Memorable 2023 for Ice Yachts: production at full capacity

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.