Several superyacht builders already have facilities in Tuzla, Turkey, which is near Istanbul. A longstanding shipyard previously focused on military craft is expanding its operations into the sailing market. The new yachting division has its own name, too: Mishi Yachts. Plus, it has two proposals to pique the interest of customers.
Mishi Yachts is operating under Yonca Shipyard as its own brand. Yonca dates to 1986, and since then has delivered upwards of 180 vessels. Primarily, it operates in the defense and law-enforcement sectors, designing and building fast intervention boats, special ops vessels, and patrol boats. These vessels need to be swift, some capable of 40 and even 80 knots. Simultaneously, they all must be capable of handling a variety of seas.
Yet another common thread, the majority of the boats from Yonca are composite. Although the in-house craftspeople have experience with steel, aluminum, and wood, composite and carbon fiber composite are in demand. The shipyard further designs and manufactures its own molds. A total of 180 employees work on site, handling not just construction but also woodworking and stainless steel fabrication. Additionally, Yonca says the Mishi Yachts division will be able to perform marble work, leather work, and more. Also notable, given the Tuzla superyacht sector, Mishi Yachts can tap a variety of subcontractors for other needs.
Yonca’s chairman and founder, Şakir Yılmaztürk (pictured at middle above, with board member Erdem Yılmaztürk at left and board member Didem Yılmaztürk Ulusoy at right), cites the shipyard’s nearly 40-year history as a strength. He also notes how Yonca was “the skilled builder behind other yachting brands” as a subcontractor. In fact, Yonca constructed an 85-foot (26-meter) sailing superyacht in 2018.
Building upon that design, the first Mishi Yachts projects are an 88-foot (26.8-meter, below) and a 102-foot (31-meter) sailing superyacht. Both have big cockpits, which Mishi Yachts intends as a signature style. The 88 is for six passengers, with the two aft staterooms capable of converting into one large family cabin. Also convertible, the midship cabin can instead be an office. Although the 102 design details are not yet fully available, she’ll have four staterooms.
All construction will take place within facilities purpose-build for projects to 160 feet (about 48.77 meters) and displacing 400 tons and up. The facilities occupy 473,612 square feet (44,000 square meters), with about half covered. Altogether, 20 yachts and 20 naval/law-enforcement projects can take shape annually, according to Yonca.
“We are as excited by every new project today as we were when we first launched in 1986,” Yılmaztürk declares. He says the shipyard’s skills at designing and building for the demanding military on time and on budget will translate well into yachting. “I believe that it is time to bring those skills to a wider market and capture the growth that is our due,” he concludes.
Mishi Yachts mishiyachts.com
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