The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

BRADFORD Marine's yacht repair facility in Grand Bahama is getting a lot of local commercial work during the slow yacht repair season.

Dan Romence, general manager at Bradford's shipyard in Freeport, reported that 2015 and 2016 were relatively "good years" for the company because it was able to pull a lot of work from various markets.

The shipyard's primary markets are mega yachts and recreation cruisers, but they are also doing repairs and maintenance for mail boats, ferry companies, freighters, and commercial vessels, as well as storage services.

Bradford Marine is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale and is one of the world's largest yacht repair, refit and service shipyards. The company employs 65 full-time employees at its shipyard in Freeport.

"Over the last two years, we had some challenges as most businesses in the US and the Bahama locally over the periods between 2012 and 2014. But we are utilising a marketing company trying to get company information out to the different markets because we do a lot of work on not only big yachts and on recreation cruisers, but also a lot of commercial work," said Mr Romence.

The company is currently completing work on some Royal Bahamas Defence Force vessels and Bahamas Fast Ferries' Bohengy III is also there.

"Our customer base is very dynamic. Our company needs to be able to maintain a good level of business to be profitable," he said.

"The yacht business has become more competitive specifically in our region, and one of the reasons that our company came over to Freeport is to start operating much higher tonnage lift," Mr Romence explained.

Bradford Freeport has a dry dock with a lift capacity of 1,200 tonnes, which in 2001, far exceeded the lift capacity of most shipyards in South Florida.

According to the shipyard executive, this helped to establish a good amount of business, but since that time other shipyards have also increased their lift capacity to 1,200 tonnes making the yacht repair business very competitive.

"More boats are around now and require such tonnage lift, but they are going over to three or four places now as opposed to one or two before," he said.

Mr Romence indicated that their challenge is to try to stabilise the amount of incoming business.

At the 42- acre shipyard there are about three or four current boat repair jobs underway, and another three or four more that have work ongoing over the next period of days or weeks.

Sometimes, if the yard gets a real labour intensive boat, it can employ almost the entire yard on it, depending on the nature of the work, Mr Romence said.

Many of the cruise yachts operate in summer months in the Mediterranean and the northeast US, and in the Caribbean during the winter months.

During this slow season, Bradford has managed to secure some big contracts for repairs and maintenance work of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force launchers. The company also got some commercial work and work from private individual boat owners.

Mr Romence stated that Bradford also does a lot of storage for cruise vessels, sailboats, and powerboats at the yard.

"Some boat owners want their boats to be out of water in the hurricane season because they don't want to have to worry about the boat and it provides the boat protection from the storm," he said.

Mr Romence said Bradford Marine has been in business for 50 years and has changed its logo. The company has provided outstanding service in the yachting industry and to mark the special occasion, decided to premiere a new look, he said.