Heesen Yachts launches YN 19055 Project Castor

Dutch shipbuilder, Heesen Yachts, have launched YN 19055 Project Castor at their facility in Oss, meaning that the vessel is on schedule for her delivery in August, avoiding any delays that may have occurred a result of coronavirus.

During a recent webinar by Camper & Nicholsons International (CNI), Heesen’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Mark Cavendish, revealed that Heesen was well-prepared to continue work during the lockdown. “[Heesen] took drastic actions early on in order to comply with social distancing and various regulations,” stated Cavendish.  The webinar, hosted by The Superyacht Group’s Martin Redmayne, is available to view here.

Thanks to these drastic measures adopted early on, both in Heesen’s production processes and in the offices, they managed to introduce the necessary physical distance and were, therefore, able to carry on with work (following the Dutch governmental guidelines) with as little disruption as possible. By halving the number of employees working in the shipyard at any one time by working in two shifts, Heesen increased flexibility.

“We have been beyond impressed with how the Heesen team adapted to the #COVID_19 pandemic. They have adjusted their working hours to increase social distancing, yet retain optimal man-hours on our project and preserve an on-time, high-quality delivery which is no small feat in these challenging times,” commented Rupert Connor from Luxury Yacht Group who represents the client.

According to The Superyacht Agency’s Intelligence division, there are currently 55 projects launched for a 2020 delivery across the superyacht industry. 40 per cent are 30-40m, 25 per cent are 40-60m and 35 per cent are 60m+. A testament to shipyards in the same region as Heesen, 30 out of 55 of these launches are Dutch projects. read full article on superyachtnews.com.