Luc Jurien, the new CEO of Alubat, who took over on October 10, 2021, answers questions from BoatIndustry.
What is your career path that has brought you to the head of the Alubat shipyard today?
I have an engineering background, with a generalist training and a specialization in business management and electrical engineering project management. I spent about ten years in the industry with Cegelec and Assystem on building projects, at Caîre or the extension of Roissy airport for example. At the same time, I have always had a foot in sailing, sailing with my parents who used to charter a 75-foot sailing boat, the Sérénité, with which they toured the world. That's when I started sailing on big expedition boats. After 10 years in the industry, I sailed around the world in 2 years with my wife on a Garcia maracudja, the Tiamanga, via Cape Horn. We did some chartering to get the pot boiling, but in total, more than 30% of pure sailing. Back in France, I worked in a small company between 2008 and 2012, AMDP, as technical and commercial director. We were making tooling and special machines for the aeronautics and automotive industries. At the end of 2009, we bought an Ovni 56. The refit-reconstruction project lasted 3 years. We added a lookout, redid the layout, closed the rear cockpit. Then we did expedition charters with our family for 8 years, mainly in the Pacific, south, Alaska and Canada. We stopped for a year in Vancouver between September 2019 and 2020, to give more stability to our oldest daughter's request. I was working there for Blue Water Rigging which did boat maintenance and commissioning. We finally decided to return to France, after a year where life in port with school on board had become burdensome for my family, and arrived in July 2021.
And why come to Alubat?
The idea had matured while finishing our sailing. I did 10 years in business and 10 years on the water. I wanted to combine the two professionally. I started to make contacts before returning either for a company takeover or a project as an employee in the field. I met people in the summer and at the Cannes exhibition. I didn't really want to go into composites and I really focused on aluminum and travel. I met Michel Berson (editor's note: the president of Alubat) and there was the opportunity of this handover with Hakim Rahmoun who wanted to leave for personal reasons.
What is your roadmap for Alubat?
I'm following in the footsteps of Hakim for the yard. Alubat has resumed in a good way with a full order book. The Ovni 370 is off to a good start. There are a few projects, some of which have already been mentioned, such as the relaunch of the collaboration with Finot on the Cigale 15. We will try to continue the development, in particular to produce better. There has already been a step forward, but we can continue. We are lucky to have owners who are loyal to the brand and who give us feedback to improve the boats.
Industrially, what is Alubat's production? What are the objectives and are you impacted by the increase in the price of aluminum?
Today, we have 47 employees and produce about 12 boats per year plus the refit activity. I insist on this one to underline that people can give a second youth to their boat. We are not into programmed obsolescence. Secondly, the problem at the moment is general, with delays that are getting longer. Today, we are looking at deliveries at the beginning of 2024. The idea is to find solutions, by hiring and improving the production process. As for the cost of aluminum, we will have to increase the price of the boats at the margin, but aluminum is not so significant in the price of the finished boat, as there is also the labor and equipment. We seem to have reached a plateau. The question is when it will come down again.
