Swimming Rolls-Royces - Polish shipbuilding industry

As you know I’m an international economy student so I would really like to know a  bit about the Polish economy. That’s why I planned a couple of posts concerning that subject. Poland is not very famous for its brands (maybe except a couple of vodka companies, which in truth are not so Polish at all) and that’s a shame because there’s a lot to be told in that matter. There’re many world-renowned polish companies, the only problem is that barely anyone knows that they have a polish origin. That’s why I want my blog to be not only about Polish culture, tradition, society and so on but also about Polish business. 

Let’s start with the high-end Polish shipbuilding industries.

The shipyard industry is legendary in Poland. The Gdansk Shipyard is the cradle of the Solidarity opposition movement, which overthrew the communist regime in 1989.  Huge industrial plants in Gdansk, Gdynia, and Szczecin were the centrally planned economy’s pride and joy. Later, unfortunately, shipyards have also become the most distinctive symbol of free-market changes and as a result, this branch of the economy was later on quite marginalized.

However, it turns out that the tradition in shipbuilding is doing quite well at the moment and surprisingly it is not because of the huge shipyards - our country is, in fact, one of the most important European manufacturers of smaller yachts and motor boats which can already be found practically in every latitude.

According to GUS, Poland’s Central Statistical Office, there are almost a thousand companies that manufacture boats, boating equipment, accessories, and tackles, which translates into more than 6,000 new polish boats coming into the market every year. As many as 95% of them are sold abroad – mainly to Western Europe, Russia, North America, Australia and the Middle East. Even though Poland is home to many small and medium-sized companies that produce snazzy yachts and power boats, there are three main players that left other far behind. 

Galeon, Poland’s no. 1 in the production of pleasure cruisers and high-speed sports boats is a family business with almost 30 years' experience. As the number of orders increases so does turnover. The company is famous for its high flexibility and potential for continuous development. It is expected that the fleet of Galeon boats cutting through waters worldwide will increase further with almost a 100 new vessels delivered every year.

Delphia Yachts puts some 150 top quality sailing yachts and over 1000 motorboats on the global market every year. That makes it the largest producer of units of this type in Poland. It was founded in 1990 by two brothers, Piotr and Wojciech Kot, who still personally supervise the production process. The success seems to be even more impressive when you consider that within two decades the company has come a long way from the ordinary carpentry shop to one of the most modern production halls in the history of the industry.

Sunreef Yachts is another counted among top manufacturers. The company was founded by Francis Lappa, who moved production from France to Poland. The Sunreef 74 model was a wow with global yacht market. Currently, company’s flagship products are two catamarans  - Skylark and Abuelo that offers up to 148 square feet of living space, what makes them the largest mass-produced catamarans in the world.