Sailing ahead Bavaria Yacht Bau

SAILING AHEAD

Germany’s largest yacht builders, Bavaria Yacht Bau has worked hard to establish a perfect balance between the latest technology and utilising its highly skilled workers to create a range of quality sailing yachts and motorboats. EmmaJane Batey spoke to the Head of marketing and PR, Alexander Knesewitsch, to find out more.

Established in 1978 in Giebelstadt, Germany, Bavaria Yacht Bau has become synonymous with designing and manufacturing high-quality motorboats and sailing yachts. A wide range of boats are on offer, with new features and designs being launched every year to ensure that Bavaria Yacht Bau continues to maintain its position as Germany’s leading and largest yacht builder.

Head of marketing and PR, Alexander Knesewitsch, told Industry Europe how the company is committed to retaining its impressive reputation. He said, “Our boats are known for their impressive price-toperformance ratio, with their solid and lasting qualities appreciated by our customers worldwide. As well as being Germany’s largest yacht builder, we are also a major presence in the global yacht building market as we are the world’s second biggest builder of yachts in our sector. We know that we have been able to earn this position through hard work and continually delivering reliable, beautiful boats that offer good value for money.”

Continual investment

A family-owned company for many years, Bavaria Yacht Bau is now part of the Anchorage & Oaktree portfolio. As the world’s second biggest builder of yachts between 28ft and 55ft, Anchorage & Oaktree is steadfast in its continued investment in order to develop new yacht designs and offer various upgrades to the existing portfolio.

Mr Knesewitsch continued, “It is imperative that we stay close to and ahead of the industry’s changing trends in order to continue to meet our customers’ needs. A key aspect of achieving this is the fact that our production capabilities are second to none – our highly skilled employees are able to interpret the latest design concepts and create fabulous yachts that impress even the most demanding customer.”

With more than 80 per cent of its production exported, global customers are important to Bavaria Yacht Bau. Rather unusually for the yacht building industry, the company produces all the parts for its yachts in-house at its Giebelstadt yacht building yard, which helps maintain the high quality standards. This total control practice is a proud USP for Bavaria Yacht Bau, and supports the high-end production values of each of its 1500 yachts manufactured each year.

Mr Knesewitsch explained how this practice works well alongside the invest-

ment, the production facilities and the skills of the 600-strong workforce. He said, “Our total control is also about total quality – we see every aspect of our yachts as they’re built and so can guarantee that each and every part is of the highest quality. We have a very strong combination of the latest CAD/CAM software, high-precision robots and very skilled employees all working together on our yachts, which not only means that our yachts are all of the highest quality but also that they are affordable compared to comparable quality yachts. In this luxury products market customers still want good value for money, particularly in a challenging economy such as the one we’ve all been experiencing for the past few years. We never compromise on qual-

ity and this has enabled us to stay strong during the recession.”

The yacht production at Bavaria Yacht Bau is divided into 60 per cent sailing yachts and 40 per cent motorboats, with the company building more than 30,000 yachts since 1978. With yachts ranging from 28–55ft, the production at Bavaria Yacht Bau is focused on high quality design, build and finish at every stage.

Meeting global demands

The domestic German market is certainly strong for the company, although it is also very active across Scandinavia and present globally. It has also achieved notable success in the USA, when in November 2011 the prestigious SAIL Magazine honoured the CRUISER 45 in its Best Boats Award 2012 in the category ‘Cruising Monohull Under 50 Feet’. Furthermore, it sees great opportunities for the coming years in the BRIC countries.

The dealer network is also integral to Bavaria Yacht Bau’s continued success. The company has steadily established a global network of dealers that have the requisite showroom facilities and suitable infrastructure such as cranes and mooring places that allow customers to see the yachts in a positive setting.

As Bavaria Yacht Bau looks forward to the next chapter in its development, Mr Knesewitsch is clear that continued growth is on the cards. He concluded, “Even though the market is insecure for all of us at the moment, we are confident that we will grow both in terms of increased sales and new market development over the coming months and years, particularly as we have an improving product portfolio to support our ambitious plans.” n