Under the Technical Service Agreement signed earlier this month, the yard’s personnel will now receive specialised training from GTT (Gaztransport & Technigaz).
The move marks the latest step in Naples-based Palumbo Group’s rapid international expansion since first taking over, and then turning around, ailing Malta Shipyards in 2010, followed by a nearby superyacht yard a year later.
Today the group operates facilities in Naples, Messina, Malta and Marseille together numbering 14 docks, about 2 km of berths and 350 full-time employees.
These offer repairs for all types of vessels, including rigs and floating units. On the newbuild front Palumbo also constructs aluminium fast ferries and custom-designed large yachts.
Most recent acquisition was the former International Technic Marine (ITM) superyacht yard in Marseille, bought in February 2014.
The secret of Palumbo’s shipyard success has lain in fostering the right spirit among the workforce, general manager, Raffaele Palumbo explained to Seatrade Global. “My father Antonio, brother Giuseppe and I spend every day in the yards and know all our employees by name. We’re changing the mentality from that in other shipyards."
“The two most important elements in the shiprepair business are professionalism and flexibility. The owner wants first and foremost a professional service – you can discuss price after. Of course you must be competitive but I don’t want to win business because I am cheaper than other yards but because of quality,” Palumbo said.
Indeed, the group’s prices are “certainly not the cheapest,” he concluded, “but our shipyards are full. This shows that if you work professionally and respect owners’ needs, you can have a profitable ship repair business yard and a happy clientele.”
For this reason the group continues to look at further yard acquisition prospects, even outside the West Med. A bid to take over a repair facility in Antwerp late last year proved unsuccessful, and this summer Palumbo was examining the possible buyout of a yard in Montenegro, Seatrade Global understands.
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