This is what the Columbus Classic 80 will look like once completed.This is what the Columbus Classic 80 will look like once completed.

Palumbo Group is fast positioning itself among the top global players in the superyacht sphere with the construction of the largest ever 80-metre Columbus yacht and its first ISA sport yacht since acquiring the ailing Ancona shipyard last year.

The industry was buzzing last week when the group’s yard in Naples revealed the first photos of the five-deck Columbus Classic 80, which is set to sail in 2018, and just days later, its first ISA superyacht – the 36.5-metre Clorinda – hit the water in time for the boat shows in Cannes and Monaco in September.

The group’s vision to optimise the resources of its numerous shipyards has enabled it to build the steel hull of the Columbus in Naples and the aluminium superstructure in Ancona. This reduced the total build time by eight months; making it one of the fastest production processes ever seen.

The hull and the superstructure will be joined this weekend, as work continues to deliver the elegant superyacht by next year.

“This is an exciting moment for the Palumbo Group as we work on positioning ourselves in building large luxury yachts.

“With the construction of the 80-metre Columbus we are setting foot in the market that goes from 70 metres up to 100m and beyond,” Palumbo Group CEO Antonio Palumbo said.

The group, which started off as a small carpentry and welding workshop for commercial ships in 1967, started to branch out into luxury yachting in 2008. Now, with superyacht facilities in Naples, Messina, Ancona, Malta, Marseille and Tenerife, Palumbo Group is looking optimistically at entering a new era for what was until a few decades ago an ailing industry.

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