Empire Marine International, the Dubai-based boat, yacht and marine products manufacturer and distributor, is entering the Indian market, a top executive of the company said.
The company has entered into a joint venture (JV) deal with Kerala-based Greenix to manufacture traditional boats and house boats, while Empire Marine will undertake manufacturing of modern, stylish fibre-based boats, speed boats and yachts on its own.
“Empire Marine has exclusive tie-ups with an Italian company and a Ukranian company for manufacturing of boats. The manufacturing facilities for both – our own and the joint venture – will be based in Kochi,” C K Hussain, managing director, Empire Marine International LLC, told Arabian Business.
“India has facilities for manufacturing of ships but lack facilities for manufacturing of modern, stylish boats and yards. Our effort is to fill this gap as we see tremendous potential for these products in the Indian market,” Hussain, who is based out of Dubai, added.
Empire Marine’s joint venture with Greenix will also provide docking yards and leasing of yachts and speed boats.
“Our joint venture will manufacture both traditional Kerala boats as well as the houseboats which are quite popular in Kerala among tourists,” Stalin Baby, director of Empire Greenix Ventures Ltd, the JV between Empire Marine and Greenix, told Arabian Business.
The joint venture also plans to set up a number of boat yards in and around Kochi for providing docking services to corporate and private yacht and boat owners in the state, as well as creating a major hub for parking of houseboats in Kochi, Stalin said.
“We will provide many of these services with active assistance of the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC),” he added.
Empire Marine will hold a 51 percent stake, while Greenix will hold the remaining 49 percent stake in the joint venture. The company hopes to achieve a 3-5 year sales revenue target of $20-$25 million.
“Though initially our focus will be the Kerala and nearby markets, we plan to go pan India soon to market our products,” Stalin said.
“We are already negotiating with tourist department officials of some of the states like Odisha for providing our services and products. We are also receiving enquiries from government and private players from other states for similar services,” he added.
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