Derecktor Florida $5.6 million facility upgrade will allow quicker refits

18 February 2015

The Derecktor shipyard in Florida is to undertake a $5.6 million upgrade of its facilities, which should allow for faster refits.

The Dania Beach site has obtained a $5.6 million refinancing package which it will use in part to buy more tools and equipment. The company’s business development director, James Brewer, said the cash injection would also serve to upgrade Derecktor’s physical plant.

James Brewer told local newspaper The Sun Sentinel that Derecktor was now back to “pre-recession numbers” in terms of clients and orders. Boat International reported in December last year how Derecktor had launched the 45.42 metre superyacht Carson, following work Derecktor carried out on the boat. In the same month, we told how the superyacht Lady Gallant was undergoing a refit at Derecktor’s Florida site.

In 2012, Derecktor invested in a 900-ton mobile hoist to cater for its ever bigger clientele. The hoist, which can lift boats of around 54 metres, was acquired with the support of BankUnited, a business bank that is investing in Florida’s local marine facilities and which was also responsible for the refinancing package.

The Derecktor yard was founded in 1947 by Robert Derecktor and now has bases in New York and Florida, with Robert’s son, Paul, in charge. Previously Derecktor carried out the refit of maxi sailing superyacht Mari-Cha III and also 44 metre Heesen superyacht At Last, which had gone by the names of Artful Dodger and Lady Joy.

Derecktor launched 85 metre superyacht Cakewalk in 2010, famed as the largest yacht built in the US by gross tonnage and ever built since the 1930s, but since then the company has suffered hard times. The Conneticut yard filed for bankruptcy protection and the Mamaroneck yard filed for bankruptcy protection. Brewer said at the time that business was up almost 20 per cent in Florida since 2010. According to James Brewer, the Conneticut site’s problems were largely down to the depressed economy and investments made in the site, seen against a recent lack of new construction opportunities.

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