Horizon Yachts Premier 130+, about to be delivered to her Florida owners, opens up a new era for leading-edge Taiwan builders. An overview of Taiwan’s largest builder located at the epicenter of the Taiwan yacht building industry reveals a careful but determined strategy for expansion.
By Bruce Maxwell Photos Horizon
Taiwan yards have launched headlong into the larger superyacht market, and they are increasingly using their own brand names, proudly, saying to potential buyers: “Our quality, technical know-how, styling and interior finishing are as good, if not better, as anywhere else.” Horizon is a case in point. It is the number one yard in Taiwan and ranks individually among the world’s top 10 big boat builders. Last year Horizon built 41 motoryachts to 132’. This year that figure will rise to more than 50, and two of its yards, Horizon and Premier, take on nothing under 70’. Even their smallest Vision yard is turning out Vision 68s.
There’s no sign of recession here, due in part to the fact that urbane CEO John Lu has prudently split his marketing efforts between America, Europe and the emerging Asia-Pacific region. “We have two options in the current climate,” he told Yachts International, “build bigger and find new markets.”
Taiwan cumulatively is a top 10 big-boat builder, as is China, and taken together they are steadily mounting a challenge to the lengthy dominance of market leaders Italy, America and the Netherlands. But only a few Taiwan yards have set up facilities in low-cost China for their smaller motoryachts. Others, like Horizon, contend that this is not part of their business philosophy. “We can’t depend on the cost factor,” Lu says. “We have to think in value-added terms. Our goal is to provide the same or better quality boats as those made elsewhere, at competitive prices.”
Lu was speaking in Taiwan’s second largest city, Kaohsiung, where he was born and where Horizon is located. Like Viareggio in Italy, this is the epicenter of boat building in Asia. Dozens of yards dot the busy commercial harbor, and Ambrous Young’s 213’ Benetti Ambrosia also lay alongside, waiting to be slipped for antifouling.
It comes as no surprise to hear that the yards have proposed Lu as the next chairman of the Taiwan Yacht Industry Association holding elections in June. “The whole industry is in harmony,” he says. “Many of us are not in competition. We have different products and sales networks. Horizon’s own strategy is very open.”
Other yards watch closely Horizon’s strategy because Lu is an undoubted industry guru and whatever he does, others quickly assess and usually adapt into their own business plans. He is a qualified naval architect from Ocean University in Taipei, and founded Horizon Yachts 21 years ago, literally across the road from Taiwan’s second largest builder, Kha Shing, where he worked briefly before deciding to “do it his way.”
Now he has 1,200 employees, three shipyards—Horizon, Premier and Vision—Atech, a 250,000 square feet lamination facility where the strong-but-light SCRIMP resin infusion process, originally developed for the U.S. Navy, is used and, finally, a fifth woodwork and carpentry factory to outfit vessel interiors.
“We and some other yards are moving away from the OEM concept, in which we build brands owned and marketed by people abroad,” he told us. “The current drive, backed by Taiwan Trade, is to strengthen our own brands.”
“I’ve just signed a contract for a 148’ steel-hulled vessel, it’s one of our new Bandido series and in addition to the Bandido 148, there are 66-footer and 75-footer composite models among this series.” Lu said. “This 148 is designed by Juan Carlos Espinosa, with whom we collaborated closely on the Premier 130+ and other boats. It is for a European client. We have never built in steel before, so we are subcontracting the hull, and doing the fitout, as overseas yards often operate anyway. We expect to start cutting steel later this year. It may be the first of several such vessels, but I don’t want to say too much more about that project at present.”
He could confirm, however, that the 130-136’ Premier semi-custom series has four more orders pending. One is for another American client, two are for Europeans, while the fourth is for a Thai who intends to use it as a charter vessel in Phuket. Then there is a 150’ and a 163’ design is on the drawing boards.
“The Premier bays are 300’ long,” explained James Fwu. “So we can put the 163’ in with a 105’, or the 148’ can go behind one of the 130-136’ series. As long as it stays under 300’, we have room.” This yard, which opened in 2005, has a 656’ water frontage in Kaohsiung Harbor, and for the recent grand launch party of the Premier 130+, also alongside for viewing by sundry visiting VIPs were an Elegance 64, Vision 68, Elegance 74, Bandido 75 and an Elegance 120. Austin Lin runs Vision, which was added to the group in 2001. It handles the 50’-73’ models, and the first Vision 68, for a Seattle owner, was reviewed in an earlier issue of Yachts International.
Two-master plan
Horizon Premier 130 debuts
Horizon’s Premier 130 looked really elegant, her royal blue hull and white topsides nicely highlighting the style that Miami-based designer Juan Carlos Espinosa has developed for her. She was about to be shipped from Kaohsiung to Port Everglades, and was to make her debut on the Florida coast in May. JC, as he is known, has brought his distinctive architect’s touch, initially acquired at the University of Illinois, to yet another superyacht. His ventures with Horizon, Premier and their clients add an interesting chapter to his portfolio and seem set to continue and deepen. “I enjoy working with John and his team,” he says. “Nothing is too much trouble. And the finished product is world-class.”
Captain Thomas Wilson, who was on the owners’ previous yacht, said they had discussed this project with several U.S. yards before opting for Espinosa and Horizon. This option offered a high degree of customization, and as the owners are two brothers who wanted their own staterooms on different decks that was something of a challenge in itself. She is the first of the Horizon’s Premier 130+ series, but is actually 132’, and Lu says the builds in progress will go to 136’ for his European clients. Again the standard spec is for twin 1800 hp MTUs, but this 132-footer has twin 1825 hp Cat C32s, and in sea trials off Taiwan’s southern coast she reached 18 knots, and a cruise speed of 14 knots at 55 percent power. An 11,000-gallon diesel fuel capacity gives her a range of 3,200 nm at 12 knots, and there are twin Onan 80kW generators backed up by 75 KVA shore power converters. Classification is by Det Norske Veritas +1A1, and she is built to MCA LY2 as well. Space is used admirably on a vessel of this size. The lower deck, apart from the engine room and aft toys compartment, has three guest suites, while forward are the crew quarters. Up a spiral stairway, the principal deck contains the salon, dining room and galley, with one co-owners’ master stateroom forward. Up the spiral stairway again, and the second master stateroom on the sky deck faces aft, located behind the pilothouse. Finally the sun deck is very nicely laid out with optional shade, Jacuzzi, barbeque, bar, another al fresco dining table and sunpads.
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n interior décor terms, the first Premier 130+ draws on 13 different wood veneers and 11 superb marbles for which Taiwan, like Italy, is famous. Some owners like the same theme throughout, while others opt for variety, and as there are so many individual nooks and crannies on a superyacht, they by no means clash. The lower deck guest cabins use mostly sapele wood with maple burl panels, custom wall fabrics and carpets. Ceilings are in standard Majelite; Jado gold handles add a distinctive touch to the solid 2.5” thick wooden doors with their heavy hidden hinges; Shoji screens are provided for the ports; and other features appear throughout the vessel, such as ornate oval push-button cabinet locks, smooth Blum drawer sliders, and flip-down TV screens.
The starboard VIP guest cabin can be a double or twin, and custom fabric walls and headboards make it possible for each of these living areas to have their own distinctive feel. For example this one has beautiful Taiwan medium green marble walls and counter tops in the bathroom, exactly the same stuff my Staunton chess pieces and board are carved from, and it looks lovely. Theme in the port VIP double’s bathroom is a quite different Crema Valencia, but the sophisticated shower drainage systems are the same. The third guest cabin has a single bed, plus another fold-down one, and it could be used for a variety of visitors. The principal deck master suite features high-gloss anigre wood with maple burl, and custom fabrics for the walls and carpets, and these and the lacquer panels imbue a personal touch. Everything is on a grand scale; the bed is king size, the wardrobes are walk-in cedar closets and the port and starboard windows are large. In this bathroom, the décor mixes yellow jade with onyx walls, towel racks are heated, and separate toilets are near shower and steam rooms. The skydeck master suite, in contrast, is in sycamore and ebony, with all the aforementioned attributes, except that its bathroom has yellow crystal walls with black lacquer panels, and a granite floor with gold line insets. The skylight is fitted with privacy glass, and there is an office, but the most obvious difference is that it has a large private aft deck. Maybe the brothers will consider swapping over, for variety, from voyage to voyage. On the principal deck, the salon and dining areas feature gloss afomosia wood, and the fabrics combine in a pleasantly subtle brown and cream effect. The dining table for 10 has fiber optic lights above it, and comfortable sofas seat the same number of guests. The full wet bar has a most attractive top, and here the flip-down TV has a 65” screen.
Her galley is all stainless steel and black Formica. The six-burner stove has an 84” commercial hood above, and there are three freezers, two fridges, dish warmers and washers, and many other accoutrements of dining and wining make this a very professional-looking setup.
Captain Wilson will operate from a leather-clad pilothouse, offset by sapele and maple burl, and here all the latest navigation and communication gear has been installed to DNV-MCA requirements. There is a radio office and captain’s desk, and wing stations port and starboard. His private double cabin is on the lower deck, where three oak-finished crew cabins and other facilities are also located. The sun deck topside has provision for a concealed davit, presumably for MCA compliance, and the layout otherwise looks eminently suitable for relaxation, lunch, games or a party. The radar and communications arch shades the mid-section, and there is a convenient day head. Decks everywhere are in teak, with stainless-steel grab rails, including a distinctive central walkway to the bow. Back aft, the hydraulically-opening tender garage takes a 16’ runabout and two Yamaha Jet Skis, and there is a telescopic crane and hydraulic swim and boarding ladders. The first Premier 130+ has been well thought-out by her clearly experienced owners, and transformed into an immaculate vessel by Espinosa, Lu, Fwu, Wilson and other craftsmen at Horizon’s Premier yard. Her arrival in Florida marks the start of a new Taiwan superyacht marketing and building drive that is likely to gather force in the year ahead.
