But they plan to be at ExCel
Dehler Yachts went into administration on Tuesday, with orders for 200 boats, a slimmed down production line and a beefed up workforce, because the banks demanded their cash back.
‘It’s really unfair,’ Udo Erbe, the head of the company’s research and development department, told YM, ‘but we hope there will be a future. There are new people who want to invest and we plan to make a comeback for Dehler Yachts, the yard and the dealerships. There is a chance to survive this.’
Dehler Yachts are planning to have boats on display at the London Boat Show at ExCel in January. ‘It’s really a pity that the banks wanted to jump out of the project because we are now ready with the boat and the designs.’
Udo admitted that the company was a victim of its own success. It’s growth over the last four years had seen the company overstretch itself. Dehler in 2005 had 90 employees and 100 boats to build. By 2008 they had 230 employees, but although they had 200 boats to build the yard was not ready to to handle the increase. But in recent weeks they had made the production system more efficient. Alas, not in time to survive the credit crunch paranoia.