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Norsemen
Shipyard, Ltd. |
Look below for dated news from
Norsemen Shipyard, Ltd.
Located about 750 kilometers north of Hong Kong, near
the beautiful and prosperous city of Xiamen, in mainland China we have built perhaps the finest
yacht manufacturing facility in the world. Situated next door to a
National Park, the surrounding land and water are beautiful and pristine. We are
the first industry selected to participate in a "Green" environment
and we have built our new factory keeping the environment in mind. We have
developed extensive crushed granite beds under beautiful landscaping that
collect all on site water, whether from rain, factory operations or washing of
boats. This water is filtered through granite beds and directed to huge 100,000
gallon cisterns where it is stored and then reused for irrigating our gardens,
landscaping and our orchards planted on the 30 acre oceanfront site.
We allow nothing to contaminate our grounds, the air or
the water. We consider that we are stewards of this great earth we are blessed
with and take our responsibility seriously.
We believe that we are the most modern yacht factory in
Asia. We have selected the site due to several clear advantages. Among them are:
- Closest point of shipment for support suppliers in
the region.
- Proximity to a rapidly growing port capable of
handling our imports and exports.
- A countryside environment, that provides for
abundant and reliable labor with natural skills to do our type of work.
- Full support of the government and surrounding area.
- A beautiful environment located directly on the
water.
For more information on Norsemen
Shipyard please go to
http://www.norsemenshipyard.com
June 2009
The news from Marlow Norsemen Shipyard is a picture of a busy and
healthy enterprise charting steady growth in every respect. Our
buildings remain filled with yachts under construction with eleven
currently underway, one at the port to be shipped and one just offloaded
in Hamburg Germany for its new owner. In Florida, we have just delivered
several with four christenings at our Ocean Reef Rendezvous. Inside the
molds we are busy preparing them for our proprietary Full Stack
Infusion©.
 On the facility front line, we have just completed a new manufacturing
building of brick that boasts over six large bays of 150’ depth by 32’
of width each, thus bringing the total under roof to about 300,000
square feet. Above, 40 feet of overhead with both natural and energy
efficient lighting allow working around the clock, while Ten Horsepower
electric squirrel cage fans change the air each ten minutes of
operation, removing dust in the process. Overhead cranes capable of
lifting a 150’ long hull or deck span the complete overhead so that a
deck or hull can be lifted over another and placed in any of the six
bays.
The new building also provides four separate floors for small parts,
carpentry and other custom fabrications so that they can be placed
aboard at convenient heights and locations. A ten ton freight elevator
provides heavy lifting to any floor and is accessible to load inside the
building or ready to receive parts from an over the road lorry as well.
On the rooftop above the small parts fabrication area, a flower and
vegetable garden is planned to reduce the heat from the roof and provide
additional fresh food for the workers. We are considering the most
efficient type of solar or other alternative energy sources for the
future to power the various equipment in use.
Outside we have begun assembly of the new 175 Ton mobile hoist that will
allow us to directly haul or launch up to 150’ into the China Sea.
Currently we are limited to about 100 feet maximum via our unique
railway system that ferries our boats from production to the testing
tank, and then to the final make ready area and finally launching them
into the sea behind the massive granite breakwater we built stone by
stone.
On the grounds spring has finally come to Chi Hu Valley after a long and
unusually cool winter accompanied by very high winds that brought ocean
salts with them, soaking our landscaping and causing an unusually brown
winter considering the thousands of plantings, shrubs, Eucalyptus,
Camphor and other trees we planted as decoration for the beautiful vista
we enjoy.
The 500 teak trees planted last year have survived a severe test and
after the past few days of spring rains have produced tiny new dark
green bulbs that will turn into nearly one foot square leaves that are
the trademark of Burmese Teak trees. Already many of the little saplings
have reached a height of 4-5 feet. It is hard to imagine now, but in
just a few years, these majestic trees will shade several acres of understory and tame the fierce winter winds that occasionally blow
through on their way from Siberia to the Philippine Islands.
Next door the local fishing villagers have repainted their colorful
boats and are seen coming and going daily. Some to far away locations in
search of the delicacies they bring to market, while others work local
traps over the undersea mountains that dot the China sea in front of our
facility.
 At the VIP center, located about 8 miles up the Chi Hu River, the
landscaping is already well along with vegetable produce being eaten
daily and our organic summer garden is well on its way to providing 100%
of our vegetable needs. The fruit orchard has a magnificent bloom of
Lychee, Dragoneye, citrus, pear, peaches and other delights, while the
banana patch just below my apartment window has the bees excitedly
dipping nectar for the hives. The valley is a lush green with the river
framing the rice paddy delta that extends to the base of black granite
spires rising abruptly to a height of over 300 feet just 400 yards from
the rivers bank.
Though the world outside is reacting to the excesses of the greedy on
Wall Street and Main Street, there is a calm but purposeful air about us
here.
Considering all, Life is Good.
January 2009
I am seated in the engineering area at
Marlow Norsemen Shipyard on a cold and very windy night, December 5,
2008. Another year draws to a close, to be followed by the excitement of
the annual Miami Boat Show in February near Valentine’s Day.
It is full darkness now on the China
Sea, with the Ocean wild with White Horses charging ashore, Southbound
and crashing over the top of sixty feet tall Granite headlands one mile
at sea. A surfers dream crashes one after the other onto the beach,
rolling the aboriginal fishing fleet from gunwale to gunwale. A young
moon has painted a million diamonds on the rough sea.
On shore there are four new Marlow
Explorers that must be loaded on a ship that is just undergoing its own
maiden sea trials in Xiamen, fresh from the China Shipbuilding factory
there. Our voyage will be its maiden one and it seems fitting that we
will cover its decks that from now on will carry 1200 containers to
ports all over the world. After we discharge in Port Everglades the
Motor Ship MEKONG RIVER is headed for Savannah for its first load of
containers to be ferried across to Germany.
The factory is incredibly busy now,
but then it always is and for that we are fortunate, as many in the
marine industry struggle to survive. We intend to continue to develop
new products, responsive to changing needs and times. In fact we just
put the finishing touches on what will be a very significant new entrée
into the yachting world.
We are nearly finished with a new
laminating and large-yacht-construction building, able to build up to
150 feet within its doors, while offering another 15,000 square feet of
laminating space to our fiberglass production department. This talented
work-force does its magic in Full Stack Infusion©, our own proprietary
developed system, to laminate the entire hull in one shot by opening a
valve in lieu of a horde of mop and bucket wielding crews nearly
overcome by typical styrene emissions. Our workers work without need of
a respirator or gloves in this exciting and exotic technology, while
emitting no toxic Ozone depleting chemicals into the atmosphere. Why
doesn’t every company do the same? Because it is an expensive and time
consuming learning curve and require substantial capital investment in
tools and training. They will, if they survive, when you, the
public, demand they be responsible to the earth and build better yachts.
Until then they will pollute and build your boat with mops and buckets
of gooey low tech resin and garden variety fiber reinforcing fabrics.
 In
the R&D department we are bending, breaking and testing all manner of
materials, looking for a better way tomorrow. We are by no means
perfect, but we endeavor every day to build better products in every way
we can. We value our workers and their health, refusing to erect some
shed in a business park or worse, a bamboo framed tarpaulin covered shop
like we have seen more than once. We feed them great food, delicious
organics whenever possible, many raised by us. Our VIP center now is
100% organic vegetables and we are heading for 100% organic period. We
purchase nearly all our seafood from the native aboriginal fishing
village next door, as fresh as it can get. In so doing we convert our
needs into capital for a bustling community more prosperous than any
time in their 1000 year plus history. The vegetables we cannot supply in
adequate quantity yet, we purchase from local farms in Chi Hu Valley and
they are delicious, beautiful and nutritious.
Our teak farm is alive, well and
growing beautifully to replenish the oxygen and to assure a steadily
growing supply of the world’s most noble woods. While I may not be on
this ball to see them harvested in a sustainable manner, the earth can
use the oxygen, shade and soil replenishment they provide.
Marlow Norsemen Shipyard is a
responsible member of the world business community, respected and
awarded routinely for superior practices from husbandry of the world’s
precious resources to technological breakthroughs once thought
impossible. We have been awarded the prestigious title of Best Design
and Functionality for both 70 and 86 foot yachts two years in
a row and won the first ever Environmental Award from Yachts
International.
January 2009
Michael Huang is named Chief
Operating Officer of Marlow Norsemen Shipyard.
Huang Ming Chung, better known to us
as Michael Huang, has been with me since almost the beginning of Marlow
Yachts. My good fortune began when I flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to
inspect and interview a yacht building company owned by Volvo Asia as a
possible candidate to build the yet to be born Marlow Explorer lineup or
possibly to buy the company ourselves.
Michael was in charge of production at
Fadara Yachts, as it was called then. To limit his duties to that would
not take into account his value to the company when I observed his
"presence" in the factory or in the offices. It was obvious to me that
whenever possible, Michael made things happen.
I met Michael upon arrival and by the
time an hour had passed I had made up my mind that he could and should
be both an integral part of our plans and my friend as well. I liked him
immediately, finding him well versed in yacht building, customer care
and a host of other areas. Well versed in International politics, the
nuances of our industry and constantly trying to improve the area and
circumstances surrounding him. Michael is a perfect gentleman, polite
and good natured, while having the soul of a tiger.
Though I did not buy the company due
to a less favorable business climate than others offered, I did enjoy
Malaysia in general and found the Klang Valley region attractive. After
a road trip through Malaysia and onward to Singapore, New Zealand,
Australia, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Myanmar and India, I had several
possibilities under way but Michael’s talents kept coming to the
forefront. Upon making my decision as to where the first Marlows would
be built, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a communication from
Michael advising me that he had visited the beach on the eastern side of
Malaysia and the Northeast trades shouted to him that he should come
with me in my new venture, that it was to be his final place of
employment.
I hired Michael and he is Marlow
Yachts' first and therefore oldest employee. My initial appraisal of his
talents was very optimistic but he has exceeded that; in fact he has
continued to amaze me with his tireless work ethic and ability, while
keeping harmony among all. Michael is well liked by everyone who meets
him and most accommodating to any and all. Our customers tell us often
of how appreciative they are for his assistance in all matters. Many of
them refer to him as David’s Chinese son and I am proud to see it that
way. Our time together is always productive, fun and stimulating,
whether he is teaching me about the flora and fauna of Asia, making me
an exotic wild plant or animal dish in the wok, or discussing world
politics.
Many people see Michael and me
traveling about the world and I suspect that we have probably been
invited into more potential business partnerships than anyone else on
earth. The ventures range from plastics manufacturing, distribution
networks, real estate ventures, yacht building and numerous other areas.
Michael has since the beginning been
Head of Asian Operations, answering directly to me and he remains so
today but his duties have just become more diverse, as he has been named
Chief Operating Officer, or Managing Director of Marlow Norsemen
Shipbuilding as well.
I cannot imagine anyone more capable
as we move Marlow Norsemen into the future. Michael is a qualified
engineer, Naval Architect and a free thinker in business as well as
problematic minutia that would stop others. Michael has been with me
every step as we have continuously showed the fleet our heels in
technology and tomorrow’s yacht building.
Michael is married, with two children,
both of whom I enjoy visits with. One day I hope they too will decide to
mess around with boats.
PLEASE
VISIT THE
NORSEMEN SHIPYARD LTD WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION AND
ARCHIVED ARTICLES.
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