Bertram Closing Merritt Island Facility?

If you call their Merritt Island number it is answered in the Fort Lauderdale office of Ferretti Group. Asking the question of whether there will be any Bertram production, the answer given is "not at this time." I do have an email into them as seems like something to ask directly and get an answer from them on. Is it being sold? Or will they resume elsewhere? US, Italy, China? Or just being closed?

Seems simple and seems to me they at least owe Bertram owners some information.

I see a very common problem with acquisitions. Do we let them run independently or do we use our expertise to help or do we direct them when we don't have expertise in the product. To me the best is when the acquiring company can use their business expertise and perhaps share some technical knowledge but then allow the acquired company to use their knowledge of the product and it's customer.

The owners of Ferretti and, therefore, two levels up of Bertram, are in it for profit, not for the pleasure of building boats. Ferretti was loaded with debt in a bad market and restructuring that debt was the primary need in an acquisition. SHIG-Weichai Group is an equipment manufacturing group. Their previous businesses were commercial vehicles, construction equipment, powertrain systems and auto parts. They added equity and reduced the debt to a reasonable number.

Sunseeker was also acquired by a Chinese company, a company specializing in real estate, tourism, hotels, and entertainment. Note that even though Ferretti is larger and has 8 brands, due to their lousy balance sheet and struggles at the time, Sunseeker reportedly sold for around $500 million. The actual purchase of Ferretti was about half that but paying down the debt and converting that to capital bought the total investment to about $476 million and that was for just 75% of the company.

I see the Chinese parent looking at numbers and saying Bertram is losing money, has been losing, time to do something. And honestly I don't see the Ferretti management in Italy caring that much about what happens to Bertram. This isn't being critical but just stating the logical positions in a situation like this.

No and No. Unless you have a 1200 lb Marlin spread across the cockpit floor in the transom.....LOLOLOL......The ride very flat, too flat.....They started doing the fuel tank deal when Feretti took them over in the early 2000's. I ran a 57' and the boat was a submarine......it would run flat then all of a sudden go over a wave and then nose dive into the next. Once you dumped half the fuel tank it rode ok, but still not totally dry. Think about it, you have a lot of bouyancy in the cockpit and most of the weight starts at the back of the house and moves foward. Then you're going to put a fuel tank at the front of the engine room which is pretty much the front of the house in location fore and aft.......

Pretty much. They tried to Italian-ise a sportfish. If Italians were known for building SF, they wouldn't have been buying so many US ones.

Come on, we are all in it for the profit otherwise it is just a hobby or a money drain............

I don't argue that point. But Ferretti sometimes seemed to lose track of that before the change of ownership which is why control really went to their lenders and then the sale followed. There is a huge change when Bertram is no longer running Bertram and then when Ferretti is no longer running Ferretti. Ferretti was a money drain.

That's true, but when the boat builder is owned by the founder who generally is/was passionate about boats, the true passion was building the best boat he could, the profit was driven by him being able to live and continue building boats..... look at legendaries like Jim Smith, Don Aranow, Dick Bertram, the Merritt's and stuff back in the day........etc etc.......

Jim Smith was turning out 50 knot sportfish that were almost 60' with full tuna towers and only 800 hp 8v92's. He pioneered the whole cold molded process without fasteners and doing boats cold molded that is still followed today. He made a lot of revolutionary designs, inventions, that production SF builders still haven't caught up to.

Don Aranow with the Bertram race boats. Miami-Nassau race. Deep v hulls and sportfish.......Aranow put a lot of names onto the boat builders map for generations.....Bertram, cigarette, formula, donzi, etc etc.....AND, where have they all gone since being sold off.....

The other thing is when the founder is an owner, decisions to change design or how they do things are done by one person and in minutes. Not through the approval of 10 engineers, 4 accountants, and other miscellanous corporate people that takes months, if not years to approve.......Look at Viking and Healy, he makes the decisions and can make them and change and adapt very quickly. Viking has and is doing well as a company.....and as a builder....

Ferretti is also passionate about his boats, and he build good boats especially with his owner brand, the problem remains when all the finances where controlling the group it was more about the bean counters then the quality. Is not that a problem everywhere!
Remember Norberto also won the Class One World Championship twice, and made a career racing boats in the eighties to the nineties. There was a couple of Italians who gave a few lessons in those times with a tenth of the budget back in the days; did you ever read about Sonny Levi, Riva (did you know he won a race from Monte Carlo to London competing against some of the above), and Fabio Buzzi. Also try to look at the Class 1 Race of 1988 or 89 when Casiraghi annihilated the much powerful US super boat class who was snobbing the class 1 series in a Buzzi mono-hull.

In theory FG for Bertram they had some ideas going into Sportfish yachts which worked over the years. Look at the midships cabin windows, everyone said horror when Ferretti did that with the 700, a few years later BUT we did see not only Viking doing them, but also a couple other custom builders see Bayliss and Spencer.
Same for the re-introduction of the lower helm, did not Jarret Bay present a model and Tiara offer it as an option on the 3900 as well.
Thats not bad considering these Italians do not know anything about Sportfish!

Contrary to people here I think the name Bertram is worth a lot, and it can still be one of the big production Sportfish brands to compete with Viking and Hatteras. The 60 by John Ullberg generated lot of interest and the recent management changes have been received with great feedback. Problem for Bertram and all the others remains that you have Viking who never does a small mistake in all its line of boats. They have sold forty of the small 42 when everyone said there is not a market for them because of center consoles. The Healy know the market first hand and to contrary they are hands on the situation like no other boat builder world wide.

As for Ferretti Group and pulling the plug on Bertram, I think it will happen (I am speculating though) along with another Italian brand, Itama. I think the current Chinese holding who owns 75% of the Group is not showing a lot of interest in both these brands.
For those that are speculating, Ferretti Group is not building anything in China and they said they will not.

I would never argue that passion is a driver in our industry. But if there are no profits to be had, all their passionate efforts would be for naught - see Post, Egg Harbor, Whiticar and a host of others.

If you look at Dick Bertram, a passionate sailor who got into the powerboat business, his stay at the helm was short lived, and he turned it over very quickly, and Bertram has had a corporate ownership model (domestic and foreign) far longer than they have been operated by the founder. I guarantee you that Aranow's passion was also fueled by his profits, always on to the next big hit in the offshore powerboat market.

Now the ability to act like an entrepreneur, make quick efficient decisions, yes that is a key attribute that the private companies hold over their corporate owned competition. This can be somewhat overcome by a corporation that has a knack for keeping business profitable, although the work cultures in the two are completely different. The interesting thing is that privately owned companies tend to look at more formal processes today, and the corporate companies try to preach a more entrepreneurial response. But it always comes down to the execution of those methods, maybe the right answer is somewhere in the middle.

I have had the experience of working for original owners of a boat manufacturer who absolutely hated the business, but where addicted to the profits, and it eventually has gone under as the third generation has no taste for this industry. It was profitable until the day it closed.

As far as the 50 knot, 60' Smith custom SF with 8V-92's go, that is a myth that gets perpetuated in this industry. Show the proof, pictures, whatever. It may have done 49 knots, but actually hitting 50 on a two way average in a delivered condition, I doubt it. I love Smith SF's both the old and new, but that is a tall order to prove when I have only seen a few recent fully documented (Jarrett Bay 70' being the last, maybe a Tribute as well) hit the magic 50 knot marker.

Ferretti may be passionate but it's not his company. And his passion led the company into insolvency.

I think Itama could go as well. But to say the owners aren't showing a lot of interest in these brands seems to imply they should. The reality is these brands aren't contributing to the company.

And the statement about Ferretti Group not building in China and saying they would not is wrong on two accounts. First, the statement was they wouldn't build any Ferretti branded boats in China. The plan was to build boats under a different brand for the Asian market. Now I don't think they'll build Bertram there. And as to saying they would not, companies always say "No change to our business" or "We won't be moving production." Well, if you purchase a failing business, there is nothing you won't consider. Then when you make changes you'll go back and say "We didn't plan to make changes but circumstances changed". Maybe they take one of the failing brands and use it for the Asian market, built in China.

Now all this comes back to the fact that those with the passion are either now gone or now not in control. Some were failing as businessmen. Now the control is strictly in the hands of businessmen whose experience is not in boats. You see Bertram and you picture a boat on the seas and making huge catches. They see Bertram and they see bloody financial statements.

Norberto did not lead the company into insolvency it was the people who bought Ferretti Group (cant remember the name) in 2007 did. If I remember well he had about only 2% share at the time with some decision making. In reality he saved it because if it was not for him and the rescue he organized with MedioBanca we would not be talking about Ferretti Group today.

Itama is a brand hard for them to understand as much as it is Bertram. Everyone who bought an Itama up until 2004 in Rome (before the Ferretti Group take over) became friends with Mario Amati. It was a decision many times made of friendship.

Now Ferretti had some nice design touches with Itama, Forty model sold over 100 units in boom period 06-10, but then they started playing around with the production moving it from Rome to Naples, Naples to Pesaro (old Pershing), and now in Forli in the Ferretti Yachts. All this in about 6-7 years. You cannot move a brand with such a brand heritage of the city of Rome and its clients from the area Tyrennian to Adriatic sea, and start playing around that way.
Now the old Itama management founded a company named XL Marine in 06 building in Rome with the old staff from Itama and they are having a nice success up until the mess in Italy from 11 to earlier on this year.

Of course I imply it is a strong brand if you take Itama for what it was and it is, a semi custom sport yacht builder with classic lines and a dedicated to a niche client base. In good times Mario Amati build about 20 boats a year starting from the 38 up until the 76.

There is still a management of Ferretti Group who has quite a big control of what is happening, are you sure you are not mixing the statements made by other builders (Sunseeker and Sanlorenzo) had said something similar in the past of exactly the way you say it.
As anything with financials there is always the small written statement the present is not guarantee of the future, and yes things might change pretty fast.

But moving heritage brands out of there origin countries is not an easy task in yachting, I am waiting to see who starts first and we see if they can do it successful.

I don't know that they're moving Bertram anywhere. Don't know what they're doing beyond "not (building any) at this time".

Actually it was the lenders who took control of Ferretti prior to the most recent sale. And the way the lenders got control was simply the company built up more debt than it could handle so some was converted to equity and then that repeated in the Chinese purchase.

As to Itama, it they were building 20 a year and now it's less, then it's not significant to the company as a whole. That doesn't mean they won't keep it. Just means it made it easy for them to make the moves with the manufacturing. It's a line of three boats.

I think consolidation of production is something you'll see more of within Ferretti if anything. All Bertram indicates in the big picture is that ownership is now evaluating each segment of the business based on it's contribution to the company. In slang terms "there are no longer any sacred cows." Meaning, they don't hold a personal connection and tie to any aspect so if the numbers say a change is needed they will make the change. Whether ultimately these changes will be good or bad, we don't know.

I would say too that there is one similarity we're seeing within Ferretti and Sunseeker (and other builders, but mentioning these two due to ownership). That is the emphasis on larger boats. The additions to Ferretti have been 91' and up. to Riva have been 88' and up, to Pershing have been 108' and up, to Sunseeker have been 100' and up.

I find it disturbing that they still have the website up as if all is normal. They have a timeline highlighting opening the Merritt Island facility in 2012, they have the Merritt Island facility listed on their Contact page and a phone number for it, which is now answered in Fort Lauderdale. There is just no word from them and, if I was a Bertram owner, I'd be furious.

And the delamination is only one of their many manufacturing issues. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that they've been attempting to sell Bertram, with no success so far.

Not a Myth, it's fact and was proven. Most of Jim Smiths boats in the late 1970's and 1980's did that with 8v92's and were in the 55'-60' range. Jim Smiths first boat was a 35' express with a tuna tower and it did almost 40 knots in 1959. Just google the boats: "Speed Merchant", Boca Jima IV or V, and Bushwacker. There's plenty of info about it. Back in the late 70's techniques builders besides Jim Smith and Tribute and a few others still haven't caught up with. Bushwacker had 1 3/4" monel splined shafts with s/s propellors for 800hp Bivens 8v92's, as well as a full Tuna Tower. Cookie Murray's 57' Revenge as well as the 2 others built in the 80's were also blazingly fast. The Jim smiths also got 2 gpm or better at 40 knot cruise as well. The new customs have slowed down with the addition of much plusher interiors, granite, the myriad of freezers and creature comforts. I don't have time to research the links for you right now, but would be more than happy to provide proof later. As a kid in South Florida in the 1980's it was a real treat to see these boats running around. Bushwacker is the boat that created my love for wanting to run bigger boats....my dad and I had various boats.....and when I was 5-10 years old we used to walk various marina's and look at the sportfish.....and Bushwacker used to sit at Lighthouse Point marina....and I oggled that boat.....

The shafts on Bushwacker were actually 1.5". For a really really good read with a lot of history and info that reads almost like a novel, go to the hull truth board and search Jim smith, there is one thread that is 50 pages long, it'll take you 2 hours to read it all but is an amazing history on many of the early builders and the history of Cat Cay and Bimini.

They sold another one cause they covered it with good guaranty cover, and replaced the owner his boat. Also at the time apparently it was not the only Delam from a famous boat builder, it was surely though one of the one most wildly publicized, and one of the worst since it peeled off during navigation.