Industry Shipbuilding Headquarters Netherlands Founded 1978 | Founders Frans Heesen Website www.heesenyachts.com | |
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Products Custom Built Superyachts | ||
Heesen Yachts is a Dutch ship building company that specializes in custom built superyachts. Founded in 1978, it has launched more than 170 yachts since its inception, many of which have become award-winning. It is considered one of the world leaders in the design, construction and engineering of all-aluminum yachts.
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History
Frans Heesen founded Heesen Yachts in 1978. He was an entrepreneur who purchased the Striker Boats shipyard site in the Netherlands as a potential home for another business. At the time he was best known for his work in the plastics industry but decided to retain the property as a shipyard and continue its operations. One year following the purchase, Heesen launched the 20 metre (66 ft) Amigo, a luxury yacht that was the first to bear the Heesen name.
1988 was a breakthrough year for Heesen Yachts. It was commissioned by American entrepreneur John Staluppi to build a yacht that could do more than 50 knots. Consequently, Heesen built Octopussy, later renamed Octopussy 007, after the 1983 James Bond film. This custom built yacht was at the time the fastest yacht on record, registering at 53.17 knots. It was refitted and lengthened by another company years later and, due to its gain in weight, no longer ranked as one of the world's fastest yachts.
By 1990, Heesen had built more than 25 yachts over 27 metres (89 ft) in length, earning it a reputation as one of the world's leading custom yacht builders. The Mirage, formerly El Corsario, considered a sister design to the Octopussy, was launched by Heesen in 1991. It used triple waterjets as propulsion and ranked as the 16th fastest ships in the world by Boat International. It has a cruising speed of 45 knots and can travel up to 48 knots.
In 1992, the company expanded its business to include the construction of traditional displacement, long range steel hulled yachts with the launch of the 50 metre (160 ft) motor yacht Achiever in collaboration with Oceanco.
In 1996 Heesen, already known for its earlier Striker sport fishing boats, entered the market for large sport fishing yachts with the delivery of the 37 metre (121 ft) Obsession, a yacht that could reach a speed of 33 knots. At that time she was the world’s largest sport fishing yacht. Heesen expanded in 2003, the same year it launched its 3700 and 4400 yacht series. The expansion included the building of a new construction facility that allowed them to produce eight yachts per year.
Heesen Yachts was featured in Voyages of M/Y AlumerciA, a 2011 book written by Andrew Rogers. The book documents the voyages between 2001 and 2010 of the eponymous motoryacht that was built by Heesen. In 2013, Heesen launched the 65 metre (213 ft) Fast Displacement Galactica Star, a custom built yacht with a top speed of 28.8 knots. It has received nine awards including the best semi-displacement 50m+ yacht at the World Superyacht Awards. Heesen also launched the Satori in 2011 which also received a World Superyacht Award. Frans Heesen retired from the company in 2012, 35 years after founding Heesen Yachts.
2014 brought about Heesen Yacht's largest project to date, the 70 metre (230 ft) aluminum fast displacement yacht. Named Project Kometa, it is built in collaboration with Espen Oeino and has a top speed of 30 knots. The yacht is scheduled for delivery in 2016.