Perth sails into new markets

The rich and famous could soon be calling on Western Australia for their luxury boats.

The Department of Industry and Resources (DoIR) is focused on transforming Perth into a super yacht hotspot, with its facilities at the Australian Marine Complex serving as an ideal base for this type of boat manufacturing.

Boat manufacturers in Perth already play a role in the super yacht industry, but DoIR wants to expand on this and establish Perth as a world-class player in the super yacht industry. To help achieve this, DoIR has commissioned a market study that analyses key European markets that dominate the super yacht industry including Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Russia.

The study aims to better understand the dynamics of the rapidly growing global industry. It has already helped position DoIR to better target companies whose interests may be best served by establishing facilities in Western Australia.

By being placed in Western Australia, these companies can better tap into the growth markets of Asia using state-of-the-art facilities at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) in Henderson.

General Manager of Marine and Defence John O’Hare said that Perth was well placed to serve as a super yacht manufacturing base with its geographical proximity to the Asian market, highly skilled workforce, extensive shipbuilding knowledge base and state-of-the-art facilities at the AMC.

“The vision goes beyond the manufacturing of super yachts,” Mr O’Hare said. “Attracting pre-eminent companies to the AMC would mean Perth could serve as a port-of-call for the service and repair of the luxury vessels, putting the State on the global super yacht map.

“This could also be an extremely positive initiative for our State’s tourism industry, attracting multi-million dollar boats and their owners to Western Australia’s coast.”

The AMC is located in the State’s major metropolitan industrial hub, 23 kilometres south of Perth. High-wide load road access connects these industrial hubs to the AMC, a site for shipbuilding and marine related industries that service Australia and international markets.

DoIR’s General Manager of the Europe Desk David McCulloch in collaboration with Mr O’Hare, commissioned the super yacht market study which was coordinated by Austrade in Frankfurt.

The study involved Austrade offices in each of the European countries as well as Invest Australia. Information on the main industry players covered their size, orientation, extent of global facilities, propensity for foreign investment and levels of supply to the Asian market.

• WA's Marine and Defence Industry
• Export Market Opportunities - Europe
• Western Australian Government Overseas Network