The Whiskey Project Group buys out Yamba shipyard
The company that builds the boats that rescue you from the water will soon start building highly specialist military vesselsA NSW shipyard specialising in building commercial alloy boats could soon be filling a long list of international orders after it was bought out by the Whiskey Project Group.
Yamba Welding and Engineering, which includes the Naiad marine design company, will become an essential part of The Whiskey Project Group’s project to build cutting-edge watercraft for the defence industry and essential services.
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According to The Whiskey Project Group, the acquisition of Yamba “secures Australian defence industry capability in the post- COVID economy and heralds a new era of sovereign design and industrial capability for military and specialist watercraft”.
The buy-out, announced yesterday, will be formally completed later this year.
The Whiskey Project Group managing director Darren Schuback said adding Yamba to the group would expand The Whiskey Project’s watercraft sales to include Naiad’s commercial, recreational and tourism markets.
However, more importantly the move will give The Whiskey Project Group the ability to build boats for the Australian Defence Force.
“Through these business acquisitions, The Whiskey Project Group range of watercraft will offer 100 per cent design authority across our portfolio, future-proofing our ability to integrate new and emerging technologies and provide other customised and niche watercraft solutions,” Schuback said.
“This will safeguard Australian industry capability and innovation whilst greatly enhancing our federal and state government partners’ ability to meet the demands of the rapidly evolving future warfare environment.”
Over the last decade, Yamba built more than 200 vessels for government agencies including the Australian Defence Force, Australian Border Force and maritime security agencies.
Naiad’s designs are built under license worldwide and are a popular choice for military, law enforcement and rescue agency vessels, as well as commercial, tourism, recreational and superyacht tenders.
The Whiskey Project Group, formed just 18 months ago by defence industry veterans, has already launched its first boat, the 8.5-metre carbon-fibre Whisky Alpha 85 tri-hulled tactical watercraft. It has plans to add the Bravo, a larger version that can incorporate a forward-mounted machine gun.
The Whisky Alpha 85 is trialling diesel-fuelled outboard engines from British engineering group Oxe as part of its sea trials.
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