Work will begin shortly on the first yacht being built by Christensen Shipyards for Ocean Alexander. The 36m (120ft) tri-deck motor yacht, designed by Evan K Marshall, will be the first in a range of three designs for OA — the others being 40m and 45m.

The craft were all too big to be built in the Taiwanese or Chinese plants of Ocean Alexander and have therefore been contracted out to Christensen Shipyards.

"We will start work on the 36m soon and it is planned for a 22 month build," John Lane of Christensen tells SBN.

The project means that three yachts are currently in-build at Christensen with hull 35 (a 162ft yacht made to the yard's 160 series design) due to be handed over to its North American owner by the end of this month.

"We had a good Miami show and a number of negotiations for hull 37 are in progress as well as other possible orders," reports Lane. "We are also looking to promote our small 137 series for which the designs are already completed.

"At the moment there are no yachts in-build at our new state-of-the-art facility in Tennessee facility but it will be ready for when we have interest in larger yachts of 60m to 70m," he adds.



Superyacht Business, 17 March 2010