A partially finished superyacht in New Zealand that had been sitting in a bankrupt shipyard is on its way to seeing completion. This happy ending is in part due to a most-unlikely hero, the company sent to flatten the yard. The employees’ fervent attempts have successfully saved a Sensation superyacht from demolition at their own hands.
The backstory to this starts in the early 2000s. The shipyard, Sensation Yachts, had a customer who commissioned three motoryachts, each measuring 162 feet (49.5 meters). Hull number one was to see delivery in 2005, and the last was to see delivery in 2007. However, Sensation Yachts reportedly had mounting debt in the mid- to late 2000s, leading to bankruptcy liquidation in 2009. None of the yachts reached completion. In fact, two were essentially just resin-infused hulls. The third, going by the project name SY32, was a little more advanced. Both her hull and superstructure were on site, though not joined together. Therefore, the yachts’ owner bought Sensation Yachts in 2011 from the liquidation auction, attempting to finish SY32. But, after years of more legal issues, he abandoned the site and everything there.
Enter Ward’s Demolition, which received a contract from a trust to remove everything in 2017. Under these conditions, Ward’s was the legal owner of the physical assets. While it dismantled the sheds and the hull mold for the yachts, the team discovered SY32 was in pretty good shape. She was approximately half complete, with some of her interiors already in place. The engine room was complete, too, the engines still in their original shipping wraps.
Ward’s put the superyacht up for salvage in 2018. Peter Ward, managing director of the company, realized the potential for finishing her. Simultaneously, though, the monthly costs to maintain her were too great to continue to bear. He wanted a quick sale, and with international publicity, a buyer came forward.
The Sensation superyacht saved from demolition will undergo completion in Australia. She recently departed Auckland. The owners’ identity, and the shipyard that will complete the yacht, though, both remain unknown.
Unfortunately, the two other superyachts that had been on site weren’t as lucky. Ward’s Demolition says they were in bad condition, and it couldn’t find buyers. Therefore, the demolition crews scrapped them, alongside the four build sheds surrounding them. If there’s a bright side to this part of the story, it’s that the steel structures of the sheds were able to be recycled.
Ward Demolition ward-demolition.co.nz
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