We can do without the sea – the maritime economy
There is no contradiction in being around 700 kilometres from the nearest sea and still being successful in the maritime economy. Main Franconian companies also set global standards in the maritime industry.
Most people, including the region’s passionate water sports enthusiasts, don’t know that many superyachts – and an even significantly larger number of series-produced yachts – have a deck built in Ochsenfurter Gau. In fact, there is hardly a well-known shipyard in Europe that is not on Wolz Nautic’s customer list. The innovative deck building specialist from Gaukönigshofen-Acholshausen has significantly strengthened its market position over the last ten years through the development and use of innovative and sustainable products. The company from Main Franconia is a strong player in the superyacht league from 75 metres upwards – but Wolz Nautic has also produced the new deck for classics such as the four-masted barque “Peking” or the world‘s largest and most advanced 182-metre-long research and expedition yacht “REV”. However, the company’s real “bread and butter” is called series yacht deck building. Around 23,000 square metres of prefabricated series decks leave the production halls every year.
Originally founded in 1927 as a carpenter’s workshop, the family business has expanded into the international boat market since the mid-1980s and has consistently focused on the maritime sector. With the idea of the prefabricated Teakdeck using new, innovative materials, Wolz Nautic has raised the standard in yacht deck building to a new level. Today, the Main Franconian company is a technology and market leader in the construction of prefabricated ship decks. Because sustainability is also playing an increasingly important role in this sector, the FSC®-certified company uses Tesumo, a sustainable teak alternative, in addition to certified (plantation) woods. Combined with 3D cork as a levelling material that reduces weight and noise, the double modified wood is an innovative and sustainable overall solution.
Building boats like Henry Ford built cars
Bavaria Yachtbau from Giebelstadt, founded in 1978, is still one of the largest yacht building companies in Europe. Founder Winfried Herrmann revolutionised the standardised series production of boats at that time as the “Henry Ford of boat building”. This made Bavaria Yachtbau one of the most successful boat builders with its industrialised production line in the middle of the flat countryside. Today, the company is one of the most modern manufacturers of sailing yachts and motor boats in the world. The 200,000 square metre factory site includes four lines, each 125 metres long, a carpentry workshop for the complete fitting out of yachts and two halls for the production of hulls and decks. In its heyday before the financial crisis, the company built more than 3,000 sailing and motor yachts per year. After several ownership changes following the financial crisis in 2008 and insolvency proceedings, Bavaria Yachtbau has now regained its former strength. The company currently employs 700 people and produces 600 sailing yachts and motor boats. The company employs an additional 250 employees at the Rochefort site in France where catamarans are built.
Öchsner Boote from Kürnach is another renowned boat builder from Main Franconia – and has been since 1986. With Florian Öchsner taking the helm in 2012 to manage the company alongside his father, founder Dieter Öchsner, the company came into its second generation in serving its very interesting market niche. If you just want to transport your boat easily on a trailer with normal brakes, you will not get around the technical size requirements of 3.5 t permissible total weight and a width of 2.55 m. But, sadly for boating enthusaists, as the length of a boat increases so does its weight, and the lateral stability decreases while the width remains the same. It is exactly here that the Main Franconian boat builder found an elegant and successful solution. Öchsner concentrates on special upgrades for trailerable motor boats and customises boats according to customer requirements, with the development and final production always taking place in Kürnach. The family has proved successful and the location in Kürnach was expanded extensively in 2018. With affiliated factories, the 70-employees strong company with 10,000 square metres of production space in Main Franconia can offer premium-class trailerable cabin boats.
Finding success in boat sales
If you want to buy a boat from a Main Franconian dealer, Schwebheim near Schweinfurt should be your first port of call. Boote Pfister has been successfully dealing with boats for over 55 years. Edgar Pfister laid the foundation stone in 1967, his son Joachim manages the company today and his grandson Dennis is also already working in the business. The company runs the largest showroom in southern Germany for new and used boats. On over 17,000 square metres of showroom premises with 5,000 square metres of hall space, the Pfister family keeps over 150 boats available at all times, including brands such as Jeanneau, Sea Ray, Quicksilver and other brand manufacturers – both new and used.
The company based in Schwebheim also helps with financing, a trip to get familiar with the boat, delivery to any location in Europe and also takes care of maintenance and repair work. A large transfer port with its own slip point and delivery bays directly on site make this possible. Trial and test runs at the jetty on the Main in Schweinfurt are included.
But you could also find what you are looking for at Boote Hock in Stadtprozelten. Since 1995, brothers Christian and Gerald Hock have been the second generation of owners in the family business, which sells cabin boats and inflatable boats, but also offers everything to do with water sports, customised fittings, workshop service and boat moorings.
Chartering from Main Franconia
In the specialist travel agency industry of yacht charters, Master Yachting is one of the big international players and had around 10,000 boats worldwide in its repertoire by 2018. Since then, the company from Würzburg has been sailing in an even higher class. The Swiss online sailing platform Sailogy, which charters 22,000 boats worldwide, has acquired the Main Franconian company. The business model of the two agencies is simple: they arrange potential guests for the boats that charter companies provide for rent anywhere in the world and also provide a captain on request.
Master Yachting was founded in 1990 by Andrea Barbera. Since then, she has set sail yet again with her son Max Barbera and brought her experience and worldwide contacts to the newly founded Barbera Yachting in Würzburg. Yachtcharter Dagen from Kürnach also has more than 30 years of experience in the industry. Markus Dagen has been running the independent family business since 1993, chartering sailing yachts and motor yachts not only from his own base on the Baltic Sea, but also in the Mediterranean. Frankonia Yachtcharter from Karlstadt also addresses the same category of holidaymakers. Founded in 2001 by Jochen Schmied, the company has developed into a proven specialist for Turkey.
Maritime industrial products
The maritime market is also interesting for industrial companies. As a drive & control company, Bosch Rexroth from Lohr, for example, can look back on more than 60 years of success in the marine and offshore industry with its drive and control solutions and service portfolio. And since acquiring Blohm + Voss Industries in 2013, the Schweinfurt-based Swedish group SKF has machines and components that are used in shipbuilding in its portfolio, with its company SKF Marine.
Header picture: Many superyachts on the world’s oceans are equipped with decks from Main Franconia, such as the world’s largest sailing yacht “Black Pearl“, which is 106 metres long. Photo: Tom van Oossanen
