Cantieri di Pisa presents the new range at Cannes

Cantieri di Pisa scored a huge success with its press conference at the Cannes Yachting Festival, which provided the ideal opportunity to report on the results achieved and future goals of the brand created in 1945 and now owned by Enrico Gennasio. The new management, in charge of the company since 2021, has invested €6 million to expand the shipyard’s production facilities, buoyed by an order book worth almost €30 million.

Also presented at the boat show, the Akhir line designed by Antonio Luxardo combines the DNA of an iconic boat with some highly innovative features. The first model to be launched on the market will be Akhir 44.

During the press conference held by Cantieri di Pisa at the Cannes Yachting Festival, the company’s CEO Marco Massabò, who has a background in the world of sailing yachts, looked back over the ground covered by the new owner since 2021 – the expansion of the production facilities, the presentation of the Polaris and Saturno lines and the sale of CdP Custom Division’s first explorer – and unveiled the third line, Akhir, which has been redesigned to meet the needs of modern owners while staying true to the brand’s historical legacy.

Right from the outset, the goal of the new management team has been to restore the shipyard, which has made a mark in Italian yachting history with the construction of over 700 boats and is now owned by Enrico Gennasio, to its pioneering role as an innovator and showcase of Made in Italy excellence throughout the world. The first step in achieving this goal has been the investment since 2021 of €6 million to expand and modernize the production facilities. The Shipyard now occupies a total area of 50,000 square metres, while the refit area covers 24,000 square metres.

In parallel with work to expand the production facilities, the new management headhunted Antonio Luxardo to fulfil the shipyard’s mission, assigning him the role of chief designer with the task of balancing the brand’s historical heritage and new future direction, as well as of keeping a razor-sharp focus on technological innovation and the environmental impact of production processes. The desire to create new types of boat to cater to the needs of various market segments was behind the decision to offer three ranges, with the presentation so far of Polaris 48, Saturno 56, and finally Akir 44. The focus of design work was on weight and an innovative EHPH Power Fin hull type.

The Shipyard has a total of six construction slots for boats up to 56 metres in length. Two boats are under construction at present: the 80 Veloce, a 24-metre carbon fibre yacht that can reach 60 knots and will be launched in six months’ time, and a 37.50-metre technological explorer with a steel hull and composite superstructure developed by the CDP Custom division (design and engineering by Marcelo Penna) and scheduled for launch in summer 2026.

Thanks in part to these projects, Cantieri di Pisa can boast a 2024 order book worth a healthy €27 million, including new builds (17 million) and refits (10 million). In 2021, the first year of the new ownership, sales stood at €3 million, rising to 3.5 million the following year and 4 million in 2023.

Akhir 44

The Akhir line, which has become a brand within the brand, is a range that has evolved while retaining certain signature features and may be regarded as one of the world’s longest living boats. Cantieri di Pisa has decided to create a new range characterised by the same recognisability and identity to keep this bond between past and future alive.

In keeping with the Yard’s DNA, a number of distinctive features of this famous line have been retained, including the sleek lines of the deckhouse, the strip windows featured on the hull sides, the “shark-like” decoration on the bow, the horizontal-grid air intakes and the black and white livery accenting the line’s identity.

The first model in the range to be launched on the market, the 44, will have a vacuum-moulded carbon fibre composite hull and superstructure. The yacht has an EHPH Power Fin hull like the other models in the three ranges.