The Greek goddess of the moon, Selene, lends her name to Selene Yachts. Taiwanese architect Dr Da-Hong Wang established Selene Yachts as a yacht manufacturing company to commemorate the Apollo 11 moon landing. They chose the name to symbolise the lunar exploration mission of the Apollo project.
The company started in Taiwan with a shipyard in Dongguan, China, because this was where they had access to high-quality materials for creating luxurious yacht interiors, such as wood, veneers, fabrics, granite, and glass. They also had access to skilled workers and an ideal climate for fibreglass lamination. Selene Yachts opened its Dongguan shipyard in 1998, and delivered its first yacht to the United States in 1999.
Bigger and better
In 2008, the company then expanded and opened a new shipyard in Zhuhai, located near Macau, approximately 70 miles from Dongguan. Howard Chen, a student of Dr. Da-Hong Wang, played a significant role in designing the new facility, including the landscape and buildings.
The Zhuhai shipyard includes two large workshops (A & B), each covering approximately 150,000 sq ft. Workshop B is a significant production facility with four cranes capable of lifting 100 tons. It is one of the largest single-production shops in Asia and can accommodate many moulds or boats under construction.
This expansion to Zhuhai allowed Selene Yachts to enhance their production capabilities further and increase their manufacturing capacity. The facilities are located on the water, making it easy to water test. There are also plans to build an anchoring dock in Zhuhai as well.
Selene Yachts built the smaller yachts in Dongguan and the larger ones in Zhuhai. Altogether, the company produced almost 400 boats in these two shipyards ranging from 38-103 feet over the past 20 years.
The move to waters new
In 2017, however, the decision was made to consolidate the production of all yachts in Zhuhai. Subsequently, Selene Yachts moved all their moulds, tooling, and staff to Zhuhai during the latter half of 2017. The yard is now one of the best-equipped and largest-scale shipyards building FRP yachts worldwide and can build up to a hundred vessels per year!
It’s interesting to see how the company’s growth and development have been influenced by its origins in Taiwan. This is evident in its dedication to providing high-quality yachts to customers worldwide.
Howard Chen remains intimately involved with every project and likes nothing better than coming up with new ideas. If you decide to buy a new Selene yacht, you can be sure that you’ll get very personal attention from the Selene team….