Hanse Explores U.S. Plant
European boatbuilders who export to the U.S. have certainly found the going tough, with the dollar’s poor showing against the Euro making it difficult for them to compete with domestic builders.
That same currency imbalance could be seen as an opportunity for Europeans wanting to invest on this side of the pond. One man who takes that point of view is Hanse CEO Michael Schmidt, who is scouring the Eastern seaboard for a suitable site for an assembly plant. “With the dollar so low, the timing is god for us to come over here,” he said.
The German company has been one of the success stories of the decade, with production of its 32- to 63-foot performance cruisers increasing fourfold to over 1,000 boats a year. Schmidt sees the U.S. as a key growth market and has long nurtured an ambition to build boats here. The new plant will likely be located in the Carolinas or Virginia and will probably mold hulls locally; interiors would be shipped over from Europe. This is the model followed by Beneteau, whose factory near Charleston, South Carolina produces over 400 boats a year.
At least one other European builder is looking at assembling boats here to avoid costly freight charges. It seems the American boatbuilding industry could be entering a new phase.
