China Yacht Building Companies

FULL SPEED AHEAD: As Bombardier cuts 1400 rail jobs, a yacht yard takes on ...

‘Brittania rules the waves’ is the boast, and as befits an island nation, Britain indeed has a long and illustrious maritime history. From the earliest wooden boats to the latest ocean-going superyachts, our boat-builders and designers have been at the forefront of developments in the maritime industry.

But while the massive shipyards of the Clyde and the North-East are long gone, British yacht-makers are thriving on the world stage in an industry worth £3billion that employs 32,500 people in 4,200 businesses across Britain.

And more than 3.7million British adults take part in activities such as yachting, canoeing and power boating – a figure that is still rising. In the week when the death knell was sounded for train building in this country with the axeing of 1,400 jobs by Bombardier, the maritime industry is more than holding its own.

Hugo Andreae, editor of Superyacht World magazine, said: ‘This is one of the few manufacturing industries in which Britain is a major player. It is very much a success story. But it is not just in building and designing yachts, it is the whole support industry around it.’

However, the last few years have hardly been plain sailing. Boat sales, which had rocketed at the start of the new millennium, fell dramatically when the credit crunch hit. Britain’s leading yacht-makers – including Princess Yachts, Fairline Boats, Sunseeker and Sealine – all had to change tack rapidly to cope with the sudden worsening of the economic climate. Jobs were slashed, profits disappeared and bank debts refinanced. 

But the storm seems to be passing. With the growth in overseas economies, money is piling back into the industry. Revenues are back to 2006 levels having fallen from a peak of £3.2billion for 2008/9.

‘There is definitely a resurgence,’ says Andreae, although boat-owners – often businessmen who might have presided over cuts in their own companies – tend to be more discreet than they used to be.

‘The whole industry was affected by the credit crunch because yachts are the ultimate in discretionary spend,’ says Andreae. ‘However sales are coming back, particularly from growing markets such as China, Brazil, Russian, eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Some of America's Infrastructure has Made in China Stamped on it?

With unemployment in California at 11.9% why on earth would they want to “outsource” the easiest jobs that can be created – construction jobs? The U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had assured people in the U.S. that everything to do with all these infrastructure projects will be built using American Made products. Why is China building a section of the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge?

$400 million dollars cheaper is why. California officials estimate that they will save at least $400 million by having so much of the work done in China. California issued bonds to finance the project, and will look to recoup the cost through tolls.

It turns out that China is getting lots of work here in the U.S. in New York City alone, Chinese companies have won contracts to help renovate the subway system, refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River and build a new Metro-North train platform near Yankee Stadium.

I sure hope with all these infrastructure projects that China is involved in are made better than “most” made in China products that I have ever seen – can you say CHEAP? I worked for years on a farm that my dad owns, I know how “cheap-made” China’s products are, same goes for Mexico. This is a major problem here in the U.S., it’s why the nation’s unemployment rate is a 9% average or more.

I may complain a lot about all this money being basically wasted on different things. But I am going to complain more when my tax money is going for things that we can make here in the U.S. that would give jobs to American workers. I think everyone would agree that if our tax money is going to be spent – then it needs to be spent in America – not another country.

When you look at the entire picture we will be losing more than construction jobs on this “China made” California bridge. It has to be transported from China by a Chinese boat and fuel for the boat will be from China. I could go on listing several things that America has lost by California outsourcing the construction of this bridge – but I won’t I think you get the picture.

Zhenhua the Chinese company building the bridge put 3,000 employees to work on the project: steel-cutters, welders, polishers and engineers. The company built the main bridge tower, which was shipped in mid-2009, and a total of 28 bridge decks — the massive triangular steel structures that will serve as the roadway platform. That is not all – to ensure the bridge meets safety standards, 250 employees and consultants working for the state of California and American Bridge/Fluor also took up residence in Shanghai.

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