Created in November 2021, Sangiorgio Marine was put on the map by the impressive second place in Class40 on the Route du Rhum by Italian Ambrogio Beccaria’s innovative Alla Grande Pirelli, designed by Gianluca Guelfi. Since then, the company which was founded and is run by Edoardo Bianchi has gone from strength to strength.
Recent weeks have seen the launch of boat number 2, Influence2, for Andrea Fornaro, number 3 for Alberto Riva is under construction and Edoardo Bianchi confirms that interest from outside of Italy was immediately boosted by Beccaria’s victory in the recent CIC Normandy Channel Race. They are in negotiations with three likely customers.
“Working with Sangiorgio has been great, they are supermotivated and open to different ideas, says Ambrogio Beccaria. I have now done two transats in less than eight months and have had no problems with the boat. The two things which are important in Class40 are weight and righting moment and we are right on the limit on both with a fast reliable boat.”
“The idea of building Class40s was to introduce the yard and myself to the French market looking to start building Imocas and pieces for trimarans. That is the objective”, explains the CEO, who is himself a sailboat racer first and foremost, racing the Tornado for Italy at the Athens and Beijing Olympics before his naval engineering studies. Then he was was responsible at Persico Marine for the construction of the AC75 of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli for the last Americ’as Cup. He adds : “If tomorrow someone comes and asks us to build an Imoca we have all the infrastructure, the tools and the people.”
At Sangiorgio’s extensive waterside facility in the heart of Genoa’s regenerating waterfront and new marina which will next week welcome The Ocean Race finish, Edoardo Bianchi has overseen the installation of their new autoclave which brings their technology offering up to the level he wants to operate at. This new autoclave is 3m in diameter and 9m long so they are now able to build all foils and foil pieces.
In build in the yard at the moment is American Magic’s hydrogen powered foiling chase boat which Sangiorgio are collaborating on with Bluegame. “It is a very complicated project, more complicated than the Cup boats because the hydrogen system and the foiling systems are 100% auto-controlled. It is a great project, very challenging, but it will help highlight our skills to build Imocas for example” enthuses Edoardo Bianchi.
In their first year Sangiorgio had a turnover of just over €1.5m and the CEO says he would like to see that double in the second year but it is hard to predict. They have 30 workers, full time staff and sub contractors on site just now but expect to expand as the new technology comes on stream. Edoardo Bianchi concludes: “We are really flexible and fast. We are giving full support right on the waterfront. And we have space outside, this winter we refitted a Wally 100. We have the capacity to take boats up to 120 feet right in the centre of Genoa. And we are right in the middle of a dedicated marine business area.”
Photo: Martina Orsini
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