Moonen Shipyards BV, the Dutch builder whose financial woes led to a temporary shutdown of operations in 2015, has unveiled a new 47m concept yacht.

Called the Navarino, the three-deck yacht has an edgy, modern look and must help the Dutch yard regain a secure foothold in the 30m-50m category.

To that end, Moonen will also open soon a sales office in Ft Lauderdale, together with Vanquish Yachts of the Netherlands.

When Mexican steel giant Altos Hornos de Mexico, Moonen’s main financier, suffered cashflow problems in 2015 following a crash in global steel prices, it withheld support for Moonen.

That was restored a year later and Moonen continued marketing its Caribbean series of motoryachts up to around 50m. Moonen expects to complete a 36.5m Martinique yacht in January of 2018, but still needs to find a buyer.

Moonen owner Emile Bilterijst says financial problems led him to ask an outside research company to poll 170 or so owners and industry insiders. That generated a good-news-bad-news outcome. “In terms of overall quality, we were rated highly compared to other builders,” said Bilterijst. “But Moonen is also seen as very traditional and not very innovative so we obviously have work to do here.”

That has led to the Navarino concept yacht of 47m. “A 52m version will come out soon,” says Moonen commercial director Johan Dubbelman. The opening of the Ft Lauderdale office is designed to raise Moonen’s profile in Florida. “We have done the Palm Beach show three times now and made good contacts there,” said Dubbelman.

Moonen’s Caribbean series yachts have hulls of lightweight, high-tensile steel. The Martinique has a top speed of 17kt and low fuel consumption when cruising. The yard’s yacht-building history dates back to 1963.

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