More trouble in New Bern

[LIBERTY]

Hatteras Yachts Laying Off Quarter Of Workforce

Updated: Thu 6:28 PM, Jun 20, 2013

A local boat builder is making more job cuts five months after the last round of cuts.

On Thursday, Hatteras Yachts, based in New Bern, announced it was letting go 25% of its employees.

On January 3rd of this year, the Brunswick Corporation announced 105 employees at the Craven County plant lost their jobs; 75 of the positions were full-time, the other 30 were temporary jobs.

Brunswick Corporation said the move in January was to adjust to market conditions as the company was looking to get out of the sport fishing convertible category and invest more resources in its Sea Ray and Meridian brands.

In November of 2012, Hatters employed 545 people in New Bern.

President John Ward says the latest layoffs were a result of adjusting production. He confirmed the number of hourly workers impacted was around 86 employees.





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[SKYCHENEY]

By those numbers, it looks like another 110 employees will be laid off.

 

[MicroKap]

...and this is after they consolidated Cabo Yachts into the New Bern facility? I know used boat sales are down also compared to same time last year. Being up here in Monmouth County, NJ (Hurricane Sandy area), we had a guy come into the office last week that wanted to know when the river was going to be opened as there were no boats out in sight. Unfortunately, the river is open to boat traffic.

 

[Pascal]

Sad. The Chinese have just bought sunseeker this week, after ferretti a year ago I believe. I wonder why hatteras has not been picked up yet

 

[Artzco]

And Hatteras advertising is almost nothing in the various magazines. If they stay on their current course, the name will just disappear. Very sad. I wish Hatteras could have maintained a line of classic looking boats instead of that Eurocrap style. The new 100' RPH looks like it came from Italy rather than New Bern.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I think putting the boat building companies on the market in the spring was not such a hot idea. Who would look at a boat built by a company that was for sale? it raises all kinds of concerns about warranty work etc. Not too swift.

Anyway, we'll see. I have not heard anything of anyone stepping up to buy Hatteras and Cabo from Brunswick. A pity, as momentum is being lost.

 

[Pascal]

Eurocrap is what sells. Marinas are full of these boats. Here in Miami it s all sunseekers, azimut, ferretti, astonda, uniesse, fairline, etc..

Worst, is that is that many of these boats have never major flaws starting with awkward if not dangerous boarding, dangerous foredecks, no rubrails, etc. yet, they are selling like the proverbial hot cakes.

 

[Artzco]

Eurocrap is what sells. Marinas are full of these boats. Here in Miami it s all sunseekers, azimut, ferretti, astonda, uniesse, fairline, etc..

Worst, is that is that many of these boats have never major flaws starting with awkward if not dangerous boarding, dangerous foredecks, no rubrails, etc. yet, they are selling like the proverbial hot cakes.

I agree Pascal, but there is a good market for the Marlow, Offshore, Fleming, etc, boats because many people still like the classic style.

 

[GJH]

I think the mistake they made was indeed going after the "Euro" or more accurately, "Sea Ray owner stepping up" strategy. Fleming, Offshore, Marlow, Grand Banks, Outer Reef and many other Asian built (but often American owned/designed) boats stayed with classic styling and stole Hatteras' traditional motoryacht customer. You could arguably throw Nordhavn in there too.

And though I see new GTs and other sport fishers being sea trialed on the Neuse regularly, and they are very nice boats it looks like Viking and the custom guys are dominating that market. I am in a marina where the majority of boats are high end sportfishers. Mostly custom jobs from here in NC, but a few Hatts and Vikings. Two guys just sold their old boats one a Viking and one a custom. They both bought big (64', 72') new Vikings; the marina is 30 miles from New Bern and the owners live in NC.

 

[sgharford]

Isn't it like putting a 1970's Cadillac or Lincoln in the new car lot versus a 2013 Mercedes or Lexus? You just can't compare the 2 yet they were/are built for the same market. Times change, and like all business owners know you either change with it, pray you fill a niche by being the boutique as all your competitors moved on, or go out of business. Admittedly I don't know a thing about the new boat market, but seems "Keep them in your Prayers" best thing we can do for Hatteras and their employees.

 

[tom5518]

Isn't it like putting a 1970's Cadillac or Lincoln in the new car lot versus a 2013 Mercedes or Lexus? You just can't compare the 2 yet they were/are built for the same market. Times change, and like all business owners know you either change with it, pray you fill a niche by being the boutique as all your competitors moved on, or go out of business. Admittedly I don't know a thing about the new boat market, but seems "Keep them in your Prayers" best thing we can do for Hatteras and their employees.

Indeed, except for the fact a new Mercedes is still instantly recognizable as a Mercedes. The same cannot be said about Hatteras. That most definitely was not the case when they were a market leader and innovator.

 

[sgharford]

I hear what your saying, but my old 1985 380se 4 door sedan looks nothing like the Mercede's of today.

 

[tom5518]

I hear what your saying, but my old 1985 380se 4 door sedan looks nothing like the Mercede's of today.

I beg to differ. While a 1985 S-class does not look the same as the newest S-class about to come out, they are both unmistakably Mercedes and clearly an S-class. Mercedes didn't decide to make their cars look like Chryslers back during the Daimler Chrysler days. Hatteras, on the other hand, abandoned the distinctive styling they were known for and adopted styling that is similar to Carver and various other brands. If not for the Hatteras badge, I wouldn't recognize any of their modern "motoryacht" models. I don't think the designs are all that attractive and judging by their sales I am likely not the only one who feels that way.

 

[Boatnut]

I have to agree the new models look aweful. Smart people aren't going to run to any company up for sale, especially when spending the amout for a new Hatteras. When Brunswick bout Hatteras, I said it was all over for the Hatteras Ledgend. In todays market I doubt there are many companies, especially American companys looking to invest in a product Brunswick has done their best to destroy. If anyone buys them it will most likely be some asian country like China, and we all know what they will do with it. I really have not enjoyed seeing hatteras go down the chute, but that's big business for you.

 

[krush]

I think it's the beginning of the end. Very sad, but Hatteras won't be the first company to succumb to the genius MBA'ers of the past 20 years. Maybe a Chinese company will buy them and stuff it full of cash.

I've learned over the last 10 years that power points and excel spreadsheets only make money in boom times when everybody is making money LOL.

 

[season]

In the interest in disclosure, I do not own a Hatteras boat "Yet". But I will. I have had the privilege of providing Hatteras with their infrared repeating electronic system parts and some of the audio gear installed to go to the 240 volt European market. Over the years, I made a great friend in their electronic engineering department, who will go nameless as I have great hope he is not one of those that is losing his job. He has been with Hatteras for a long time and has been frustrated with some of the decisions made by corporate Hatteras with regards to the direction the company has taken. I asked him ten years ago why Hatteras abandoned the LRC line of boats and he could not come up with a good reason other than it was now all about the speed race that SF manufacturers were engaged in with the custom guys.

I reminded him that the baby boomers were starting to retire and all of us were not going to buy RV's and go see Yosemite. He agreed and was just as puzzled as to why the company could not continue to improve on its line of LRC's as many new to boating would not want to go 25Kts and flush 40GPH thru their boats.

As for the motor yachts, Hatteras' move to remake their line to emulate the European market's push for making boats look like floating running shoes was just as puzzling to him and many within Hatteras.

I also inquired as to why Hatteras had abandoned the 30 to 40 foot range of sport fish boats that would be attractive to first time sport fish boat buyers and he had no answer. Another question was why didn't Hatteras make tenders for the boats that they produced? You may not be able to afford a Hatteras yacht but even if you did not own a big guy you might be in the market for what Whaler has dominated for decades; bullet proof small boats in high demand for tenders, inshore fishing and just having fun.

So, it appeared to me that corporate decisions had been made to ride out the storm hoping things would return to normal. Even though the economy is slowly clawing its way out of the great recession, the market is now flooded with used boats; as has been discussed on the forum, many in neglected shape but enough of them well maintained to be more than competitive with "new construction prices". It is going to take a visionary with deep pockets and a lot of patience to turn Hatteras back on a heading that will insure it's future. I hope that it comes to pass as we all will lose an American Icon if Hatteras does not find its way through this management-induced storm.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I think Hatteras abandoned the 30-40 foot niche when they found that they spent as much to build boats in that size as they did to build boats over 50 feet. Obviously, boats over 50 feet sell for a lot more, so they decided not to build smaller boats after that, as I understood it. And then Brushwick bought Cabo, so any thought of a smaller Hatteras was permanently scotched.

It isn't necessarily a disaster if a foreign company buys Hatteras. Marlows, for example, are built in a wholly owned yard in China, and very well made indeed. But if you think about what you would be buying, it is the name, the designs, and a yard in New Bern that really can't be used for anything else. And the reputation, which still counts for a lot despite the beating of the last few years.

I hope they haven't missed the boat, so to speak. The market for large recreational powerboats isn't dead, but it isn't nearly what it was, and for Hatteras to succeed, they are going to have to offer something at least as good as everyone else, and something you can't get everywhere else. That may be a tall order indeed.

 

[TopHattandTails]

The customs will always beat the productions... They are better built (more technology) and as expensive or cheaper, so the value proposition is higher for a custom. When you don't have to value engineer the production line to introduce different features from the previous boat, you save money and can pass that along to the consumer. All this adds up to a boat with more features at a lower price than what the production lines would need to cost. Now, on the other hand, production boats typically take 50% of the time to deliver.

 

[PeterK]

I have been told 90 were laid off. There is supposedly a deal very close to done for the sale. Hopefully the new owners know what they are buying and invest what is needed to bring the brand back...

 

[Paul Gwiz]

In Business you either LEAD or FOLLOW. It seem to my the management chose to follow . I Lead this Ft. Myers market in my trade. It's not because we are better or cheaper than my competition, It is 100% due to my marketing. ADVERTIZE , ADVERTIZE , ADVERTIZE !!!!!!!!

Then when word of mouth catches up Game is on & you suddenly have a brand.....That gets better known...... Hatteras has the brand & quality, what they need is better marketing & their own Classic look . We will see if they crash & burn. I hope not, But if you have Forest Gump in charge, things just tend to work out.......I wondered what Forest was doing, I believe he might be running Hatteras Boat Company........