Canadian builder aims to double its size
WHITBY, Ontario, Canada – Canadian catamaran builder PDQ Yachts is opening a new production facility in North Carolina to support an aggressive expansion strategy, according to an article today in The Globe and Mail.
PDQ’s president, Simon Slater, told the newspaper that the company wants to double its size over the next two years, partly by delivering boats year-round, something difficult to accomplish in Canada.
The luxury yacht builder’s 75 employees currently make about 25 boats per year. But due to the boats’ size, which eliminates trucking as a method of delivery, boats built in the winter have to be stored until Lake Ontario melts in the spring, according to the newspaper.
The company’s $3-million Edenton, N.C. plant, now under construction, will solve that problem and will stem the erosion of the boat builder’s profit margins due to a rising Canadian dollar, the newspaper explained.
PDQ plans to use its North Carolina location to build its high-volume 34 Powercat, while the Whitby factory will build the Antares sailboat and the two bigger versions of the Powercat expected to be launched in the future.
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