Alia Yachts’s new construction facility ‘speeds work and cuts costs’

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Alia Yachts’s new construction facility is accelerating work rates and reducing costs, according to the company.

Luxury boat builder Alia Yachts claims its new 16,000sqm construction facility on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast is speeding work rates and lowering costs.

Located in the Antalya Free Trade Zone, the new facility includes five construction halls, plus storage areas and dedicated workshops. The new halls – which measure 90m in length and 22m in height – can accommodate the construction of larger superyachts entirely under cover.

Alia Yachts, founder and President, Gökhan Çelik, said: “The new facility has also allowed us to consolidate and streamline a lot of processes that were spread out before. This means we’ve been able to cut time and costs while increasing capacity and efficiency, which are all advantages that can be passed on to our clients.”

The luxury yacht builder acknowledged some slow-down in production, due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, “as with shipyards throughout Europe,” but said the outbreak had only a small affect on production.

‘Closed only at weekends’

“The lockdown in Turkey was much less severe than in other countries and most manufacturing industries closed only at the weekends,” according to the company.

“Naturally, we have social distancing protocols in place and we’re being vigilant to protect the health of our workers,” said Çelik. “The main difficulties resulted from a ban on intercity travel, which made it difficult for subcontractors to move around, and there were some interruptions in the supply chain. But most of our processes are done in-house, so we experienced only minor delays and we’re now making up for lost time.”

Çelik has a long to-do list, he says. After the recent turning of the hull of its 36m shadow vessel, work is continuing on the project slated for delivery in 2021. Once complete it will support Project Phi, the mothership currently under construction at Royal Huisman’s yard in the Netherlands.

Aluminium motor yacht

This month Alia Yachts will join the hull and superstructure of Al Waab II, a 55m steel and aluminium motor yacht with interior, exterior and naval architecture by Dutch design studio Vripack.

“This is a hugely exciting project, but also a challenging one as we’re working to a tight build schedule of just 24 months,” says Çelik. “Despite interruptions caused by coronavirus, however, construction is on track and we should wrap up the hotworks in another couple of weeks.”

Also this summer, the shipyard is due to join the hull and superstructure of Nozomi II, a 32.4m sistership to 30.5-m Virgen del Mar V, which was formerly known as Project Nozomi.

Meanwhile, Çelik disclosed Alia Yachts was in the final phase of negotiations for more than one 40m-plus project. More information was promised soon.

 

Alia Yachts is based in the Antalya Free Trade Zone on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. 

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