Report by Merijn de Waard, edit by Rosie McCall
The Italian shipyard Mondo Marine is moving forward; not only by appointing new management and by changing its marketing strategy, but also by launching new superyacht lines. Merijn de Waard caught up with newly appointed managing director Roberto Zambrini to find out more about his position, the company’s direction and the new exciting changes that are taking place at Mondo Marine.
Roberto Zambrini has a long history in the marine industry. He was director of SAIM for 20 years, an important distributor of components for the marine industry in Italy and France. After 20 years he then decided to sell his shares and participate in Sanlorenzo. There he was a minor partner and managing director for two years. In February this year, 55 years of age, he was appointed managing director of Mondo Marine, and he speaks positively about the company’s new chairman Marco Stroppiana and its future growth.
“When I began here I started to immediately re-organize the company. We hired a production director, who is a very skilled guy and he has been working in this market for a long time. He has a good understanding of the costs and he can also manage this area as well as quality. And, of course we need to assure that what is being built is being built at the right cots. Because you can always deliver quality, but if the cost is too high, then you have a problem”.
Zambrini then went on to explain the positive changes that have arisen from new management. “The new chairman of Mondo Marine Marco Stroppiana represents the new generation of Mondo Marine. In the past the company was being active in just a few markets, and this, in my point of view needed to change, because you need to be in the world market if you want to promote the brand. We are here to create value for the company, not only to make a profit with one boat, but rather to create a value tradition”.
Zambrini then spoke further on the changes that the company needs to implement in order to secure a bright future. “Now we need to spread the name and the product Mondo Marine all over the world, because from my point of view Mondo Marine is one of the most well kept secrets in the marine world”.
When SuperYachtTimes.com asked about current and up and coming developments Zambrini spoke of the company’s plans to open many more new offices dispersed in major cities worldwide, the next office to open will be in San Paulo, Brazil. After the summer the company will also open a UK Mondo Marine office based in London.
The economic downturn of recent years has placed a lot of pressure on shipyards, in some cases forcing companies to sell boats below cost price, which gets them into further strife in the long run. However, when SuperYachtTimes.com asked if the crisis meant having to lower prices of boats in order to make sales Zambrini confidently answered that no such thing would occur at Mondo Marine, he explained “In this shipyard it is impossible because the price of boat is set in the budget, which I oversee myself, so, it is impossible for that to happen. But it is a very difficult job, because when you speak with the customer you always have to negotiate a price. For example, we ask for 10 and they offer you 5. And when you say, okay 5, they say 4. So I have to face this kind of market, but on the other side I have to increase the quality. In today’s market it is almost impossible to increase the quality without increasing the costs. So we are managing and negotiating a lot on the supplier’s side. But from my point of view we are in a positive situation because we have a solid shipyard, we are selling boats today, we are building boats and we are delivering another 41m now.”
Despite all these major changes, the most exciting news from Mondo Marine is the launch of a new range of superyachts. Mondo Marine is using top designers for the project, such as Francesco Paszkowski, HOT LAB , Giorgio Vafiadis and Sergio Cutolo Hydro Tec. Zambrini spoke fondly of HOT LAB team, “Hot Lab has a very good chance of success in the future. They are young, fast, they react immediately, they are very professional guys and they are used to working in the international market, I like them very much”.
On a finaly note Roberto Zambrini stated: “we do not want the company to merely survive and make some products, no, we want to make this brand huge and to launch this company and create lasting customer value”.
Mondo Marine
+39 (0)198 28 516
[email protected]
www.mondomarine.it