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Advertisers Dupuch & Turnquest & Co.
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Bradford Marine invests in mega-yacht and ship-repair facility in Freeport Harbour
According to Dan Romence, BGBL general manager, many yachts being built today are 150 feet and larger and finding a repair and maintenance facility to accommodate them is increasingly difficult, if not impossible. Wanting to stay close to its Florida market to accommodate its customers, BGBL decided to build such a facility in Freeport Harbour.
“The yachting community has everything it needs in South Florida to work on the boats; all the subcontractors are there, the labor is there, the skilled guys are there, but there is no place to pick a boat up and no place to put it for repairs,” said Romence. Yachts in Florida are restricted to 225 tons and 145 feet.
Romence noted that building a repair center for mega-yachts is difficult in South Florida because of the high price of commercial real estate and construction.
In its Freeport facility, the company will be able to accommodate yachts up to 220 feet long and weighing up to 1,200 tons. It will offer a range of services from simple haul outs to major refits, including plating, metal fabrication, carpentry, fiberglass repairs, construction, machine shop services, shaft, propulsion and rudder work, stabilizers, hydraulics, air conditioning, refrigeration and painting. To do this, the company is building its own dry dock onsite that should be fully operational by June. Meanwhile, it has been able to do repairs with its travel lift, which can accommodate boats 115 feet long and under 150 tons.
In the future, BGBL is considering the build out of 350-foot in-water storage sheds. Currently in-water storage is limited until the expansion is completed but out-of-water storage is plentiful.
According to Romence, all mega-luxury yachts are custom made and a customer might expect to pay $25 million to $50 million for a Dutch-made yacht or $15 million to $50 million for a 150-foot yacht made in the United States. With the present economic boom, luxury items, such as yachts, are a hot commodity and whether the economy maintains the steady growth or not, “once they are built, someone will have to service those yachts,” said Romence.
On average, a 150-foot yacht will need $50,000 to $70,000 of yearly maintenance. “Ten percent of the value of the boat is what you have to spend in maintenance a year,” Romence said. This means big business for ship-repair facilities such as BGBL’s.
Like most foreign companies working in the Bahamas, BGBL is committed to developing local people to do the work required. Qualified people for this work are lacking in Grand Bahama and training has become an important part of doing business.
“I have weekly interviews for jobs that I have advertised and many times people are very excited; they need a job, they want a job, they are willing to work, and they say ‘just tell me what to do and I’ll learn’. That is where the ex-patriot community comes in,” said Romence. BGBL is bringing in some ex-patriots to train the Bahamian employees. These employees, in turn, become apprentices and can then help to train others. The program seems to be working.
“The Bahamians are dynamite,” said Romence. “They are building the dry dock; they are blasting and painting, it is really impressive. They are breaking that stereotype that a lot of the world has about Bahamians that they are lazy people.”
BGBL is not only providing direct employment; it is providing jobs by hiring subcontractors and suppliers. While the total economic impact is still undetermined, the BGBL facility coupled with other developments in Freeport Harbour is going to change the face of Grand Bahama.
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Table of Contents The Bahamas: An established tourism and tax-free financial services center experiences a renaissance |
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Bradford Marine, functioning as Bradford Grand Bahama Limited, one of the world’s largest mega-yacht repair companies, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently opened a new facility in Freeport Harbour to enable the company to service a sector that has been neglected in the South Florida area.
Its paint shop was recently completed and has been able to offer services to smaller craft, many of which were damaged during Hurricane Floyd. Soon to be completed is an expansion of the machine shop and parts storage area.