Dutch shipyard Heesen Yachts has announced it has expanded its interior workshop facility in Winterswijk, province of Gelderland. Having acquired the space in in 2000 under the name ‘Oortgiese’, the new expansion consists of 2,240sqm of space, bringing the production area to a total of 8,100sqm.

As a result of this production, Heesen will now be growing its team here by 30 individuals, which will bring the Winterswijk team up to a total of 130. The shipyard has reported that the expansion in both the facility and workforce is “in direct response to the increase in size and volume of the yachts being built by Heesen today.”

Heesen is currently operating at full capacity, with a project filling every possible slot. Looking at the figures, the shipyard is on schedule to deliver a total of four projects in 2019, three of which have been delivered. Heesen is also the only Dutch shipyard to deliver three yachts in three consecutive months, an impressive statistic that is demonstrative of high level of efficiency at which the shipyard is currently operating.

In order to evolve with the market, the shipyard has now expressed a specific focus on the 50m-plus market, a statement that was confirmed this year, during the HISWA tour 2019.

“In 2018, the market in our core segment, which is the 50 - 80-metre range, grew slightly and we still see a stable and slightly growing market looking towards the future,” said Heesen's Mark Cavendish. “I’m purposefully not mentioning anything below 50 metres as we are really not building anything that size anymore. We are not standing still; we are constantly evolving to meet future trends.”

The average LOA of the projects on the Heesen order book is 55.6m, which not only reaffirms Cavendish’s point, concerning the focus for the shipyard, but also the demand for the new interior production area in Winterswijk.

“We look forward to the official opening of the new work space in September,” says Henry Schreur, Managing Director of Heesen Interiors. “[We] are ready more than ever to continue the tradition of building precious interiors to the highest Dutch quality standards.”

Heesen currently has an entirely in-house department of specialists including cabinet-makers, upholsterers, joiners, French polishers, painters, CNC operators, draftsmen, project managers, engineers and many more. The shipyard has also claimed that “investing in the acquisition and the training of young talent is the secret behind Heesen’s interior creations.”

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