Shipyards rarely lead with their machinery order. ENATA just did. The UAE group behind the Foiler is spending USD 20 million on the production line for a new Abu Dhabi complex: high-precision robots, gantry systems, micron-accuracy machines and metal 3D printing. That figure covers the tooling alone — the building costs extra. It tells you what ENATA thinks it is actually making: aerospace-grade hardware that happens to float.
All that precision exists for what sits in the renders — a 28-metre foiling yacht called Ghost, the boat the plant is built to serialise.
A plant built around one product
Construction in Abu Dhabi starts in summer 2026, the facility opens in 2027, and it takes over as ENATA's global headquarters. The site is a 100,000-square-metre plot along 200 metres of waterfront, with more than 20,000 square metres for marine production. There's a dry dock and refit capacity for yachts up to 60 metres, separate halls for aerospace and automotive work, and a guest experience centre. ENATA is putting an incubator and an academy on the same site too.
The existing yard in Sharjah already runs five-axis robots, milling machines and clean rooms. Abu Dhabi scales that up: build the foiling architecture in-house, on robots, at volume.
Ghost, on paper
Ghost is still a concept — an unbuilt platform with a render set and a 2029 launch date for the first hull. Construction of that first unit should begin within 12 to 18 months of the November 2025 unveiling at the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show. So what follows is design intent, not a sea trial.
The numbers carry the pitch. Ghost is built in carbon fibre and titanium, with an 8-metre beam that fans out to roughly 20 metres once the foils deploy. It's engineered to fly about two metres above the surface, with a 40-plus-knot top speed and a 30-to-35-knot cruise. Inside, there's around 133 square metres of interior living area excluding cabins, plus a 52-square-metre exterior deck and an aft beach club close to the water. Cabin layouts run from three to five.
The case for foils at 28 metres
Foiling has spent the last decade in two places: the America's Cup and small day-boats. ENATA's own Foiler proved it works on a tender-sized hull. Ghost argues it scales to a full-size motor yacht.
The promise is comfort as much as speed — lifting the hull clear of the chop instead of slamming through it.
Alois Vieujot, CEO, ENATA Group:“Foiling transforms the experience of yachting. At 40 knots, passengers can move freely, speak in hushed tones, and enjoy a completely smooth, stable ride.
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That's the bet a USD 20 million robot line is underwriting. Whether the ride matches the render is a 2029 question.
A single-brand vertical play
Look at who's making the move. Exterior design comes from Turkish studio Bozca Design; the foiling architecture and the build are ENATA's, across its Marine, Aerospace and Architecture divisions. One group designs the platform, engineers the foils, and now builds the boats on its own automated line — with aerospace and automotive production going on the same plot.
A Gulf shipyard, not a European yard, is making the serial-production bet on a 28-metre foiling yacht. The machinery spend is the tell: ENATA is industrialising a category that has stayed bespoke and experimental until now.
Timur Bozca frames Ghost more as a structure than a boat. "Ghost is not just a foiling yacht but a high-performance platform shaped by architecture, precision engineering, and purposeful design," he says — which, render or not, is exactly the kind of yacht you build a robot factory to produce.
Photo: Foiler / ENATA — design by Bozca Design (render). Source: Boat International.
