Maritimo on the hunt for more workers as orders flood in

Maritimo has launched a hunt for more boat-builders as its books swell with millions of dollars worth of orders, some stretching out to the end of 2020.

The boat-maker said today it wanted to “significantly increase” its workforce by about 70 people to help it meet an influx of orders, with the hunt for skilled workers casting its net to Australia and New Zealand in an effort to fill the factory’s shortage.

"We have had a phenomenal year with tremendous sales success and the task at hand now is to get the boats built," Maritimo chief executive Garth Corbitt said.

"We have steadily increased our workforce over the year, but we are still employing at all fields within the manufacturing areas of the company.

“At the moment we have order books out to the end of 2020 and growing, and the reality is the load on the factory is huge, so we really need at least 70-odd people.

“... Customers aren’t going to wait two years to get boat, so we have to deal with that promptly,” he said.

Maritimo currently uses about “a couple of hundred” employees and contractors across its business, Corbitt said.

The boat-maker was now on the hunt for “high-skilled people in lamination, cabinet making, fit-out, engineering, varnish and stainless fabrication, all of whom we desire a keen eye and attention to detail", production manager Kym Fleet said.

"Successful applicants will be working in our Coomera-based manufacturing facility on the Gold Coast and they will be part of a team producing the country’s leading state-of-the-art luxury motor yachts that are in demand around the globe," he said.

Maritimo is riding a wave of success that has seen it sell numerous luxury motor yachts worth “tens of millions of dollars” so far this year.

The boat-maker launched the Maritimo X60 sports yacht at this year’s Sydney International Boat Show, and plans to launch the X50 – the second model in its growing X Series – at the 2019 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show on the Gold Coast.

Corbitt said the weak Australian dollar had helped attract customers to the brand.

“The dollar is fine around 75 [cents], but if it drops a bit lower our US and European customers are sensitised to it, and a dollar down around 70 is only going to help us.

“It’s been floating around 70.5, 71.5 so that’s a good thing, and it can only help to incentivise the overseas sales.”

Late last year Maritimo doubled the size of its Coomera footprint by buying a block of land adjacent to its current boat-building factory. Work has already started on two large sheds that will expand the size of the business under roof by 2.5 times, with construction expected to be completed by early next year.

The explosion in its workforce will help establish Maritimo as one of the largest businesses on the Gold Coast – a position it was forced to relinquish in the wake of the 2008-09 global financial crisis that hit the industry hard.