New markets for the Turin based company
Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Fincantieri, has said that the cruise ship sector has entered a global growth supercycle. This is a term describing continuously rising demand met by just a handful of shipyards worldwide, all with production slots fully booked and deliveries scheduled as far out as 2033. Under these conditions, supplier selection becomes far more stringent: shipyards want partners able to maintain high quality standards across production on a large scale, and few companies can meet that bar.
Sea & Symphony did not enter this sector through any commercial push of its own: it was the shipbuilders who sought the company out, drawn by the build quality of its mechanisms and the breadth of its range, which includes TV lifts, retractable systems for hiding screens in ceilings and within furniture, and systems for moving panels. For the Turin based company, the move into cruise makes perfect sense. This market sits in the middle ground between the contract sector and yachting, the two fields Sea & Symphony has worked in for decades. From the contract world comes experience managing repeat orders at scale; from yachting, a deep understanding of what the marine environment demands, from salinity and corrosion to the stresses due to the vessel’s motion.
Customisation is another key factor. For the cabins of a ship currently being fitted out, Sea & Symphony has developed a custom ceiling system that opens to more than 90 degrees and rotates on a vertical axis, so the screen can be angled towards different seating areas within the same room. The mechanism wasn’t in the catalogue. It was designed specifically to meet that project’s technical brief.
Reliability requirements also played to the company’s strengths. On a cruise ship, every mechanism is used several times a day throughout the entire season, often hundreds of nautical miles from any chance of technical support. On top of that come competitive pricing and the manufacturing capacity needed to handle volumes on this scale.
“The cruise sector is increasingly choosing us. Our share of business is growing fast, though it’s worth noting we were already supplying mechanisms for common areas of cruise ships almost twenty years ago,” explains Nino Biagini, managing director of Sea & Symphony. “It was an ember under the ashes, and the sector’s strong growth has fanned it back into flame.”
Sea & Symphony is already aboard ships in the Ponant and Viking fleets, and has been chosen by other operators that recently launched their vessels in Italy. Several shipyards have projects underway with the company: some will be unveiled in the coming months, others further down the line. Among them is the fleet of an international hotel group renowned for its ultra luxury properties, which has chosen Sea & Symphony to bring its resort standards out to sea.
The cruise sector has found in Sea & Symphony a supplier able to meet requirements that were previously hard to satisfy. This success is built on manufacturing quality and the ability to customise, the two strengths on which “Made in Italy” continues to stake its competitive edge.
