‘Aluminium porn’ demand outstrips supply

Catherine Beard discovers an export business built on good old-fashioned Kiwi pride and workmanship.
In true Kiwi innovative style, Surtees Boats began in a country shed when Neil Surtees built a boat for himself. He wanted something that would cut through surf and still provide a stable platform to fish from. Demand soon took off as locals noticed how impressively his boat handled the sea.
A highly promising business was soon born, and while it’s still located on Neil’s land in Kawerau, it has grown to employ 40 people and is attracting orders from around the world at such a pace that the company’s biggest challenge is how to scale up fast enough to meet demand.
Toni Palmer, chair of the board of directors of Surtees Boats, says the product has taken off due to its high quality finish, which boaties just fall in love with. “I’ve been at trade shows in Australia and seen men come up and literally drool over the welding, engineering and finish of our boats – one even referred to it as ‘aluminium porn’!
“They are precision, handmade boats, and can be customised for each client. One welder makes the boats from the ground up and signs it – like a work of art. We have a fantastic team of skilled staff who take pride in the boats they make.”
The business has had its challenges. It was one of the first to be hit by the recession. “Orders just suddenly dried up,” recalls Toni. “So all six shareholders called a meeting and came up with a strategy to overcome the recession. It included reducing our staff and we introduced a new, affordable entry-level boat. The market loved them and we sold 90 in the first year. As the recession has eased, demand for our bigger boats has increased to a point that we can’t keep up with it!
“At present, we can manufacture 300 boats a year, and since February we are 200 boats behind in meeting our orders. So we are busy working out how to scale up manufacturing capacity.”
Neil is still a shareholder in the business and has input into the design of the boats, which is his expertise. The original boat was called ‘Cunning Plan’, and today’s boats still have Surtees’s “secret weapon” of a self-filling ballast tank system, but have evolved over time to reach premium quality status.
Toni says what she enjoys most about her work with Surtees is the appreciation that customers have for their products. “Nobody has to have a boat; they choose them because they simply love them and appreciate just what a quality product they are.”
You only have to look at Surtees Boats’ Facebook page to get a feel for the pride and passion exuding from their customers here and overseas. It’s easy to see why this great little business won the Emerging Exporter category at the BNZ Bay of Plenty ExportNZ Awards. I look forward to watching the Surtees success continue around the world.

Catherine Beard is executive director of ExportNZ.