Greenline Yacht Interiors: Achieving Success in the Superyacht Industry

Taking on the Superyacht Industry

Lea Badro is the daughter of the Chairman and CEO of Greenline Interiors, Mr. Samir Badro. Together they have built Greenline Interiors from the ground up, now handling some of the most exciting projects in the industry.

The company began in 1976, designing and building interiors for Sheikh palaces and residences. Greenline's success lead the company into the hospitality market, where they constructed the interiors for the Burj Al Arab, the world's only 7-star hotel and in 1997 Greenline Yacht Interiors was founded to meet the growing demand for ultra-luxurious interiors onboard superyachts.

“In the 90s the sheikhs came back to us and asked us to do their yachts. We started with some locally built yachts, but we realised that the yacht industry was a niche and was something we could cater to," said Lea.

The Lurssen Trilogy

The newly formed Greenline Yacht Interiors (GLY) developed recognition through their quality of work, which lead to contracts for the ‘Lürssen Trilogy’, consisting of the Lürssen built 70m M/Y Martha Ann, the 70m M/Y Saint Nicholas and the 67m M/Y Apoise. GLY's work on these three stunning yachts would lead to their own pedigree and established brand, paving the way for the prestige of their current projects.

Latest GLY Projects

GLY has earned a place working on what will be the largest yacht in the world once delivered, and the 119m motor yacht ‘A’, which brought a revolutionary design to the water when it launched from Blohm & Voss in 2008.

The latest Greenline Yacht Interiors projects include M/Y Swift 141, which is set to become one of the largest yachts in the world when delivered from ADMShipyards later this year. 

GLY has also secured contracts for two yachts under construction at Trinity's Gulfport and New Orleans shipyards and has begun work on the exciting Royal Falcon Fleet - Porsche Collaboration.
"To be tied in with the Porsche brand name is very exciting. They're going to be beautiful yachts and we’re very lucky to be joined with Porsche and Royal Falcon Fleet. Basically, it’s a series of 10 yachts of 41m, for now it’s just two we’re working on but more will come,” said Lea.

GLY has maintained a healthy order book, even through the downturn in the market last year: “We have a lot of enquiries on refit now, either complete conversions or refit, which is something we also cater to…Obviously there was a slowing down of the market, but there’s traffic at shows and in terms of the orders we’ve been pretty lucky."

Quality Control

Asked what separates GLY from other companies, Lea Badro commented: “We have a unique way in which we build our interiors in the workshop. ...We have a mock up process where we build a one to one scale of the interiors up to the pre-finish stage and we have the client walk through the whole deck; it can be a 160m yacht and the whole deck will be laid out. ...The client can go through the cabins and experience the feeling and volume”.

“Quality Control is always consistent, with each section of construction having its own Quality Control Department," says Lea. "A lot of our work is done in-house; the only thing we sub-contract is the marble and carpet, but we have a carpentry and veneer department, paint department, upholstery department and a metal shop. So keeping things in-house decreases cost and the risk toward quality control”.

After a tour of GLY's state-of-the-art factory in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, near Dubai, it was easy to see the amount of work involved. At the logistics areas we saw items weighed and signed, whilst witnessing a to-scale mock up of the meticulously designed owner's cabin from M/Y ‘A’.

Creating a Happy Workforce

“Our factories are located at the Jebel Ali Free Zone, which is in the middle of the desert, so we created our factories to have gardens and good facilities", said Lea. "We wanted to create an atmosphere which was pleasant enough for the staff to have an enjoyable day at work. They have a lot of activities at their disposal: we have a basketball court for the workers, we have a gymnasium, cafeteria, lounge for staff and we try to do barbeques in the garden area as well".

GLY also has a factory in Hamburg. "We’ve worked with German shipyards like Lürssen and Blohm + Voss, to have a facility there for any works needed close by is very helpful,” says Lea.

A Positive Outlook

GLY has been creating elegant and sophisticated interiors for over 30 years, either for groundbreaking yachts and palatial residences across the world. Lea Badro commented about things to come in the superyacht industry: “I’m not sceptical about the industry I just think everything has been going a bit slower," says Lea. We reached a very high boom before the crisis hit, but we're at the stage now where it could be better and it will get better".