In the latest instalment of The Superyacht Group’s Digital Dialogues, Rory Jackson is joined by Pier Posthuma de Boer, refit and service director at Feadship, to discuss the evolution of refit at Feadship and how the owner experience can be improved. With seven years under Posthuma de Boer’s supervision, the Feadship Refit and Services division continues to grow. Bringing his experience in cross border mergers and acquisitions to Feadship, Posthuma de Boer adds a unique scope of legal and business experience to the industry.

There is a cliche in the yachting industry; it is significantly harder to keep owners happy concerning the refit and maintenance requirements of a superyacht when compared to the new-build experience. Creating an intuitive and highly organised process for refit may go a long way towards changing this. 

“We (as an industry) are still approaching most refit and servicing projects as one-offs, as incidents that occur every so often, and we only start to organise very late, and that doesn’t make much sense.” 

A full-service shipyard such as Feadship has significant advantages, and Posthuma de Boer sees strength in planning and drawing on the knowledge and experience at hand. “Superyacht builders like Feadship, but also our competitors, are in a unique position where we have the relationship with the client from the build; we have the knowledge about the yacht, we have the relationships within the industry; with the co-builders and refit partners. We have a responsibility to bring this all together.”

Managing an owner's expectations concerning the complexities of vessels operations and, subsequently, the refit cycle is a challenge. Still, as Posthuma de Boer explains, active communication across all levels of production, operation and ownership is key. “Feadship captains and crew, as well as management, are incredibly important, to teach both ways. They are the first point of contact explaining how operating a superyacht really works. And equally to tell shipyards the same; We know how to build the yacht, but operating is a completely different experience.” 

Speaking on the complexity and inherent inefficiency of some traditional refit practices, Posthuma de Boer puts it into context. “75 per cent of all the quotes being made and assessed are not being executed, which means that these costs must be covered by the smaller percentage that are”. The full-service proposition at Feadship Refit and Services, as Posthuma de Boer explains, hopes to continue the evolution of the process.

“By creating long term maintenance programs based on frameworks the new build shipyards supply, hopefully, we can get some of these inefficiencies out, and thereby making the process cheaper for everyone.” 

With an eye on a sustainable future, Posthuma de Boer is clear as to their obligation.“I see it as a great responsibility for Feadship Refit and Services to offer refit packages to our fleet that make it more sustainable, be it smaller changes, such as adjusting the main engines to run on bio-fuels, to very big, like taking the main engines out and replacing them with an electric drive train. And everything in between”

You can view the full interview and access the ever-growing archive of digital dialogues here. 

Profile links

Feadship

Click here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry’s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just £10 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here.