Porsche among motorboats arrives in Novi Sad - Norway's Hydro Design relocates boat manufacture to Serbia

Norway's Hydro Design, manufacturer of top-performance boats, will start the production of motorboats in Novi Sad in October. This Scandinavian company will be manufacturing several different speedboats in Serbia until it starts producing a new, bigger and more luxury model in early 2013, whose price will reach EUR 200,000. As eKapija learns, Hydro Design will relocate the entire production to Serbia, except for its development center.

- Hydro Design has been engaged in the manufacture of vessels in Norway for years now, and we have decided to move a major portion of production to Serbia. What will remain in Norway is a center where we develop new models and design prototypes. One of the reasons why we made this decision is because it is cheaper to operate in Serbia, but we were also guided by positive experiences and our trust in people from Serbia who work at our company. Also, Serbia has a long tradition of shipbuilding, so that we came to a conclusion that it was the right place for our production plant - Sasa Draganovic, co-owner of the company and the production director at Hydro Design Production, says in a talk with eKapija.

The company operates in Norway under the name of Hydro Design, and it is registered in Serbia as Hydro Design Production. As our interlocutor says, the person who holds a 70-percent stake in both companies is Egil Ranvig, boat designer and the winner of numerous awards in high-speed motorboat racing.

The VIP Fund put a lot off effort into attracting this company to Serbia, and Draganovic says they almost moved their production to Poland. After considering locations for its plant in Belgrade, Stara Pazova and Novi Sad, Hydro Design chose the capital of Vojvodina.

Hydro Design will start the manufacture in a rented 1,445 sqm facility at Rimski Sancevi. A five-year lease contract for that facility was signed September 11th between the production director of Hydro Design Production and Goran Bolic, director of the public company Poslovni Prostor, Novi Sad.

- Production will kick off October in a rented facility. Complete technology and equipment will be moved from our factory in Norway, so that we will not incur expenses that are typical for the start of manufacture. We are going to invest EUR 1 million in the factory in Serbia. The plan is also to build a production plant spanning between 4 and 5 thousand square meters in the near future, which will be adapted to fit the needs of such production - Draganovic explains.

In the initial period of production, Hydro Design Production will rely on the import of certain components until they establish a cooperation with partners in Serbia.

- We are looking for partner companies in Serbia to produce spare parts for our vessels in line with our quality criteria. We will first hire eight workers, five of whom have already completed a training in Norway in order to be able to lead other employees later. The aim is to employ a total of 25 people by 2014.

Hydro Design Production plans to manufacture 45 boats in the first year of operations in Serbia, while the production capacity will later be increased to 100 boats a year. The main buyers of motorboats will be people from Scandinavian countries and Russia.

- We will be producing five models of boats. These are all sports boats, that is, speedboats under the common name of "Cormate," which means "the closest friend". Models SP 21, SP 24, SP 27, as well as T24 and T27, will be manufactured in Novi Sad. The price of motorboats ranges from EUR 50,000 to EUR 150,000, and they can move at the speed of 160 km/h.

As our interlocutor announces, the production of a new and more luxury model of motorboat - "Cormate T35", will start by 2014.

- A prototype of the new model has been designed in Norway, while its production will start in Serbia. This boat will be like a Porsche or Ferrari in the automotive industry. "Cormate" motorboats feature a room, kitchen, bathroom and many other amenities – Draganovic points out.

Hydro Design has not yet precisely determined the price for the new luxury boat, but it should range between 200,000 and 220,000 euros.

Suzana Obradovic