The shipyard Perini Navi is very famous and needs no bush. Even those people who have little to do with yacht building heard that Maltese Falcon is not only a novel by Dashiell Hammett but also a unique sailing yacht. We will try to know more about this shipyard from the own lips of the prime person at the shipyard – general director Giancarlo Ragnetti, who gave an exclusive interview.
-Mr Ragnetti,how long have you known Mr Perini and what had you been occupied with before you started at Perini Navi shipyard? What did this very company attract you by?
- I first met Fabio Perini at the beginning of the 80’s. I was heading the production department of a Shipyard in Ortona Navi(near Pescara Eastern Coast of Italy on the Adriatic Sea) where he built his first sailing yacht. Actually we built together the first Perini Navi, a 40m ketch today named La Numero 1 Uno (The number one) which pioneered the sailing yacht market. This project changed my life and I decided to follow Fabio in his idea of starting an engineering and design company for the design and realisation of large sailing yachts with an automatic sail plan control. At those time Fabio Perini’s vision was perceived by the conservative sailing world as a mere vision, destined to fail. But his energy and charisma were contagious and his solid technical skills and talent attracted me and I moved from Pescara to Viareggio to reach him.
-What did you start you work with at a new position in Perini Navi?
-The idea of creating a completely new and different type of sailing vessel. It was the faith in the product and in the entrepreneur who had the idea and the means (capability, experience, funds and spirit of adventure) to realise it.
-Undoubtfully, the most outstanding (prominent) project is "The Maltese Falcon". Could you tell about it in more detail at first hand so to speak?
- The Maltese Falcon set a miles stone in the sailing history. I say it without false modesty. Her revolutionary sail plan is the result of 4 years of intense R&D and entrepreneurial activities. For me it was a real big challenge: to build a prototype of 88 m with a never-seen-before sailing system in the Turkish facility of the Perini Navi Group where, before then, we were building the hulls to be completed in our Italian yard. But thanks to many factors (the skills and hard work of the Turkish team, the faith and technical advise of the owner, the know-how and experience of the international team set up for this project), The Maltese Falcon is one of the most powerful, fast & efficient and majestic yachts of the world.
-What other projects are you planning in the nearest future?
- We developed a new breed of performance oriented sailing yachts. Designed by Philippe Briand and built in special alluminum are now under construction at Cantieri Navali Beconcini, our facility in La Spezia. First to be launched will be a 38m fast sloop that will be delivered in Summer 2008.
And we decided to enter the world of motor yachts with the historical brand Picchiotti which is owned by Perini Navi since 20 years. The new range will begin with a new generation of yachts designed by Vitruvius Ltd together with French naval architect Philippe Briand. The Vitruvius breed re-launches the Picchiotti brand in the motor-yacht business. The delivery of the first unit, Vitruvius Explorer 50 m, is planned for 2010.
The second motor-yacht under the Picchiotti brand has been recently sold: Vitruvius Explorer, 55m. Hull number C.2156 will be built in compliance with ice-class standards, in order to complete the North-West passage, the sea route through the Artic Ocean, via the water-ways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This second unit will be delivered to her Owners in Summer 2011.
With this new breed of yachts, Perini Navi now specialises in four different market segments:
Mega sailing yachts from 40 to 60 metres, the company’s core business
Giga sailing yachts over 60 metres and special projects
Performance oriented sailing yachts
Motor-yachts
-Could you speak on the structure of your Perini Navi group? As far as I know, you`re constantly broadening you production by acquiring new shipyards.
Actually we are not implementing a strategy of further acquisitions. The latest was the one of Cantieri Navali Beconcini in La Spezia, but I am not seeing any other big step in the near future.
The Perini Navi Group has now its headquarters in Viareggio where are located the design and R&D departments, the core of the company, which "serves" 3 production facilities: one nearby in Viareggio, one in La Spezia and one in Turkey. (see the company profile).
- What designers do you invite to work? According to what principles do you cast them?
- We mainly work on our own project developed by the PN Design department. The company started as a design company and this vocation is still in the DNA of the group. But we also work with other designers: in this moment we have a strong collaboration with Philippe Briand for series of the performance oriented sailing yachts we are building in La Spezia and for the motor yacht series (the Vitriuvius) we recently presented to the market.
-Why do you consider the Netherlands and England are regarded as the countries with the most ancient naval traditions while most of shipyards are located in Italy?
-The Italian Maritime Industry has a long standing tradition, dating back several centuries. The manufacturing skills as well as the infrastructures were transferred from the shipbuilding activity onto the yacht building. In Italy there are various clusters (the district which goes from Genoa to Livorno, passing through the area of Viareggio; the Adriatic districts: Trieste or Ancona;) where shipbuilding and yacht building were living together and that were ready to respond to the exploding market demand. But the key factor is still the entrepreneurial spirit of individuals, such as Paolo Vitelli or Norberto Ferretti or Fabio Perini who have been able to understand and sense that a slack business – as it was in the early 80’s - would have evolved into a big opportunity. These individuals played as forerunners for the Industry at large. All of them were outsiders to the yachting industry and radically transformed the approach to this rather conservative industry. Not only in terms of product development but also in terms of industrial vision. These newcomers influenced the development of the business worldwide.
-What can the Italians`s designing mastership can be explained by from your point of view: no matter whether it concerns the furniture design, clothing or yachts?
-The key of the success are the human resources because the real wealth of our nation is and will be the creativity, style and skills of the Italians, which are the result of an unrepeatable mix of factors.
-Let me conclude with the traditional question: in what direction is your shipyard going to move on? Innovating? The size increasing? The originality of design? We are constantly improving our consolidated product and investing in R&D for the creation of new products.
-We are constantly improving our consolidated roduct and investing in R&D for the creation of new products.
Konstantin Startsev
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