Between 2016 and 2017, five member companies of the Barcelona Clúster Nàutic have invested up to 92.3million Euros in their facilities in a bid to expand capacity and services for superyachts visiting the Catalan capital.
The MB’92 and Varador 2000 shipyards, and the Marina Vela, Mataró Marina Barcelona and OneOcean Port Vell marinas are just five members of the Barcelona Clúster Nàutic – an association of 84 institutions and companies working towards the competitiveness of the marine industry in Barcelona.
Established three years ago, the cluster aims to “attract the super yachts fleet to Barcelona as a base for Mediterranean cruises and as a base for repairs and maintenance”.
Of the five companies, the largest investment is being made by MB’92, a 76,000sqm superyacht refit, repair and maintenance shipyard located in the Port of Barcelona.
The company is investing a total of €45 million in a new shiplift of 4,000 tons, with capacity to haul out boats up to 105m LOA. According to a recent press release by the Barcelona Clúster Nàutic, “With this investment, MB’92 will respond to the worldwide growing fleet of superyachts. Over a hundred boats between 35 and 200-meters long pass each year through the MB’92 facilities.”
Investment in the new Marina Vela facility, located next to the W Barcelona Hotel, is around €40 million. Works have seen three million euros invested up until today, with the new marina scheduled for completion in two to three months.
Throughout 2016, OneOcean Port Vell also invested five million euros in the last expansion stage of the marina, where it gained eight new moorings for boats between 30 and 80m long in the Moll de Pescadors (Fishermen’s Dock). The first stage of the marina’s transformation ended at the end of 2014 after an investment of €80 million.
Varador 2000 manages a shipyard in Arenys de Mar which is the technical base for boats’ maintenance and repair, and Mataró Marina Barcelona, the nautical base for superyachts. The company is investing 2.3 million Euros (€1.1 in Mataró Marina Barcelona and €1.2 in the base of Arenys). It has already made 45% of the investment and it is estimated that it will reach 100% in September.
