History of the company
Fjord was founded in 1960 in Arendal, Norway, and has been manufacturing yachts in fiberglass composite. According to the idea of Alf Richard Bjercke, the founder of the shipyard, these were strong, reliable sailing yachts for coastal cruising. Already in the late 60's the shipyard took a leading position in the North European market, but the oil crisis in the early 70's hit the growth rate of the company, which at that time had several factories in Norway. Lower demand for boats led to a contraction of the business, during the following years the company underwent a series of owner changes and mergers with other companies until it became part of the Hanse Group in 2005. In 2008, the company presented its new model Fjord 40 Open at an exhibition in Düsseldorf, which won the "European Powerboat of the Year 2008" award. Since then, a new phase of brand development has begun, which contributes significantly to the financial performance of the Hanse Group.
Model range
Within the Hanse structure, the Fjord brand has taken up the niche of high-speed sailing yachts for use in coastal waters. In Fjord's line of open cockpit yachts that can be used, among other things, as tenders for superyachts. Speeds of 30-40 knots are a common feature of the brand. In addition to this, the company offers a huge range of options, color options and finishes. Online configurator allows the future owner to get his unique Fjord. Production of Fjord is located in Germany, the company has a dealer network in more than 30 countries.
Fight against plagiarism
The unique design that British designer Patrick Banfield is creating for the shipyard has made Fjord very recognisable and has set certain trends in the development of the direction. The direction turned out to be so promising that some of the competitors tried to produce models in the same style. So, in the beginning of 2018 HanseYachts achieved an injunction to build and sell Pardo 43 series boats by the Italian shipyard Cantiere del Pardo, the design of which was similar to Fjord 42.
Features
Owners of the shipyard assure that one of the main advantages of Fjord, apart from design and dynamic performance, is low depreciation of the boats compared to other brands. So, according to their data, if the average price of a yacht in the first year drops by 20% and in the following years by 5-10%, these figures for Fjord are about 6% in the first 4 years of operation. According to the shipyard, Fjord is very much in demand in the aftermarket and is sold quickly.
