Is the boat harbour already benefiting our town?

Whakatāne boatbuilder Glenn Shaw says the new boat harbour has started bringing additional jobs and opportunities to Whakatāne before it has even been built.

“It’s wonderful news for Whakatāne,” he told the Beacon.

“There’s been people trying to get a marina built for Whakatāne since the mid-1970s.”

“I know there’s a few doubters, but it’s environmentally friendly and there’s a lot of jobs that will come out of it.”

Glenn Shaw with representatives from the project partners on the day the Minister Hon Stuart Nash visited the site in August this year.

“They’ve given some predictions about what they might be, and I agree that it’s completely achievable.”

He said his business, Extreme Boats, had already taken on more staff and was training a lot of apprentices. “We train two groups of about 12 apprentices two days a week. They’re all local people, a lot of them Ngāti Awa.”

Extreme boats, located just outside town, has been building aluminium trailer boats for the last 20 years and has already developed a second brand, Legacy Marine, building larger 30-to70-foot luxury motor yachts.

He said customers had paid deposits on seven Legacy boats before marketing had even begun.

It was work that Whakatāne would have missed out on if the boat harbour, with its boat lift, was not going to go ahead, as that side of the business couldn’t operate without a facility of this nature.

“We actually looked at shifting it to Tauranga, where there’s endless marinas and travel lifts and servicing facilities.

“It reduces the cost of getting the boats to the water, but it also improves the workability and our ability to service them once they’re on the water. And to teach that work in Whakatāne.”

“I can’t emphasise enough what a fantastic thing it is for Whakatāne. The construction alone is massive. It’s fully funded, there’s no cost to Whakatāne locals, the land is not really used for anything much at the moment. It’s a win-win thing really.”

This story appeared in the Whakatāne Beacon and is reproduced with permission and thanks.