Once Baltic has completed a yacht in Bosund, it has to be transported 21 kilometres through the Finnish coniferous forest by heavy goods vehicle. In the past, the 167-tonne, 44-metre-long carbon-slick "Path" took two and a half hours to reach the shipyard's own quay. In future, the Finns would like to save themselves this time-consuming and labour-intensive procedure and, with the inauguration of the new building, give up the area inland where it all began in 1973.
The 100 by 35 metre building will be more than twice the size of the existing hall in the north of Jakobstad and is being built directly behind it. A structural connection will allow staff and materials to move easily between the two sites. The ground floor of the mostly two-storey, partly three-storey production hall will be filled by the CNC department and separate storage rooms for Corecell or Nomex cores and wood as well as composite raw materials such as prepregs, which have to be kept frozen.
Sustainable production facility
The new building is supplied with district heating and electricity, benefits from large solar panels and has a fully recyclable bitumen roof, the production of which requires 25 per cent fewer emissions than conventional coverings. Steel beams, 90 per cent of which are made from recycled materials, support the first and second levels. As the hall is also designed to be practically airtight, it is heated highly efficiently in winter and cooled in summer. Baltic aims to further reduce electricity consumption by using a lighting system with proximity sensors.
By the end of 2023/beginning of 2024, all 205 employees will be building Baltic Yachts in one place. Like the existing facility, the new building will be owned by Baltic Boat Yard Oy, a separate property company owned by the City of Jakobstad and Baltic Yachts. Baltic CEO Anders Kurtén said:
This exciting development will improve efficiency by streamlining our yacht building process, bring the Baltic family together and be a leading example of an environmentally friendly industrial facility. That this is being realised in our 50th anniversary year is a great bonus!"
The majority stake in Baltic Yachts is held by a German, Professor Hans-Georg Näder. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the medical technology group Ottobock and owner of the Baltic 67 "Pink Gin Verde". Its almost 54 metre long "Pink Gin VI" is for sale for 29.5 million euros. Sale.
