California-based megayacht refit and repair yard Marine Group Boat Works (pictured) has acquired the lease of Knight & Carver, a competitor that recently went out of business.
Knight & Carver, founded in 1971 on San Diego Bay in National City, California, initially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2012. Chapter 11 permits a company to continue operations as it reorganizes in an attempt to pay off its debts. However, in November, the court ruled that it should be sold at auction in December. An attorney representing Knight & Carver informed the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper that the business owed about $6 million to creditors, including back rent to the Port of San Diego, which owns the land where the megayacht yard was operating. Marine Group Boat Works, located in nearby Chula Vista, successfully bid just over $3 million for Knight & Carver’s lease at the auction. Marine Group Boat Works officially took over the lease on April 1.
Todd Roberts, vice president of Marine Group Boat Works, says that the first order of business is refurbishing Knight & Carver’s facilities, which include a 90,000-square-foot enclosed structure and more than 1,400 feet of dock space. Buildings need renovating, security gates and cameras need installation, all asphalt-covered surfaces will be repaved, building cranes will be recertified, and, equally important, the facility will be brought into environmental compliance. “We’re going to bring it up to Marine Group’s standard,” Roberts says. “We have a 100-percent-compliance, no-exceptions policy for meeting federal safety and environmental requirements.”
Knight & Carver was capable of working on megayachts to 200 feet and had also acquired a 400-ton-capacity dry dock in 2010, but the dry dock was not part of the Marine Group Boat Works deal. However, Roberts says that a 300-ton TraveLift at Knight & Carver is being refurbished.
Knight & Carver is also being rebranded, as Marine Group National City. Roberts says that the yard will be used mostly for military and commercial projects, though some yacht work will take place there. In fact, he says, a 186-foot unnamed sailing yacht is expected to arrive next week. Marine Group Boat Works’ main operations, which are just down the coast, will handle the majority of megayacht work, for both power and sailing yachts. It comprises 1 million square feet of land and water, including a 25,000-square-foot office and workshop complex. Established in the early 1980s, the family-run facility also has a 665-ton TraveLift, which suits megayachts to about 220 feet.
“This year has been off to a huge run,” Roberts relates, explaining that the Chula Vista facility has “good, steady work” through August. The yard recently finished working on the Lürssen-built Pacific and presently has the expedition yacht Senses on site. Three sailing yachts exceeding 150 feet each are set to arrive shortly as well. Marine Group Boat Works further has a facility in Baja California, Mexico.
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