Palmer Johnson Yachts Inc. in Sturgeon Bay announced Thursday it plans to move its manufacturing operation to Europe.
The announcement comes one day after the luxury yachtmaker announced it is closing its Sturgeon Bay manufacturing facilities before the end of the year.
According to a company news release, Palmer Johnson plans to focus on its new carbon composite SuperSport series of yachts.
“There has been strong interest in the SuperSport range and the company will gain significant competitive advantages by building their next generation of yachts in Europe,” the news release states.
The statement goes to say Palmer Johnson “finalized an agreement to take over a shipyard in the Netherlands, and the second PJ48 meter carbon SuperSport hull being built in Norway will be completed in the new facility” in November. A third hull is scheduled for April 2016 and molds for the PJ 42 meter SuperSport are also being manufactured. The company has an order for the first of this model and it is expected to be completed in late 2017.
The company plans to transfer some of its Sturgeon Bay employees to the European facility.
The Sturgeon Bay manufacturing facilities are slated to close later this year when work is completed on its third 170 SportYacht.
Mayor Thad Birmingham called it “a sad day in Sturgeon Bay’s history.” Palmer Johnson was founded in this Door County community in 1918 as Sturgeon Bay Boat Works.
“It’s unfortunate but these things happen from time to time,” Birmingham said during the Sturgeon Bay Noon Rotary Club meeting Thursday. “When I was growing up we had four shipyards in town, and now we’re down to one, which is sad.”
On the other hand, the mayor said, other industries and businesses have added about 1,000 jobs in Sturgeon Bay over the past four or five years.
“The sky won’t fall,” Birmingham said. “This is similar to when we lost PBI (Peterson Builders Inc., in the 1990s), and we’ve managed not only to survive as a community but in some ways we’ve even thrived.”
