Palmerston North beats waters edge for boat builder

Cheaper commercial land has seen Palmerston North beat Napier in a tussle for the multimillion dollar business of boat builder Profab Central Engineering.

The company - now located 40km from the sea - last week completed a $2 million Barnett offshore passenger cruiser in its Palmerston North yards and began talks about two even bigger vessels, one of which is a luxury yacht likely to cost $10 million.

"We looked for suitable land in Napier first, but couldn't find any near the water," Profab director, Carl Ferguson, said.

"If you can't get near the water, it doesn't really matter where you go, because you're going to need a truck anyway."

Mr Ferguson said the business could be even stronger, but it was restricted by a shortage of skilled labour.

"A lot of people are now going into IT and working with computers rather than the hands-on trades."

Profab employs 17 people, 10 in its boatbuilding business, but would like to have 30 people working fulltime on boats alone.

"It's hard to find boatbuilders in Palmerston North."

-NZPA