The Antalya-based yacht manufacturer, Sunrise Yachts, is delighted to announce that it has appointed Fabien Roché as Chief Operating Officer. Following the signing of a string of large yacht projects, the Turkish company is reinforcing its management structure to take into account the shipyard’s hugely increased workload as well as workforce, which has now reached 175 staff and 350 permanent sub-contractors.

Fabien Roche

Guillaume Roché, Sunrise Yachts’ CEO, stated: “Bringing in a person of Capt. Fabien Roché’s calibre is a great addition to a shipyard that prides itself in having some of its key management with sea experience. Capt. Roché’s long past in skippering and managing cruise ships and megayachts will be an important asset to our company that will immediately benefit our clients’ projects.”

Fabien started his ‘career’ at sea at the tender age of three, living on the family sailboat and taking correspondence courses to go through his schooling. The world’s oceans soon became his playground: from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea all before the age of ten. Upon completing his A-levels in the U.K., Fabien passed his first Commercial Maritime license in 1987, followed by a higher Captain’s certificate and thence skippered his first charter yacht at age 19.

He subsequently worked on charter and private yachts in the Mediterranean and Caribbean until the early 1990s and then resumed his studies at the Merchant Marine Academy in Nantes, France, obtaining his Master’s license in 1996.

Fabien has built much of his maritime skills on yachts, most recently M/Y “Indian Empress” and charter yacht “Felicita West”, as well as sail and power cruise ships.

His years of experience include expedition yachting and cruising all over the world, including Antarctica and the Arctic, the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, Great Lakes, Caribbean, Baltic Sea, North & Western Europe, Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Central and South America, South-East Asia, and more.

Fabien’s hobbies include photography, travelling, geography, cartography, diving, sailing, hiking, skiing, swimming, rock climbing, IT, vintage wines, reading, music, cinema and languages.

Fabien states: “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to put to use my lifelong experience of the sea and yachting – and especially that as Captain of large yachts & luxury cruise ships along with two years of shoreside yacht management – to provide overall direction and guidance to the operational activities of the shipyard. I intend to help maximise growth and profitability, as well as contribute my captain’s perspective to the shipyard’s projects”.