The opening ceremony of the Visun Tuscany Yacht Repair Service Center, the first project of Sanya Visun Tuscany Yachting Co., Ltd., will take place in Nan Bian Hai Road, Sanya, Hainan, on January 16, 2015. The launching ceremony was hosted by Visun Royal Yacht Club on March 27, 2014, in the frame of Hainan Rendez-Vous, the most relevant boat show in China.
The launching ceremony of the Visun Tuscany Yacht Repair Service Center
VTY is a Chinese law joint venture established in September last year by Toscana Refit, an Italian NewCo that collects the very best of the Italian experience in pleasure boats repair and refit, and Visun Royal Yacht Club, part of the large Chinese real estate Visun Group and key player in the local yacht industry.
Visun Tuscany Yacht Repair Service Center is a shipyard dedicated to the repair and refit of yachts of up to 36 meters. It boasts a 3.500 m² open yard, a 900 m² covered painting shed, 12 berths, 750 m² of beautiful office space and it is equipped with international level machinery, such as a 160 ton boat-hoist and a 150 ton motorized trailer. The shipyard will be managed by the Italian party through an experienced Italian General Manger and visiting technicians that will be in charge of training the local workers and carrying out the most complex works.
The shipyard area will be shared by the Sanya Yacht Harbour Joint Inspection Office, which collects all the different customs bureaus and departments related the maritime industry and will become the general control center for the importation and visit of vessels from abroad. An on-shore off-shore bonded warehouse will also be established and will constitute another important advantage for VTY, since it will make possible for foreign yachts to be serviced in the facility without undergoing the complex and expensive importation or visiting procedures.
Launch of the Visun Tuscany Yacht Repair Service Center
Important Italian and local authorities have attended the launching ceremony. The Vice Mayor of Sanya, Mr. Zhou Gao Ming confirmed the full support to the project by the city government and declared that: “In the past 4 years the flourishing yachting industry has met with several problems, including lack of service infrastructure, lack of expertise and shortcomings in the supply chain. However, I am confident – he continued – that the establishment of Visun Tuscany Yacht Repair Center will entirely solve the issue of the maintenance and repair of the national and international yachts that are currently moored in Sanya and even of the ones that will visit us in the future.”
Filippo Giabbani, Executive Director of Toscana Promozione, the exchange and trade promotion agency of the Tuscany Region, after reminding that the Tuscany Region government has always supported this project since its earliest stage, said that: “This amazing island and Tuscany Region, taking advantage of the bridge created by the VTY project, have all the conditions to establish deep commercial collaborations also in other sectors of the luxury industry which represent some of our most relevant fields of excellence, such as interior design and furniture, fashion, food & wine, personal luxury goods and high level services.”
The Ambassador of Italy in Beijing, Mr. Alberto Bradanini, declared that: “The Italian diplomatic network in China fully supports this project and considers it strategic for the development of important bilateral collaborations between the two countries, in particular regarding its ambitious second phase.”
The Visun Tuscany Yacht Repair Service Center officially launched
The shipyard that has been launched, in fact, is the first step to reach the long term goal of the company. On this subject the Chariman of Visun Group, Wang Da Fu, said that: “The phase two of the project is already planned out and it will see the establishment of two more shipyards by the end of 2015. The first of these will have a total investment of about 30 million Euro and will be located in the Yacheng area of Sanya. With an area of 66.000 sqm., five covered sheds, one 2000 ton ship-lift and one 900 ton boat-hoist it will be dedicated to servicing mega yachts of up to 80 meters. With the completion of phase two VTY will become in all regards the leader in providing yacht maintenance and refit services in the Asia Pacific region.”
The forerunner of the Italian party and Chairman of VTY, Andrea Giannecchini, pointed out that: “The mission of VTY is to collect the same skills, spread all over the Tuscany Region, that for decades have made possible the creation of the most stylish and performing yachts in the world and bring them to China to offer to the local yacht owners a 360 degrees maintenance and refit service and, for the first time, at the same level with the product they bought.”
The company, therefore, aims to work as a catalyzer for the collaboration in the maritime industry between the two countries, on one hand, delivering a service of crucial importance for the Italian shipyards as well as for the local operators and owners and, at the same time, opening up a preferential channel to ensure the penetration into the Asian market of the Italian products and expertise.
After the ceremony the main authorities of the two countries have been invited to try the pleasure of yachting with a seafood lunch prepared by the Italian chef of Ritz-Carlton Sanya, FIlippo Fondatori, on board a 70 feet Montecarlo Yacht.
