In the nine months to September the Birkenhead firm undertook repair and upgrade jobs on a record-breaking 18 vessels in Europe, the US and the Caribbean. Tony McDonough reports

Maritime engineering company SeaKing Electrical is growing its presence in the luxury superyacht market with a record number of deals this year.

In the nine months to September the Birkenhead firm undertook repair and upgrade jobs on 18 superyachts, beating its previous record of 17 jobs in the whole of 2017 and its attendance at the Monaco Boat Show in September is likely to lead to more work.

The company, which employs more than 100 people, has worked in the Mediterranean in Cadiz, Cartagena, Genoa, La Ciotat and Barcelona as well as Miami in the US and Antigua in the Caribbean. SeaKing managing director David Gillam said the company is seeing increased demand for its electrical services on yachts ranging from 34m to 120m in size.

Track record

He said demand is expected to continue as yachts return from charter at the ‘close season’ in October. He said: “Superyachts are a highly specialised sector and owners, shipyards and charterers want to work with engineering companies with a clear track record.

“SeaKing has worked hard for 10 years to build up technical knowledge and experience of superyachts drawing on our heritage of working extensively on warships, ferries, cruise ships and commercial vessels.

“The prime work we have carried out this year on superyachts includes inspections, audits and repair of faulty or inefficient equipment. Our teams have worked in shipyards or at sea undertaking works covering bridge integration, power generation, propulsion, automation, earth monitoring systems as well as CCTV and security systems.”

Technical team

He added: “A project on a 80m yacht in saw our design and technical team complete a load balance from conception. Another job in Italy required our engineers to remove an obsolete unsupported ship management system and install a new Deif system together with integration with the ships generators. 

Mr Gillam said all of SeaKing’s installations are carried out to meet strict industry requirements.

“Superyacht customers are keen to identify innovative ways to make their vessels more energy efficient and environmentally friendly towards marine life,” he added. “This includes power generation and propulsion systems, lighting and entertainment systems.” 

Mr Gillam said SeaKing’s team has further travelled to Abu Dhabi, Canada, Germany and Spain this year to carry out superyacht survey work.