Sealegs turns the corners with latest export shipment

Thursday 15th October 2009

A fleet of 10 specially constructed Sealegs amphibious boats destined for Malaysia have taken their final pre-delivery sea-trials on Auckland Harbour, underlining the growing export demand for New Zealand's unique land and sea craft invention.

The boats comprise eight ‘Red' fire and rescue boats ordered by the Malaysian Fire Department and a further two ‘Grey' military boats for commando applications.

Sealegs Chief Executive David McKee Wright said today the shipment of boats, worth in excess of $1.5 million, was due to arrive in Malaysia in early November and the company was in discussions with other Malaysian Government departments, including the Ministry of Defence.

"The market for these boats in the Far East is enormous and we anticipate that in time the Red and Grey boats will exceed sales of our ‘White' recreational boats.

Sealegs has now sold 400 boats to 22 different countries "we are no longer at the ‘experimental' or ‘start-up' stage and we believe we are now moving towards achieving the critical mass which we have always sought".

Wright said that after a sales slump due to the recession, earlier in the year, the last few months had seen a sudden and somewhat unexpectedly rapid recovery with orders for 18 recreational boats and four boats ordered by the Mumbai Police, with total forward orders standing at 46 boats, worth $5 million in forward revenue.

India is another market with particular potential. The company was looking forward to the prospect of both India and Malaysia signing free trade agreements with New Zealand in the near future.

Wright said that the Prime Minister, John Key, had recently visited the Sealegs headquarters at Albany and they had discussed the desirability of the free trade agreements with those countries.

Another breakthrough has been the rise in international sales activity, with the United Kingdom Sealegs distributor, Amphibious (UK) Ltd signing a contract to purchase a minimum of $2 million worth of boats over the next 12 months.

Wright said the Malaysian boats had come through the final pre-delivery sea-trials perfectly and were now destined for shipping containers to be loaded for despatch to their new Malaysian owners.

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