Azimut invests in Brazil to expand the shipyard

Azimut is expanding in South America, expanding its production site in Brazil, with an investment of 8 million euros over two years. Describing the project is Marco Valle, CEO of the Azimut Benetti Group, who illustrates the strategy that the company is adopting overseas, which also includes new top management for the Brazilian shipyard in Itajaì: CEO Carlo Alberto Sisto and Sales Director Roy Capasso, appointed last October.

Azimut, recalls Valle, has been present in Brazil since the 1990s, 'thanks to an importer, whose name was Gilberto Ramalho, and who was also the owner of Intermarine, a shipyard now run by his daughter, who built our boats, under licence, near Sao Paulo. In 2009 Ramalho died in a helicopter accident. At that point, Paolo Vitelli (the founder of Azimut Benetti, who passed away in 2024) and I went to Brazil and, so as not to lose the market we had built up over the years, we decided to start producing in Brazil ourselves. We opened a shipyard ex novo in the State of Santa Catarina, in Itajaì. The first boat that came out, overcoming a thousand difficulties, was a 43-foot fly (13 metres), which arrived on the market 14 years ago'.

Today, after almost three lustres, continues Valle, "we find ourselves with a company in Brazil that makes 100 million euros, in counter value, in turnover, has about 600 employees, produces well, is profitable and makes six Azimut models from 50 feet (15 metres) to 27 metres. A market segment in which we account for about 40% of the market share. And another 20% is covered by our competitor Intermarine, owned by Ramalho's daughter.

In Brazil, adds the CEO, "they make a lot of small boats; on the other hand, on 15 to 30 metre boats there are few competitors and we, as Azimut, are the reference brand. We have a production area of over 20 thousand square metres and in the 14 years since that first 43 footer was built, over 400 boats have been built and delivered. Initially, everything was imported from the parent company in Avigliana (Turin). But in the last 10 years we have invested a lot in verticalisation and, in particular, we have created an in-house carpentry, to make the furniture for the boats, and we have home-made teak and steel production. Those that in Italy are strategic suppliers, in Brazil we keep them inside the shipyard: we have internalised the supply chain. And that is why we have increased in-house training in recent years. The next step is the internal electrical system, because, for now, we are still supplying".

Over the course of a decade, Valle emphasises, 'we have ensured that the quality of the Brazilian boat has improved significantly, so much so that we have managed not only to sell boats in Brazil, but also throughout Mercosur, for example in Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina'. And now the group is preparing for a further step. "We have decided," says the CEO, "to start an investment of €8 million over two years, a sum that will probably increase, for a production expansion of the yard. What we want to do is to exceed the 30-metre dimension with production in Brazil. Having delivered a high number of boats between 24 and 27 metres, we now have an important customer base and we intend to build models of 30 metres and even longer than that. The investment will serve to expand the yard by between 5,000 and 7,000 square metres, to start producing 30-metre yachts; the goal, then, is to build 33-34-metre ones too. The first phase will be between this year and 2028, when the first 30-metre will be ready".