 Super Yatch BenettiRecord Ship Yard Benetti
Super Yatch Benetti
Super Yatch
Super Yatch Benetti
Super Yatch Benetti
By Roberto Franzoni
A record-breaking shipyard, it holds the record for longevity, with 138 years of uninterrupted production and over 350 yachts sailing.
It is also in the technological lead with environmentally friendly solutions such as diesel-electric propulsion, the future prospect for making yachts environmentally friendly.
The Benetti shipyard is one of the world's oldest still operating and was one of the first to build yachts.
It was founded by Lorenzo Benetti in Viareggio in 1873.
After his death it was run by his sons Gino and Emilio, who changed the name of the yard to Fratelli Benetti, and then from 1927 by their sons Giuseppe and Virgilio and Maurizio and Bertani.
Before that production was concentrated mainly on cargo boats, mainly powered by sail, for the small coastal trade. The tall ships of Viareggio were famous worldwide for their quality. In the demanding English-speaking world they earned the "Best Barque" classification, a term imported and translated by the inhabitants of Viareggio into "Barcobestia," applied to the sailing ships which still thronged the docks of Versilia in the 1940s.
After World War II the yard was split into two divisions.
The Fratelli Benetti shipyard built sailing and motor boats and the M & B Benetti yard engaged exclusively in the construction of commercial ships up to 150 meters overall length.
The death of Emilio Benetti saw the management of Fratelli Benetti pass to his nephew Giuseppe and his youngest son Lorenzo.
Inheriting the legacy of the generations before him, Lorenzo became a key player in international construction of mega-yachts.
Extraordinary masterpieces came to light under his management.
Examples were the Delfino series of smaller mega-yachts built of steel and the true mega-yachts such as Galu (53 meters, 1977, a striking size for those years) or Nabila, 1980 (86 meters, 2465 tons), designed by Jon Bannenberg for the Saudi businessman Adnan Kashoggi, the most famous yacht of its day.
Having launched over 120 yachts, the Benetti family found itself in difficulty precisely because of Nabila.
There were cost overruns and relations with Kashoggi were difficult. The family was forced to give up ownership, not without an elegant swan song in the work of Riccardo Benetti, the last heir.
He built refined craft like Vanina (1978), designed by the American naval architect Scott Kaufman for an Italian owner to compete in the Admiral's Cup, or the majestic all-aluminum 46-meter White Gull (1983), a forerunner of the modern mega-sailers by Perini Navi and Alloy Yachts.
In 1985 Paolo Vitelli, owner and president of Azimut, took over the Cantiere Fratelli Benetti renaming it simply Benetti.
This businessman from Turin showed considerable courage.
He had never owned a shipyard before, yet he devised a method of construction based on sub-contracting which has made the fortune of shipbuilders in Viareggio and the rest of Italy.
He showed a handful of courageous entrepreneurs the way to be continuously successful.
Over the past twenty-five years more mega-yachts have been launched than in the yard’s whole previous history.
They include the second-biggest ship ever built in Viareggio, the 70-meter Reverie.
Now for the sixth consecutive year the Azimut-Benetti Group is the world’s biggest shipyard in terms of production of mega-yachts.
One of the keys to its success was an idea no one had ever had before: building mega-yachts out of molded fiberglass.
This technique made it possible to develop a range of craft - originally three models, now seven - with mass-produced hulls and interiors tailored to the owner’s individual wishes.
Since the launch of the first of these fiberglass Benetti Classics, the 35-meter Stella Fiera in 1998, over one hundred fiberglass yachts have been delivered! A record unequaled by any yard worldwide.
In 2003 the Azimut-Benetti Group took over the Fratelli Orlando yard in Livorno.
This was the most important and celebrated yard in Tuscany and one of the biggest in Italy.
The Group then launched a major plan to establish a center specializing in leisure sailing, with a makeover of the urban area and the creation of a marina.
The production facilities in Livorno produce wholly custom built Benetti mega-yachts over 47 meters long in steel and aluminum.
The original yard at Via Coppino in Viareggio, now also equipped with a heliport, focuses on semi-custom built models in the new Class series and has the capacity to build four vessels simultaneously.
The Benetti yard in Livorno covers an area of 160,000 square meters as a cutting-edge facility with the most modern equipment in the Mediterranean for servicing and repairs.
It has a 300 tonne travel lift and a 2400 tonne ship lift. Its production capacity is eight yachts simultaneously.
Beside these production numbers and of course its financial success, Benetti also has a technological edge that places the brand at the top of the world shipbuilding industry for the pleasure craft sector.
In 2005 it launched the third Ambrosia, 65 meters overall length, for a loyal client in Taiwan.
This was the world’s first yacht to be powered by the advanced diesel-electric system by ABB Azipod, world leader in this type of propulsion.
From this experience Benetti developed, in collaboration with the R&D center of Azimut-Benetti Group at Varazze, an innovative silent system which it is applying to the whole new Benetti Class range, from the smallest Delfino 93’ to its 164’ flagship Vision Supreme.
The yard’s expertise in this sector has improved and evolved over the past ten years, and is applied to both large steel ships and smaller semi-custom craft.
Called the Hybrid Silent System, it is the most striking result of the optimization of energy and fuel-efficiency, with a reduction of gas emissions and above all noise and vibrations – cut by 40 percent – so significantly increasing comfort on board.
Installation of the Silent Hybrid System provides a system of electric propulsion, additional and alternative to the principal power unit. It uses the same components as traditional propulsion but with the addition of electric motors with permanent magnets and their inverters (frequency converters).
Connected to the control system, they govern the shaft lines when the main diesel engines are switched off.
In this way, the Silent Hybrid System provides the only power with a cruising speed of 8 knots and silent sailing, making it possible to travel at night in total comfort.
With the new semi-custom Benetti Class (from 27 to 50 meters overall length) and the new full custom craft in steel and aluminum (47 to 68 meters), the Benetti yards are firmly determined to maintain their leadership among the builders of mega-yachts associated in SYBAss, the Super Yacht Builders Association.
It is sure to continue to amaze the world not only with its numbers but also its increasingly sophisticated technology.
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