Weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the shipyard Construction Navale Franck Roy was placed in receivership on June 2, 2021, at the request of its manager, by the Commercial Court of La Roche sur Yon. For Yachting Art Magazine, its manager looks back at the events that led to this situation and explains its prospects for recovery.

Created more than 20 years ago in La Rochelle, the Franck Roy shipyard was taken over in December 2019 by Romuald Tuffery, a young entrepreneur from Vendée. The transfer was promising. Indeed, the 2019 Paris boat show had been conclusive for the new team, which was already recording many qualitative contacts despite the "yellow vest" crisis paralyzing the capital at that time. However, the pandemic that appeared in 2020 reshuffled the cards, leading to the cancellation of 11 shows out of the 12 scheduled by the shipyard.

Romuald Tuffery explains the situation to YachtingArt.com: "In 2020 we were supposed to participate in several shows in France and abroad. Unfortunately, the successive cancellations and confinements have compromised our projects and weakened the financial health of the company. The orders received at the Nautic were not enough to cover the costs inherent to the perpetuation of our production. The crisis came at a time when we needed to meet our market and our potential customers. On the other hand, our business model was based on the development of a new international distribution method. The steps were paralyzed by the global crisis, making the launch of our dealer network abroad non-operational. In addition, little aid was granted by the State to VSEs less than two years old to cope with this pandemic, a period during which all prospection was compromised. At the same time, we had to integrate a building perfectly adapted to the manufacture of our boats from January 2020. However, the company that was supposed to give up its place to us was slow to leave the premises for administrative reasons. The manufacturing conditions were sometimes put at risk and caused losses. This succession of events beyond our control has strongly impacted the company's finances and slowed down all our development projects. "

Seol 27: a motorboat that carries the hopes of the shipyard 

Romuald Tuffery and his team of 10 employees say they are ready to bounce back. While they are making progress on the deployment of the international dealer network and continuing their search for investors, the design office is busy developing new models.

Among them is the Seol 27, the big brother of the Seol 18 launched by the shipyard in 2004. Designed in collaboration with the architect Gildas Plessis, this neoclassical style motorboat has a lot to offer! This motorboat in full development is only waiting for its future owner. Its first buyer will have the chance to fully participate in the finalization of its design to make it the boat of his dreams.

Romuald Tuffery concludes: "The shipyard team is united and wishes above all to preserve the spirit and know-how that our company represents. Placing the company in receivership is the best solution to ensure the future of the company and its employees. It allows us to stabilize our situation for a few weeks while we validate several orders from Solenn 27 and find investors. We wish to rely on solid bases to perpetuate the company and continue to build beautiful boats for many years. "