Despite landing much of the VO65 build contract and work from Ben Ainslie Racing as well as multi-million dollar jobs like Nigel Irens big catamaran and Missy, UK builder Green Marine shut its doors on October 3rd and placed itself into bankruptcy – something that was supposed to be prevented by Vitters’ takeover of the English builder back in 2010. We don’t know whether it was a major management issue, a defaulted payment, or more likely, the fact that Vitters had exhausted Green’s composite know-how and were tired of spending more money, and we don’t know if Green’s 2010 move to a much bigger location in 2010 was a factor, but either way, the builder of some of the world’s most successful and iconic racing yachts is soon to be no more, with 50 good boatbuilding and admin jobs gone overnight. All this despite more money being spent on big yachts today than at any time in history…
There is another and quite different Green Marine, and this one is only going to get more important. Check them out here.
Talk the death of Green (and the boat industry?) in the forums.
