The award winning Hampshire boat builder, Green Marine, has gone into liquidation, with the loss of 46 jobs.

The company is blaming a slow down in large orders for its demise.

Working from a state-of-the-art composite production facility at Hythe Marine Park near Southampton, Green Marine’s core business was building custom racing yachts, high performance superyacht hulls and lightweight components in carbon fibre composites.

The firm built Alex Thomson‘s IMOCA 60, HUGO BOSS, which was launched in 2015.

It also was behind the deck mould and structure of Armel le Cleac’h’s Banque Populaire VIII, which won the 2016-17 Vendée Globe, and the hull shell of Maitre Coq, which took third place in the race.

Green Marine, which was bought by the Dutch boatyard, Vitters, in 2010, also built all of the Volvo Ocean Race’s VO65s, including Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam, which won the 2014-15 race skippered by Ian Walker.

It also worked on Land Rover BAR’s America’s Cup test boat, T2, which was build in Green Marine’s sheds.

The boat builder was placed into Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation last Tuesday (3 October), and trading ceased last Wednesday (4 October).

The firm said that in the past 12 months, it lacked the large orders it needed to meet overheads and began to incur losses.

Insolvency specialist Peter Hall, who was instructed to place the company into voluntary liquidation, said it was an “emotional time” for the employees and directors of Green Marine.

“In the last three months the company was expecting a significant order, the hull and superstructure for a super yacht, which would have returned the company to profitability,” he said.

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“Sadly, this failed to materialise in time. It highlights the issues facing companies which rely on a low number of very high value projects. It’s very much a family business so an incredibly emotional time for the directors and employees,” added Hall.

Established in 1982, Green Marine has built more than 180 composite boats, including the 30-metre Wally sailing yacht, Galateia.

Seven years ago, the firm moved from its premises in Lymington and Southampton (Spitfire Quay) to larger leasehold premises at Hythe Marina where substantial investment was made to enable the company to work on several large projects at once.