The famend Cantieri di Pisa historic Italian shipyard, based in 1945 in Pisa, Tuscany, started as a manufacturing and restore facility for small boats, earlier than rising to larger-scale manufacturing, from which its popularity grew. It was purchased by right now’s proprietor Enrico Gennasio in 2021, after a interval of closure.
The brand new period of Cantieri di Pisa has been marked by sturdy progress and passionate aspirations beneath Gennasio’s possession, Marco Massabò’s day-to-day management and final yr’s appointment of Antonio Luxardo – co-founder of Optima Design – as Chief Designer.
This new chapter has commenced with the introduction of a brand new vary of motoryachts with three collection mixing conventional components that respectfully nod to Cantieri di Pisa heritage, with modern touches. The Pisa yard continues to vow the best high quality of builds, aided by the abundance of high quality marine suppliers within the neighborhood.
Inform us about your background, the way you ventured into the shipyard enterprise by buying Cantieri di Pisa in 2021, and your instructions since then.
Enrico Gennasio: Now we have a powerful industrial background since my predominant enterprise is Lombardy-based Alfagomma Group, which operates globally within the manufacturing of built-in methods for industrial and hydraulic fluids, employs shut to five,000 individuals and has had a presence within the Asia Pacific Rim since 1989.
It’s a bunch with a really sturdy engineering background due to the excessive expertise required within the sector. Alfagomma is vertically built-in, concerned not solely in product analysis and growth but additionally within the growth, design, analysis and manufacturing of equipment and gear. As we assemble our personal equipment for processing, we maintain our technological improvements confidential. Our buyer base contains key gamers with high-content expertise within the oil and gasoline, mining, transport, shipbuilding and defence sectors.
Linking a powerful industrial background and a really long-held ardour for motorboats – being a ship proprietor since I used to be 19 – I used to be given the chance to accumulate Cantieri di Pisa. I noticed this shipyard enterprise from an proprietor’s perspective, with numerous aesthetics wanted however usually inadequate technical content material within the manufacturing.
As my predominant enterprise is an built-in one the place subcontracting is non-existent, I regarded additional than Cantieri di Pisa and noticed that an excessive amount of of the boating business depends on subcontracting. From my standpoint, this may result in dropping a grip on the progress of a model’s manufacturing and manufactured product expertise.
For instance, the primary boat we designed and have began to fabricate – the quick 80 Veloce – is a completely carbon-fibre boat, which was an train in expertise, from the development of the moulds in-house for the hull to the superstructure and each piece of the composite materials. That’s the route we need to go for – we need to be accountable for our expertise and subsequently of our high quality and future.
After I acquired the shipyard, Cantieri di Pisa had a improbable model picture due to an excellent historical past, iconic title and merchandise. Nevertheless, it was sitting idle for a number of years. To attract a parallel, whenever you don’t play tennis for 3 years, regardless of how good you had been earlier than, you should begin once more and shake the rust out.
So, we determined to begin in a powerful approach by specializing in refit, prioritising Cantieri di Pisa boats. Over 740 models had been produced traditionally, so we labored on presenting the best refit centre for the prevailing fleet. We’ve already performed fairly a number of refits of Cantieri di Pisa boats. It was ‘warm-up train’ for the staff and splendid timing for us to fine-tune our organisation.
We’ve made nice achievements over the previous three years, and we acquired very encouraging testimonials from happy clients. In actual fact, our shipyard has extra requests than it could deal with, and we’re actively three extra amenities. At the moment, we have now 50,000sqm of amenities together with a 600m-long quay geared up with a 300-tonne journey elevate and a 20-tonne crane.
Concurrently, we began to design the new-generation Cantieri di Pisa vary, which we displayed on the Cannes Yachting Pageant and Monaco Yacht Present in September 2024.
Through the Cannes Yachting Pageant, the imaginative and prescient projected by Cantieri di Pisa actually stood out as a ‘comeback’, with the presentation of 9 new initiatives. Some requested whether or not this is likely to be overly bold. How would you reply?
Marco Massabò: We’re blissful to listen to that, as that is the results of an extended perseverance, figuring out all of the assets, shipyard staff and subcontractors mobilised. You may think about the stress concerned; numerous fine-tuning is required.
Quite a lot of ardour can be wanted, you breathe with the shipyard and doubtless after three years of due diligence, we’ve assessed the issues on the shipyard, with manpower, the ability and suppliers, and we’ve improved these areas. We all know managing 9 upcoming fashions is a large goal, however we’ll handle it step-by-step and are concentrating on the smaller fashions first.
In my opinion, we are able to begin to focus and manufacture inside the 30-50m vary – to a most of 58m – in Cantieri de Pisa’s shipyard, and for the 60-100m vary, outdoors of Pisa however nonetheless in Italy. With our different fashions just like the 38m and the 48m yachts, made in metal, with a superstructure in composite or aluminium, we are able to discover such experience not solely in Italy but additionally within the Netherlands and in Germany.
I think about that within the case of a 90m yacht, an order of, say, €120 million, it will take eight months to a yr to signal a contract for us, as we’re new to this type of superyacht construct. We do have a powerful partnership with megayacht builder, the T. Mariotti shipyard, and we’d completely assess such a mission with them as a guide.
You spoke of the enlargement of manufacturing amenities, the historic Polaris and Saturno traces, and the sale of Cantieri di Pisa Customized Division’s first explorer. You additionally unveiled a 3rd line: Akhir, the beforehand profitable vary, now “redesigned to fulfill the wants of contemporary house owners whereas staying true to the model’s historic legacy.” Are these areas progressing properly?
Marco Massabò: Cantieri di Pisa had three present product traces traditionally linked to names derived from astrology: Polaris, Saturno and Akhir.
The Polaris line, a reputation inherited from the celebrated legendary yacht of the dolce vita period, started in 1961 with a 13.2m cruiser, which grew to become the Tremendous Polaris in 1964 with the introduction of a flybridge. The brand new Polaris collection contains yachts of 38m and 48m, extending to the 60m Tremendous Polaris and even bigger sizes.
The journey started with the 48m steel-hulled voyager with a displacement hull that includes EHPH (Eco Excessive Energy Hull) wave-piercing expertise for long-range cruising and low gasoline consumption, and an aluminium and carbon superstructure.
With this new mannequin, the intention was to protect the shipyard’s DNA by getting into a brand new voyager-explorer section, which boasts completely different proportions and volumes however nonetheless maintains the shipyard’s stylistic options such because the ribbon home windows, the actual design of the air intakes, and the ability.
The second line, Saturno, is extra conventional, derived from a reinterpretation of the traces of the Sixties fashions, during which the very beneficiant stern, typical of the earlier fashions, has been retained. The primary characteristic of this line is the connection between the seashore membership, the primary deck and the higher deck straight from a transverse exterior staircase with out passing by way of the inside.
The third line is devoted to Cantieri di Pisa’s most well-known line of yachts, the Akhir, together with the 44m utterly in carbon-fibre.
How did you resolve to ask architect and designer Antonio Luxardo – co-founder of Optima Design – to collaborate with Cantieri di Pisa as Chief Designer?
Enrico Gennasio: Through the first three years of my possession, I spoke with a variety of naval architects and designers, and he was the one which appeared most convincing to have the ability to deal with what we want throughout design for a complete mission.
Design is essential as a result of we’re concerned in luxurious objects with horny shapes. But design goes past aesthetics, it’s the whole idea for every mission. Antonio is positioned like no different to grasp the complete DNA of the shipyard and oversee all new initiatives of the shipyard, or else he wouldn’t have been in a position to current 9 new fashions.
You talked about heritage, because the shipyard celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2025. How will you stay trustworthy to its DNA whereas evolving into a brand new period?
Enrico Gennasio: Now we have important archives and drawings, since its beginning in 1945, to not point out the residing testimonials of boats nonetheless working because the shipyard’s launch.
It’s crucial to establish what had been the explanations for the success of the legacy merchandise of Cantieri di Pisa. Traces just like the Akhir had been very good in design and high quality, with excessive efficiency. These yacht traits should be the frequent denominator of Cantieri di Pisa’s technique for the longer term.
Within the case of the Akhir line, although, it’s definitely difficult to modernise such an iconic product: we should evolve the legacy initiatives to present necessities of householders with out dropping their distinguished fashion that at all times stood out from others within the business.
We don’t need to ever be a mass- or serial-production shipyard. We need to have a restricted variety of hulls produced yearly, listening to these elementary factors which can be typically not in a product made in excessive numbers. We can’t confuse yachts of the sort of measurement with one thing just like the automotive manufacturing course of, for example.
We additionally need to preserve the flexibleness of personalisation that boat house owners would possibly naturally require. These particular factors are completely underestimated and disregarded by some producers.
At this second, buyer care and after-sales help are just about unknown within the business, no less than on the Italian producers’ facet. You probably have a assure concern, they don’t even have the amenities to resolve the issue. The very fact we do refits and need to preserve this service exemplify a shipyard that’s in a position to be an issue solver.
It shouldn’t be attainable to purchase a US$15-20 million yacht, after which should you face an issue, the producer doesn’t step in to assist clear up an issue they created. But that is the case within the business proper now.
I’ve seen corporations during which their authorized division receives extra consideration and assets than, say, the technical or R&D division. That is clearly an indication of illness. Our motto is we endeavour to take a constructive strategy to any drawback which will come up, and we stand alongside our yacht house owners to assist with any issues.
How was the suggestions from the Cannes and Monaco exhibits, and the place will you proceed your roadshows from 2025 to develop internationally?
Enrico Gennasio: I’m extraordinarily constructive concerning the end result of those two exhibits for our firm. We’ll proceed our roadshows, displaying our merchandise and capabilities between america, the Center East and the Asia-Pacific in 2025. There isn’t a strain: we plan, crawl and stroll. We’re concerned with any dialog and potential contract anyplace on this planet.
At a later stage, we’ll strategy chosen markets in a considerable method, to arrange native buildings. We are able to take into account a supplier community, for example. All we want is to have an organisation that may stand behind our merchandise.
This text was first seen on yachtstyle.co.
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