a day to set up, and up to six hours to haul ships out, the facility has reached its peak.

Resource consent has been granted for the first phase in the $25 million expansion, with the south yard at Port Whangarei Marine Centre at the site of the old Tenex building now part of the big picture.

The company has ordered the first of two travelift machines as part of a six-month travel haulout project.

The 100-tonne Cimolai mobile boat hauler will be based at the south shipyard from October, while a 450-tonne Cimolai mobile hauler is part of the next stage of development and will be ready for the 2016 summer season.

Initial design of a unique 4000-tonne syncrolift for installation at the site is also being worked on.

The project is being led by Brad Hall, recently announced as the general manager of new Port Whangarei Marine Centre.

Hall started at the Whangarei yard as an engineering cadet in 2007 and after finishing his degree, worked in Auckland.

He was lured back to Oceania Marine last year for the project.

"As on any project, we're at that frustrating point where many things have to happen before you can get your hands dirty and start construction. Geotech reports, Resource Consents, civil engineering and mechanical design all have to be finalised, then things will really start to happen," he says.

Big business

A standard refit could set you back between $400,000 and $500,000 and Gleeson says the company is getting around 50 projects a year.

"This has doubled in two years. It takes five to six years to break into the market before people know who you are."

A complete overhaul such as the multimillion-dollar refit of Umbra - the luxury superyacht that used to belong to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich - which included fitting a removable helicopter deck, could cost up to $6 million.

The yard is this week working on the 37.5m superyacht Escapade, the last yacht to be made by Fitzroy and built for Swiss businessman Christophe Albin before the New Plymouth yard closed in 2014 due to the global financial crisis impact on the superyacht-building industry.

The Malaysia-based entrepreneur is the executive chairman and majority owner of electronics company Escatec and designed the ship with his wife for their two-year cruising escapade.

The team is also working on a shiny VanDutch, which Gleeson describes as the superyacht's "dinghy".

He says the cheaper Whangarei land allows ship yards to quote cheaper prices than competitors in Auckland, giving Whangarei the competitive edge.

Waterfront property in Whangarei costs five times less than it does in Auckland and Whangarei boasts strong expertise, thanks to the quality of work fostered through NZ Refining, Fonterra and other large industries, he says.

"We also have plenty to offer the superyacht crews who come here."

I peer into the kitchen facilities, just metres from where the 45.7m luxury superyacht Vantage is being worked on.

A crew member is cooking up some fried eggs and bread.

Constructed by Palmer Johnson, Vantage has a crew of 12 and is having more than $1 million worth of work done before it leaves for Tahiti in May.

When the yacht was listed for sale in 2010, the asking price was $38.3 million.

A team of painters and tradies is buzzing around Vantage like wasps on a heaving grapevine. Many of the refit and repair team are NZ Marine apprentices. While the ships have downtime, so do the crews.

"They eat at local restaurants, go diving, tramping, and just enjoy Northland. It's not as busy as Auckland so they can unwind here, without worrying about travelling to the ship. We are not just selling our services, we are selling Whangarei as a destination," Gleeson says.

Sailing forward

Jim Loynes signed up to the task of client liaison and marketing manager for Oceania Marine in November 2011, after sitting down to chat with Gleeson in a restaurant in the south of France.

The former yacht captain from Cornwall, who now travels abroad up to six times a year signing up ships for the yard, has sailed for more than 25 years but wanted to anchor in New Zealand.

The company has also expanded to include Energy Vessels Offshore, which provides service vessels and tug boats for the offshore energy industry, including windfarms and offshore oil and gas outfits.

The Port Whangarei site consisted mostly of land reclaimed by the Northland Harbour Board in the 1950s and 60s. Oceania Marine took over the lease of the site in 2009, before buying the freehold land in 2013.

The site had once been home to New Zealand Yachts, the company which promised to turn Whangarei into a world centre for superyacht-building after being launched by businessman Allen Jones in 2001. The only superyacht to be built was Spirit 35 before the company was put into receivership in 2009 on behalf of Caterpillar Financial NZ.

At the time of its receivership, Damon Jones was the company's marketing and sales manager, with Martin Gleeson as general manager.

But superyacht construction was failing across New Zealand, so the company wound up.

"Since the global financial crisis, it's just not viable in New Zealand," says Gleeson.

These days, ship building is reserved for companies in Asia, Holland, Italy and the US.

However, where one door closed a more practical door opened and Gleeson's Oceania Marine Ltd and Oceania Marine Coatings took over the site's lease.

The ghosts of New Zealand Yachts have long been exorcised from the yard but if they were still haunting the hallways, progress at the south yard would soon frighten them off.