During the summer of 1875, the 24-year-old boat builder Friedrich Lürssen laid the foundation stone for the family-run company, which is today among the world’s leading yacht manufacturers. It has more than 1,000 highly qualified staff at its Bremen site and is among Europe’s most renowned systems and equipment traders for new naval ship construction. Over the years, Lürssen has manufactured more than 13,000 boats and ships – all at Bremen shipyards or their North German sister shipyards within the group.
“The history of the shipyard is still closely linked to our own family history and that of many of our staff”
says Friedrich Lürssen, who manages the North Bremen company with his cousin Peter Lürssen.
“The family and staff’s genuine identification with the shipyard business and an informal company structure with tight employee loyalty have always been supporting pillars of our success. In addition to technical expertise and practical skills, high levels of flexibility and strength of innovation among our workforce have been the decisive drivers of growth in our shipyard business as a specialty supplier of high-technology ship construction since the beginning.”
In the 1880s, the shipyard built the REMS Daimler boat – one of the first three motorboats in the world. A few years later, the company became one of Germany’s leading motorboat manufacturers. Under the direction of Friedrich’s son, Otto, the shipyard developed into an innovative manufacturer of prize-winning speedboats. Some years later, the shipyard manufactured its first cruisers for the US market and began developing speedboats for the German Navy.
At the end of the 1980s, Friedrich and Peter decided to intensify the construction and manufacture of individual luxury yachts as a second business activity alongside naval shipbuilding. Today, 25 of the Top 100 yachts have been built by Lürssen (eight within the Top 20) – including Azzam, currently the longest private yacht in the world at 180 metres which took three years to build.
Lürssen’s clients mainly come from Eastern Europe, the Middle East or North America and are all seeking yachts of the utmost quality and magnificence. Michael Breman, the company’s sales director, explains there are many different ways that a client can go about commissioning a custom-made yacht.
“The client either contacts us directly or via a broker/consultant (eg captain) or via a designer. In most cases the client already has specific ideas about his new yacht and in some cases he/she already has a design. Our job is to find out what are the specific needs and wishes of the client.
“If no designer is involved at that early stage we may suggest a designer which in our opinion will fit with the personality of the client and then we begin with the styling of the yacht and with the general arrangement plan/layout. Another important further step is to then find the right interior designer who is able to translate the interior ideas into reality. You have to listen carefully to what the clients requests and then find a way how to realise them. As long as we are able to build the yacht to the safety rules we will do our utmost to realise any wishes.”
Looking to the future, Mr Breman believes that the current trend for yachts to become increasingly technologically savvy, complex, quieter and of course larger, will continue. This means that we can only hazard a guess as to the immense size and endless capabilities of the super-yacht of 2050!
www.lurssen.com
