Defence land new base for superyachts

By BERNARD ORSMAN

A former Whangarei earthmover-turned-superyacht builder is spending $18 million on a new shipyard, to employ 350 people, on surplus land at the Hobsonville Air Base in West Auckland.

Bill Lloyd is shifting part of his company, Sovereign Yachts, from Vancouver to Auckland, a move which will generate an estimated $600 million of export earnings over the next five years.

Instead of expanding his Canadian business to meet growing orders, Mr Lloyd has decided to capitalise on New Zealand's growing reputation for yacht building and his home roots to build at Hobsonville.

The company will begin by building three superyachts over 40m, each worth about $30 million.

Mr Lloyd has joined Allen Jones, an expatriate Kiwi who last August pulled together a syndicate of private American investors to create New Zealand Yachts, an $80 million superyacht yard in Whangarei. The company is set to employ more than 1000 people within five years.

The Hobsonville project was launched yesterday by Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton, who predicted it would become a "major jobs Machine success."

He said Sovereign Yachts was an example of the partnership approach the Government was taking with business through the Ministry for Economic Development working with the Defence Force and the Waitakere City Council.

It normally took five to 10 years to dispose of Defence land but Sovereign Yachts had been able to buy 4ha and get resource consents in six months, he said.

Prime Minister Helen Clark, who attended the launch, said the project would stimulate the Auckland economy and further strengthen New Zealand's high-value marine industries.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey said Sovereign Yachts was the first of a cluster of boatbuilding yards planned for the 38ha former air base and was the biggest new manufacturer in West Auckland in more than a decade.

Work on the $18 million boatyard will begin today.

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