WIDER adds new 130 footer to its range

The 130' model, designed entirely in-house, is the first new project since former CEO Tilli Antonelli and Financial Director Paolo Favilla left the company earlier this year. The brand is now wholly owned by Exa Limited, a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong Limited, and Michael Hackman, Genting Hong Kong's Executive Vice President of Marine Operations, is currently heading up the shipyard.

As with 150’ Bartali and 160’ Cecilia in build, the new all-aluminum yacht will be equipped with a diesel-electric propulsion system and azimuthing pods, which offer quieter cruising and up to 20 per cent less fuel consumption than a traditional twin screw configuration. At anchor, she will be able to operate silently on battery power alone for up to six hours.

The exterior and interior layout makes the most of life at sea, natural light and available space, with floor-to-ceiling windows in the main salon, drop-down bulwarks, indoor-outdoor living in the sky lounge, and a large waterside beach club. Thanks to her diesel-electric propulsion that requires a smaller engine room, the vessel will have six guest cabins—unusual on a 40m yacht of around 360GT—and accommodation for up to seven crew.

 “A lot of thought has gone into every detail of her layout so that as well as providing spacious guest areas that flow well from one space to the next, it will enable the crew to work efficiently and come and go discreetly through well-designed passageways,” comments Michele Lubrano,  Head of Design at the shipyard.

Genting Hong Kong is engaged in cruise shipping and related operations and owns four commercial shipyards in Germany, including the Lloyd Werft shipyard, which is now working closely with WIDER at a technical and production level (in fact, the German shipyard will be sharing a stand with the yacht builder at the Monaco Yacht Show this year).

“The synergy with Lloyd Werft is a positive development,” says WIDER Sales & Marketing Director Jeremy Roche. “In the cruise ship industry if a vessel is a day late they get upset, if it’s a week late it’s catastrophic, and a month late is simply unheard of.”

Equipped with the WIDER Power Management System, an integrated system that flexibly controls the power supplied by the shore connection, the gen sets and the battery packs, the predicted range of the Wider 130 is 2,600nm at a cruising speed of 12 knots, increasing to 3,400nm at an economical speed of 10 knots. The yacht has a top speed of 14 knots and can also run solely on batteries when in zero-emission mode.

With the engineering work complete and tank testing about to start, the shipyard has yet to decide whether to start construction on spec, but with a few potential buyers already lined up,  it is more likely they will wait for a confirmed order.

“We’ve had some encouraging feedback from brokers,” says Roche, who had just returned from sales trips to the US and Monaco. “In terms of looks, layout, propulsion and other features, the 130’ represents a great entry-level boat for us.”

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