We are back in the Ice Yachts shipyards: waiting for us is Marco Malgara, to tell us about this memorable 2023.
8 boats 
under production, obviously all already sold, and a year 2023, which for Ice Yachts, an all-Italian shipyard with operational headquarters in Salvirola (CR), is proving to be full of satisfaction.
With orders coming in from all over the world, from owners of the highest level who choose them as their manufacturer, the yard offers a wide range of models:
– ICE 52 #17 RS version
– ICE 54 #18
– ICE 52 #19
– ICE 53 ST (first model ever. Compared to the other ICE 52s it is a foot longer and 2 tons lighter)
– ICE 70 #5
– ICE 66, first model ever
– ICE Targa (two models in production, numbers #6 and #7)
Here they are, all together, divided between the Salvirola shipyard where we are today, and the one in Cremona. As two years ago to welcome us with his contagious enthusiasm is Marco Malgara, founder and CEO of this all-Italian shipyard.
“2023 is proving to be a great year for Ice Yachts, we are working very well – this is how Marco Malgara welcomes us, satisfied with the growth that has seen them as protagonists – We are completing new projects, namely the new Ice 53 ST which will be ready in mid-September, and the new Ice 66. These are the two headlights of this year.
At the same time, Ice 70 has been very successful, the hull no. 5 of the Ice 70 is under construction and no. 6 is about to be started; considering that it was premiered two years ago in Cannes, we can be proud of that: its performance is outstanding, it’s light, it’s fast, it’s thought out to the smallest detail.
There is also an Ice 54, which is a modified version of the 53 and should be on delivery by early October.
We delivered at the end of January our first boat in Japan, the first Ice 66; we also delivered the hull no. 19 of the Ice 52 RS, a very successful series that makes us very happy. An Ice Targa is also ready, and another one we are starting these days.
All this in our two production sites, in Salvirola and in Cremona: in Cremona we deal with composite, here in Salvirola with finishing and outfitting. We are also moving in other directions, more marine let’s say, but I cannot anticipate anything about that yet.
In other words, our production is at full capacity: our 8 wonders, as you wrote in your magazine in 2021”.
Demands change, customers’ ways of approaching have changed, waiting times have changed. Somehow the world has shrunk, everything is at your fingertips, and making yourself known has become much easier: but the quality of Made in Italy still undoubtedly has all its appeal and makes all the difference.
“We have received requests from the most varied countries. From Brazil, from which a word-of-mouth started all the way to Mexico and we’ve already had three more orders. Then, as mentioned -bove, Japan, where we will deliver our Ice 66, and Germany, where our 70/80-foot racing yachts are proving to be very successful.
We have several requests from Italy as well, both small and big boats: we are designing an important 80-footer with the Felci studio, super innovative, not for racing, but for big ocean sailing. We also have a special request from Cayman Island, a full-featured Ice 52 for a local owner/builder.
They are all people who come to see us personally from the other side of the world, to sit at the table with us, to talk about every aspect of their next boat and customize it so that it fully meets their need. This aspect of customer care is also crucial to us: when a customer entrusts himself to us, spending significant sums of money, we feel it is our duty to take the utmost care of him and put ourselves at his service to fully fulfill his expectations”.
A shipyard like Ice Yachts is not easy to tell without breathing in the smell of the paint, without looking into the eyes of all the skilled workers who wander among the hulls, immense above us, and work, despite the pressing heat of a scorching June day.
Without perceiving the passion behind every hammer blow, every sanding or every deck lowering: in this machine made of hard work, everything fits together perfectly, like the boats around me.
I often wonder what is behind those stories, and Marco is very good at describing them to me.
“Our shipyard – continues Marco Malgara, CEO of Ice Yachts – has about 60 and all of them are proud to work here. I took over the shipyard 11 years ago and all the workers I have taken over since then are still here. I think that has significance.
From a technical point of view we are very good at composite. We mainly use carbon, we make something like twelve infusions a week in this yard, but we are also equipped for epoxy and vinylester resin, which we use for some molds.
And then of course the customer care aspect. We listen to their needs, their desires, but without forgetting our DNA. We have precise market ranges where we fit in, and we aim for an average of 6 to 7 boats a year, which, at the moment, is fine, partly because there is obsessive care behind each one.
In the meantime, we have added more people and tools that have allowed us to reach a really important level, and to take care of the facilities internally. The only things we don’t produce in-house are electrical installations, because there is a lot of electronics now. On other aspects like plumbing we rely on the partners we work with. For example, in the Ice 70 and 60 we have a lot of plumbing that Felci Carboni took care of, with whom we have a wonderful partnership and we are very happy with that.
We are also 
innovators, always looking for the best solution. One example is a davit to lift the tender out of the water, made of carbon, which weighs only 53 kg. There is a similar thing in steel, but you understand well that we do the impossible to make our boats fast and perform, but if I then go and put 300 kg of crane on top of it, I throw my work to the wind. So even in the ‘little things’ we always try to innovate.
Finally, the last strength, is that we are people with a passion for the sea, we know how to go to sea and therefore we know how to best advise our customers. This is true for me, for my son Matteo who is supporting me a lot on the communication aspect, for my wife Ingrid and my daughter Alice who shuttles in from London to come and help us. And of course it is something that we have also passed on to all the employees in our group.’
It is clear in everyone’s mind, Ice Yachts is not a meteor, and this 2023 is yet more proof of that. Despite being a relatively young shipyard, it is here to stay. That extra gear can be felt in the atmosphere, from the way the fingers fly fast over the employees’ keyboards, how the new generation is growing, and from Marco’s smile full of enthusiasm that pretty much says it all.
