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The Shipyard

Our shipyard is less than three days cruising from the Cote D’Azur, and on our doorstep there are the first of over 1200 islands that make the Adriatic such a wonderful place to cruise. Our corporate goal is to build large yachts of ‘International Yacht’ quality by merging experienced yacht building management with the talented and cost efficient labour force available in Croatia.

The historical facilities available to us come with an overhead obligation more typical of Eastern Europe than Western Europe. The smaller overhead and lower labour rates blended with a large skill base, world class design, naval architecture, engineering, project and financial management creates a compelling proposition for anyone who is prepared to take ‘the road less travelled.

The world order book shows that from the 3rd March 2005, the Croatian shipbuilding ranked fourth in the world with 69 contracted ships of 170,000 tdw deadweight (after Japan, South Korea and China) and had an all sold capacity almost through 2008. Since this time the state owned shipyards have gone through a privatization phase so it is from this large pool of skill based labour that Arista have been afforded the ability to pick the best workers from the region, in-line with the Arista corporate philosophy of being a Meritocracy.

There are a host of local specialists with all the skills required to enable Arista to outsource certain construction activities and within the wider locale specialised yacht-specific activities and well-known subcontractors. The same goes for the leading designers and many of these people are based in Europe and most are therefore less than two hours from our shipyard.

Company Profile

Arista Marine was formed in March 2009 by the Arista Management team, who bring together a skill set combining corporate management, finance, engineering, boat building, yacht design and shipyard management. Their joint objective is to establish a world class yacht building, refit and repair facility in the Eastern Mediterranean, capitalising on the high skill set of the local work force, relatively lower labour rates and access to one of the largest and most popular cruising areas for yachts.

The team first came together as a result of their experience completing the high profile yacht, the 70m M.Y Amadeus. The vessel was completed in Croatia by Arista and Specialist Marine Interiors, a prestigious yacht interior fabrication company based in New Zealand.

After that project the Arista team acquired a majority interest in SMI and folded its Croatian operation into the follow on project, the conversion of a 120m vessel from a commercial transport vessel to a world cruising Mega Yacht. The project, previously known as Project Kay and now as AMG120, requires all of the elements of the Arista team, including Engineering Design, Shipyard Management Finance and Legal. The construction work commenced in February of 2011, at the facility in Split Croatia, and the project is on-going at this time.

Using this large project as a cornerstone, Arista has built a strong organisation and network of project managers, naval architects, yacht designers, marine engineers, production engineers and other professionals and are actively developing the business. The yard in Croatia is operated by Arista Jahte d.o.o and is based in the north harbour of the town of Split.

Croatia is rapidly becoming one of the most popular cruising destinations for superyachts that are based in the Mediterranean. For Arista Marine and SMI the establishment of a new- build, repair and refit centre on the Dalmatian coast is a key element in the business development strategy whereby the skills and knowledge of the New Zealand companies have direct access to service the European Superyacht market.

Additional to this, Arista are developing in conjunction with some world renown designers, various projects in line with their philosophy including the recently publicised Phantom 24 Superyacht Support Vessel and a daring 110m concept by Andrew Langton of Reymond Langton Design.