Dubai: As more orders stream in for its super-luxury yachts, the UAE’s Gulf Craft is well course to be among the “world’s Top 5 shipbuilders by 2025,” according to its CEO.
In the first six months of this years, the company’s order book was bulked up by a further 71 confirmed orders. Gulf Craft, which operates a vessel building yard in Umm al Quwain, delivered 32 units during the same period. Heading for delivery in the coming weeks is the 500 GT Majesty 175, rated as the world’s largest composite production superyacht.
The Chairman, Mohammed Alshaali, said: “While the pandemic had an impact on the boating sector, we remained committed to honoring our delivery schedules and innovating on design and production at our fully integrated production facility in the UAE. We continued to build on an opportunity basis throughout 2020, which put us in strong position in 2021 when we saw an increased demand particularly on yachts ready for immediate delivery.”
New channels
It has been into Europe that the family-owned business made a most determined push, with distribution channels in many key territories including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal.
Gulf Craft also announced a strategic partnership with P&O Marinas, owned by DP World and operator of marinas, to open a sales center at Mina Rashid Marina, the port for many of Dubai’s superyachts. The initiative will include a design studio, sales center, as well as a full team of after-sales technicians to offer optimum support to the yacht.
“Our expanded dealer network and stronger partnerships in the UAE will drive our continued growth through the rest of the year and beyond,” said Talal Nasralla, CEO.
“We are firmly on track to become one of the world’s Top 5 shipbuilders by 2025.”
