Dunya: King Benji builder rides Turkish wave
Dunya Yachts built the 35m explorer King Benji.
It would be easy to jump on the groundswell of goodwill lifting Turkish yachting, but Dunya Yachts is selective about which wave to catch.
The Tuzla shipyard built the 72m Axioma and lately King Benji, the 47m blue-hulled explorer yacht which created quite the buzz at boat shows last year.
But with Turkey now second only to Italy in terms of the number of yachts in-build, having dethroned the Netherlands last year, Dunya’s president Sedat Ergun remains discerning in his uptake of projects.
“Turkey has historically been seen as the place to go with less budget, but he [Ergun] is only going to take something on that has the right budget and the right design philosophy,” says Tim Kershaw, sales and marketing director for Dunya (pronounced “Doon-ya”, which means “world” in Turkish).
“We might not be the biggest shipyard in the world, but do we want to be putting out some really special and unique yachts of top quality.”
Dunya Yachts is based in a 30,000sqm facility in Turkey.
Dunya is building an 87.5m yacht, known as DY012 and designed by Tim Heywood, and a 48m catamaran support vessel, with two “very unique” 80m-plus projects close to signing, according to Kershaw. Discussions have also circled around two designs for a 50m version of King Benji.
The 30,000sqm facility, including Turkey’s only climate-controlled covered dry dock, sits on the site of the Ergun family’s former holiday home southeast of Istanbul on the Sea of Marmara. They developed it first into the Ursa shipyard before it was significantly revamped and updated when the US-educated Ergun returned from a career as a project manager in construction to take over as president in 2005.
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Alongside the 2013 build of charter favourite Axioma, which Kershaw labels their “golden egg”, the yard made its name as a refit and reconstruction facility with works completed on more than 25 vessels up to 136m in length. Now, though, the focus is on “absolutely fully custom” with eyes on the 70-100m market, says Kershaw.
“Turkey is going from strength to strength, demand is jumping,” he says. “Our inquiries are coming from America and the Middle East, where clients have really good trust in Turkish shipbuilding. The Americans less so, but they’re starting to understand and it’s just lifting the whole Turkish shipbuilding industry over there.”
‘Price is justified’
Traditionally, Turkish yards have been cheaper than their northern European counterparts, but that is changing as the quality goes up, according to Kershaw.
“People have concerns typically around quality, which once upon a time wasn’t that good, but now it’s fantastic in most shipyards,” says the New Zealander, who began his career as a lawyer before working on yachts.
“Coming to Turkey you’ve still got the benefit of price but absolutely we and other Turkish yards are knocking on the Italian price. But in terms of customisation, the makers’ list, the designers we’re working with, as well as just the expertise in Turkey, that price is certainly justified, although the market is taking a little while to adjust and to get used to that. We’re a very financially secure shipyard which also helps.”
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It is a sentiment that is shared by Zahit Oğurlu, administrative director of AK Yacht, a Turkish shipyard in the Kocaeli Free Zone, which recently announced a confidential new-build project of more than 100m.
“Every year Turkish shipyards are becoming more visible and better known in terms of quality, price and after-sales,” Oğurlu tells us.
Ali Onger, chief commercial officer of Istanbul-based Sirena Yachts, insists Turkey is turning heads. “People who would typically go to a northern European yacht … they are aware that Turkey has good quality as well,” he says.
Axioma is Dunya’s showpiece yacht.
The change in attitudes is largely down to the word of brokers who have built more and more yachts in Turkey and spread the message. “They’re our biggest advocates,” says Kershaw. “They’re the ones out there talking to the majority of the owners of the world and thanks to them, it’s much easier now.”
He adds: “Politically, too, some people have concerns about Turkey but once we sit down and talk to these clients and get them in the door, all the concerns go. That’s the big shift we’re seeing in Turkey is people are just open to come and have a chat.”
He cites a recent instance where a broker asked for a design to present to a client. The client had been adamant they wanted to use an Italian facility, but Kershaw says the broker insisted on sending designs from two Turkish yards as well, saying, “These guys are the real deal”.
‘Kick-ass boat’
Dunya is proud of Axioma, which Kershaw describes as “still the best 70m-plus yacht to come out of Turkey” and its new champion King Benji, built for American entrepreneur Josh Golder.
“We hadn’t done a sub 500 GT before, we didn’t have much interest, but it’s such a cool design from Greg Marshall so we said, absolutely, we’re going to do it. And now the interest in that size is flying,” says Kershaw.
“What clients want to see is a really kick-ass boat, which is fully unique and quite clearly built for a specific owner.
“We love working with owners like that who want to do something different.
“It makes it harder to sell on, for sure. But clients understand that and when they’ve got the money, they want something unique.”
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Looking ahead, Kershaw describes the market as a “healthy”, albeit with prices “correcting”, and like many is interested to see if a change in the White House “brings a bit of confidence back”.
“One concern is the price suppliers are charging is going up and up all the time, but the biggest problem facing the entire industry is the supply of labour,” he says. “We’re building more and more yachts globally, especially in Turkey, but our labour force isn’t increasing at the same rate.
“The next generation just aren’t coming up wanting to be craftsmen, welders, things like that.”
Overall, Dunya is excited by the demand it is experiencing for larger yachts with bold designs.
“It’s a lot more fun for us if we’re doing something really cool and unique and we’re starting to see those clients come our way,” says Kershaw. “If we put pen to paper to the two large projects we’re designing at the moment, that’ll be two amazing yachts to show the world.”
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