Fairline Gone Pop

[Refueler]

I can't believe any person with hundreds of thousands to spend would consider the risk of buying a Fairline. Although Fairline are very nice boats, I would just look at alternatives. I would also worry about the Fairline staff completing boats and maintaining quality, hardly motivating with redundancies hanging over you. But I do hope they can turn it around and the staff have a more secure future.

Imagine you are a parts provider to Fairline ... anything from engines to windlass ... power panels .... etc. All the extra items that get bought in and fitted ...

How 'comfortable' are you going to be supplying gear to Fairline so they can complete the unfinished builds ? I cannot imagine a 'Credit Line' being given ...

 

[Bouba]

The administrator is responsible for doing the best for the business. They have kept the 250 workers on, presumably to continue building the boats in progress. This is in their interests as completed boats bring in cash. It is up to them to decide whether it is viable to continue given the resources available. It makes a sale easier perhaps if there is still activity.

Yes that’s true....but there’s a lot that goes into a big boat...will Volvo risk sending them engines....are the staff and management still motivated to provide that near superyacht perfection.
For a customer to drop out means not only their money is at risk but possibly two years of their life is down the drain

 

[petem]

That’s unreal , does anyone know what Arrowbolt paid for fairline.

£1 I imagine.

 

[petem]

The report l read was that there are no redundancies, yet.
It seems that the lender pulled the plug, but why so soon after it was taken over?

Because there was zero prospect of getting their money back!

 

[petem]

Imagine you are a parts provider to Fairline ... anything from engines to windlass ... power panels .... etc. All the extra items that get bought in and fitted ...

How 'comfortable' are you going to be supplying gear to Fairline so they can complete the unfinished builds ? I cannot imagine a 'Credit Line' being given ...

Suppliers stopped providing credit (including myself) years ago. Once bitten and all that.

 

[Bigplumbs]

I would think any supplier to Fairline at the moment will be wanting cash on delivery. Also think about the potential finished quality of a current boat in production if it ever gets finished. Those workers might just not have the motivation they previously had

 

[Bigplumbs]

Because there was zero prospect of getting their money back!

Some one failed somewhat at their so called due diligence

 

[Fire99]

I think it's important to consider that ALL the big players manufacturing boats in the UK are in trouble.
- Princess hopes to turn around a £45 million loss as it goes into 2025.
- Sunseeker temporarily laid off 100 employees in Dec '24 due to cash flow issues..

Fairline might be displaying the worst peril but all three are not in good health, so to me it's not 100% bad management by Fairline and also indicative of luxuary boat manufacturing in the UK....

 

[Bouba]

I think it's important to consider that ALL the big players manufacturing boats in the UK are in trouble.
- Princess hopes to turn around a £45 million loss as it goes into 2025.
- Sunseeker temporarily laid off 100 employees in Dec '24 due to cash flow issues..

Fairline might be displaying the worst peril but all three are not in good health, so to me it's not 100% bad management by Fairline and also indicative of luxuary boat manufacturing in the UK....

Is it possible that Fairline dropping out will be the boost that the remaining two need to survive ?

 

[roa312]

Sad story. I really feel for the employees and future owners whose boats are under construction at the factory. It must be a very uncertain time for everyone involved.

It's interesting how quickly things went from very good for some builders during the COVID era to very bad just a few years later. Plenty of builders still seem to be doing well though. If production at Fairline comes to an end, I doubt it will bring much relief to Princess, Sunseeker, and others. The world is a very big place, and you’d think there’s plenty of demand for boats with the right price/quality mix.

The atmosphere must be a bit awkward now at their winter showcase in Mallorca. It would be interesting to hear if anyone has further insights from the salespeople there.

 

[Bouba]

What is also sad is that this is probably one of the very few places where Fairline owners will find any sympathy

 

[SC35]

I think it's important to consider that ALL the big players manufacturing boats in the UK are in trouble.
- Princess hopes to turn around a £45 million loss as it goes into 2025.
- Sunseeker temporarily laid off 100 employees in Dec '24 due to cash flow issues..

Fairline might be displaying the worst peril but all three are not in good health, so to me it's not 100% bad management by Fairline and also indicative of luxury boat manufacturing in the UK....

It's not a huge leap to imagine a situation where there is zero luxury boat building in the UK, apart from possibly at the very top end of the market.
The names and the design studios might live on, but the UK is a location with ever-increasing costs (energy, labour, taxes) to do manufacturing, and the same skills are available elsewhere for less.

The car industry has the same problem: Rolls Royce and Bentley will remain, Aston Martin, probably/maybe.
Any volume manufacturer will look around, but without some sort of intervention, it could easily end up like the Australian car industry, which is now non-existent.

 

[Fire99]

It's not a huge leap to imagine a situation where there is zero luxury boat building in the UK, apart from possibly at the very top end of the market.
The names and the design studios might live on, but the UK is a location with ever-increasing costs (energy, labour, taxes) to do manufacturing, and the same skills are available elsewhere for less.

The car industry has the same problem: Rolls Royce and Bentley will remain, Aston, maybe.
Any volume manufacturer will look around, but without some sort of intervention, it could easily end up like the Australian car industry, which is now non-existent.

I don't think it's much of a stretch of the imagination to be honest. I see very little incentive to actually manufacture in the UK. I think of Fleming for example who have an exclusive (but separately incorporated) factory in Taiwan but are very much a 'premium product' in their market sector..

Other brands which manufacture across the world (including mainland Europe) have gained following and there does not appear to be any specific kudos for UK construction..

 

[Seastoke]

I still don’t understand , while the top 3 don’t want to make smaller boats , that’s where they started . They sell more so steady turnover , and if peeps love the brand they will upgrade to the same brand.

 

[SC35]

I still don’t understand , while the top 3 don’t want to make smaller boats , that’s where they started . They sell more so steady turnover , and if peeps love the brand they will upgrade to the same brand.

This sort of worked for Sealine, for a while, but the profits were always delayed, and then there weren't any.
I'm fairly sure that an S240 / S24 was a loss leader. S28 probably also so.
Then when costs go up, the business model falls apart as the point you at which you make a profit keeps moving up further up the range.

The Internet has opened things up as well: it's now as as easy to buy a Pershing / Azimut / Benetti / Sanlorenzo as any UK built boat.

.

 

[Refueler]

I still don’t understand , while the top 3 don’t want to make smaller boats , that’s where they started . They sell more so steady turnover , and if peeps love the brand they will upgrade to the same brand.

The problem with small boats - is the cost per foot is actually higher and not so easy to sell at price people will accept. There are boats of course from 'cheaper' manufacturing / labour cost areas - so that would be hard to compete with.

So many Boat Builders have migrated away from the smaller markets to make larger profits on fewer larger boats ........... but it a high risk path to take ... you can see many well known |Brand Names fell into the trap ...

 

[ari]

I still don’t understand , while the top 3 don’t want to make smaller boats , that’s where they started . They sell more so steady turnover , and if peeps love the brand they will upgrade to the same brand.

Because they can't mass produce them with the same economies of scale that huge French conglomerates can achieve. It would be like Bentley deciding to try and compete with the Toyota Corolla in the hope that if peeps love the brand they will upgrade to the same brand. Not a chance of doing it profitably. They all exited that market for a very good reason.

 

[Refueler]

Because they can't mass produce them with the same economies of scale that huge French conglomerates can achieve. It would be like Bentley deciding to try and compete with the Toyota Corolla in the hope that if peeps love the brand they will upgrade to the same brand. Not a chance of doing it profitably. They all exited that market for a very good reason.

You should have a search for where the hulls / decks are moulded for these 'mass produced' smaller boats ..... then you see how they can price them.

 

[rafiki_]

Imagine you are a parts provider to Fairline ... anything from engines to windlass ... power panels .... etc. All the extra items that get bought in and fitted ...

How 'comfortable' are you going to be supplying gear to Fairline so they can complete the unfinished builds ? I cannot imagine a 'Credit Line' being given ...

Most suppliers will request at least part payment up front for Fairline, and have done so for a while.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

You should have a search for where the hulls / decks are moulded for these 'mass produced' smaller boats ..... then you see how they can price them.

Most of the smaller ones are/where moulded in Poland and or Latvia which is nothing wrong in the scheme of things.
I know Galeon used to sub-contract some of the smaller models.

Poland is a force to reckon with nowadays, and in high tech stuff rivals also Germany. Latvia is also catching up.
Bavaria's are build in Germany as well, as are competitive priced Sealine since owned by Hanse more or less ten years ago.
Average wage in Germany is higher then UK, if you exclude the London area much higher.