Trump tariffs prompt top SA boat builder to partly shift production to the US

One of South Africa’s top boatbuilding yards is relocating part of its production  / outfitting process to the US to minimise the impact of Trump tariffs. 

Award-winning Hammer Yachts, a US-SA joint venture that manufactures power catamarans from 9m -15m in Cape Town, plans to shift the outfitting of its next build to the US on a trial basis, with more to come if this proves beneficial. 

However, the company says the move may turn out to be beneficial to South Africa if it leads to bigger volumes, with the essential production of the hull / deck / structure remaining in SA and the outfitting being done in the source market (mostly US) 

“In that way our import burden is much less because we import just the structure, the shell,” Pieter Wiersema told Cape Chamber at the Victoria and Alfred last week where the company has just launched the first of a new model. “That is what we will do with one of the next boats just as a test case because it might be interesting for us. It could also allow us to build a few more boats a year if we don’t have to finish them here.”  

“It could benefit South Africa as well,” Wiersema said. 

The move comes amid concerns among local boat builders for whom the US market is by far the biggest export market.

The South African Boat Builders Export Council, which forms part of the Cape Chamber’s Network of Networks, is lobbying to have boats added the list of SA products currently exempted from the 30% US import tariff.  

Previously SA boats were tariff exempt in terms of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which expired last month.