Heesen Yachts On Building For The American Owner

By Ben Roberts

During the 2015 Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, Heesen Yachts launched a new project aimed specifically at the American market dubbed Project Nina. The inception of this project, combined with a new Fort Lauderdale office, perfectly surmised the growing focus on the U.S. market. We sat down with Mark Cavendish and Thom Conboy to discuss these new projects, as well as the attraction of a European brand to American owners.

“We’ve opened an office in Fort Lauderdale recently,” explains Mark Cavendish, “we’ve also developed a yacht aimed specifically at this region [...] aside from that I think a lot of our yachts are appealing for the American market. We build a range of yachts, as you know, in aluminium semi-displacement fast yachts, over 20 knots speed has always been interesting for the American market. I think aluminium construction has always been interesting for the American market, there is a big history of aluminium yacht building with Broward and Burger, and of course we are, I would like to say, the market leader in aluminium construction today. Then there’s our steel boats, the traditional displacement yacht for longer distance and cruising at slower speeds.”

America is highly populated market of high net worth individuals with an integrated marine culture, similar to the European market; however, alongside these two powerhouse sources of demand, Heesen Yachts is also seeing growing interest from markets such as the Middle East, Malaysia and Africa. So how is Heesen focussing on America in particular?

“We are going to introduce today our new 38 metre 125 which is the first time a Dutch yard has come out with a true raised pilot house for this region” adds Thom Conboy. “We introduced in Monaco a new 50 metre, a 164 hybrid boat, which is a fast displacement boat by Van Oossanen who's a Dutch designer and architect and it has a lot of features where the outside is in with a lot of full length windows, beach garages and so. A lot of it is people wanting to get down on the water, closer to the water, more openness and more connected.”

The global market is, of course, an important world stage for Heesen Yachts after they divulged information of varying regions looking to their incredible range of yachts; however, for more information on the Heesen Yachts point of view on the prosperity of modern American yachting, watch the above video.

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By Ben Roberts
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