A new RIB builder - Grand Marine - has been launched at the Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) in Amsterdam
A new Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) builder Grand Marine has been launched at the Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) in Amsterdam.
Based in the Ukraine, Grand Marine’s founder Andrey Grebennikov was former technical director and designer at Ukranian inflatables’ manufacturer Brig. The new company has begun production at its facility in Kharkov and is producing around 100 boats per month ranging in size from 3-7.5m.
Grebennikov told IBI: “We hope to up that production to around 200 boats a months in the new year.”
Grand Marine is to form part of a larger Grand Marine Group which will include a facility in Toronto, Canada, producing larger, luxury tenders for the US and Canadian markets. Production of 100 boats a month is to start there in May 2002. This says Grebennikov will be followed with the opening of a similar sized facility in Scandinavia, exact details of which have not yet been finalised but the company says it hopes to have production up and running some time in 2003.
“We want to create a net of factories for the production of moulds, new hulls and RIB collars,” said Grebennikov. The company says its distribution network is already in place in the UK, Benelux, Germany, Canada and Scandinavia and that the full manufacturing programme will be complete in 1-2 years.
The Grand Marine range comprises two lines – the Silver Line of sporty tenders from 3-5m and the Golden Line of luxury RIBs from 3.4-7.5m, which will form the mainstay of the business.
