In part one of an interview with the returning Gulf Craft Group CEO, Bamps explains the growth of the UAE shipyard and his current focus on expanding and fine-tuning a global network of dealers for Majesty and its other motoryacht brands.
Interview: John Higginson; Photos: Gulf Craft Group

Erwin Bamps, CEO, Gulf Craft Group

Starting his career in his native Belgium, Erwin Bamps worked for Japanese automation specialist Omron before joining Belgian technology company Barco as Sales Manager for Southeast Asia and the Far East. Bamps was then based in the Philippines and UAE as Hutchison Whampoa’s General Manager – Pan-Asian Systems.

The Belgian’s time in Dubai led to him joining Gulf Craft in January 2002 as Executive Manager, working under Chairman Mohammed Alshaali, who co-founded the shipyard in 1982 in Ajman.

Bamps rose to COO in late 2009 and then CEO in 2014. In November 2018, he joined Groupe Beneteau as Prestige Vice President, overseeing the launches of the X-Line of motoryachts and M-Line of multihulls. In April 2025, Bamps returned to the UAE as CEO of Gulf Craft Group.

The Middle East’s leading yacht builder, Gulf Craft Group has its main shipyard in Umm Al Quwain (43,000sqm) and a new Superyacht Service Centre (10,000sqm) in Ajman. Since 2002, it has also had facilities in the Maldives, where it produces its Touring Passenger Vessels and is currently developing the Gulf Lagoon maritime zone. To date, the company has produced over 10,000 boats including the Majesty 175, the world’s largest composite superyacht.

Looking back at your first 17 years with Gulf Craft, what were you and the company focused on following your arrival in January 2002?

When the Chairman (Mohammed Alshaali) invited me to be part of their adventure, Gulf Craft was a 20-year-old startup – and the only brand. It built a variety of products – yachts, flybridges, fishing boats, family boats.

Bamps beside Mohammed Alshaali, Gulf Craft Group’s co-founder and Chairman

However, there was no international focus on how best to export products. People from overseas heard about the story, came from Malaysia, Australia and so on, saw some product and bought a boat. That’s not distribution; that’s people finding a ‘jewel in the Nile’, a best-kept secret.

When I joined, the company was on an adventure, building the shipyard in Umm Al Quwain, which started in 2001 and became Gulf Craft’s main facility to build the larger yachts and superyachts.

Unlike in Italy, which has many subcontractors, we needed a completely vertical integration to deliver what we were hoping to deliver: a complex product with a high level of fit and finish. It had to compete with established brands in the market, so we needed to develop the expertise in each of the 20-plus professions it takes to put large yachts together.

As such, we built a furniture company, a stainless steel company, a marble company and so on. We had to pioneer fibreglass and vacuum infusion, every aspect it takes to build luxury motoryachts.

To help get all this to work, I became a carpenter, a steel worker, a logistics expert and more. Day to day, we were working in the factories with our sleeves rolled up, alongside the Chairman, which is his style. As of today, he walks the floor every day. I’ve seen the Chairman more often with pieces of wood in his hand than a pen.

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We built in the Middle East because of two reasons. Firstly, that’s where the Chairman and the Alshaali family living lived, and they had the financing, the brain power and the ambition. Secondly, there was a local client base, a market. However, there was nothing else. There was no skill set available in the region, no local labour pool, no local expertise. Yet there was a labour pool in South Asia, just across the water from us.

It was a startup scenario where you make use of the assets you have, then try and work around those to be able to bring this company to market and build a sustainable growth model. And it’s still there today. Gulf Craft is one of the very few major yacht builders that’s still under the same ownership as when it was created. So, what was initially an obligation became an asset, because that vertical integration allows you to control cost, quality and delivery.

How did the company change in size from 2002 to when you left in October 2018?

When I joined, we produced about 400 boats a year; when I left, we produced about 400 boats per year. However, the range, size and value of the yachts was very, very different and the average transaction value soared.

We went through exponential growth and the turnover figure when I left was about 10 times bigger than when I arrived. When I joined, 50-footers were rolling out of the Ajman factory. When I left, they were building a 175-footer.

When you rejoined in April 2025, how had things changed at Gulf Craft during your time with Prestige?

I rejoined in the same position as I left it, as CEO, this time of Gulf Craft Group. The brands created before I left – Majesty (2004), Oryx (2005), Nomad (2015) and the Touring Passenger Vessels – are still there. The only brand that has been added is SilverCat, which succeeded Silvercraft.

Majesty 112 Terrace

There’s also more ambition today. The company now includes the Superyacht Services Centre in Ajman, which is no longer just a support function for our own yachts but an independent business taking on work for all local and visiting yachts. It will now act as a profit centre rather than a cost centre. Gulf Craft Group is developing into a marine enterprise and won’t solely be defined by its core business of boat building. The company now has more of a 360-degree approach.

What are your priorities now as CEO?
Even though it’s the same position as before, it’s a whole different challenge. Back then, it was about building a model that would allow the company to establish itself on a global platform, building all the expertise required to build these complex products, so the company could rub shoulders with all the established players, even in the likes of Monaco.

Today it’s about bringing all the brands to markets where they can be distributed. In Europe, Gulf Craft is still identified mostly with Majesty – or Majesty Superyachts – because that’s the only product brand we’ve really brought to that market.

My ambition is to bring Nomad to Europe in 2026 and later bring Oryx and SilverCat. Gulf Craft is a ‘house of brands’, which each display the company’s different facets. The Chairman wants to show the world that we’re constructing these yachts in the Middle East, but we sell them worldwide. Our mission is to bring people to the water.

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In this sense, I find myself in familiar territory because Groupe Beneteau was also using that as a main driver for its business. Whether it’s a sailing cat, monohull, motorboat or a powercat, it really doesn’t matter. Neither Gulf Craft Group nor Groupe Beneteau restricts itself to one niche.

So, when I spoke to the Chairman about this opportunity, my first ambition was to see whether he agreed on my approach of focusing more on the other brands and not just on profiling ourselves internationally as a superyacht builder.

He said he really wants to explore the potential behind each one of the brands. If some are only going to be competitive in the Middle East or Asia, so be it. But even then, there’s room for improved distribution. We haven’t developed the real potential behind all the brands, even for Majesty superyachts.

What led to the appointment of Denison Yachting to represent Majesty’s Superyacht Collection in the US?
My time at Groupe Beneteau helped me understand what makes a great distribution network. Once I joined Gulf Craft again, I immediately spoke with Denison Yachting (which has merged with OneWater Yacht Group) and realised they would be a key partner for the US market, where they have trust and credibility.

Majesty 100 Terrace

They have the feet on the ground, after-sales, maintenance service and so on. Denison also has a brokerage division, so they can deal with trade-ins, bring product back from the clients, sell them in with Denison having followed the story of Gulf Craft, this partnership is a combination made in heaven.

At this year’s Cannes Yachting Festival, there were 20-30 brokers from Denison telling the Majesty story. We also tied up with More Yachts in Croatia, so they had 10 people telling the story. That’s 40 more people than before.

For Gulf Craft, we now need to consolidate the brand image and focus more on the customer experience. Enhancing the customer experience will make every client an ambassador and create more opportunities. If you have long-term partners – not just salesmen – who believe that their growth is aligned with our growth, then they tell the brand’s story like it’s theirs.

Where else are you looking to establish dealerships?
Following the US, I looked east, so we’re talking to people in Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and so on. I’m looking for the right partners to help us tell the story, project our image, bring people to our brand.

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A lot of people are enthusiastic about the brand and see the potential, but you need people who are masters of local market connections. Then you can start building a consistent presence that grows not only in the number of boats in the water but also the service that goes with it, including crew, charter management, maintenance, helping resale value … it doesn’t stop.

It’s about the entire 360 degrees of opportunities you have to offer a client. And then you need to guide the owners into their next project because our clients are not one-time customers; they’re customers for life. Today we are underrepresented, undersold. We’re still, to some extent, a best-kept secret. And I think that the shipyard deserves more credit for what it’s able to do. This is what I can bring to Gulf Craft Group.

And Majesty is also more than superyachts.
We start with the 60, 65 and 72, but when we exhibit at Cannes or Monaco, we generally only bring the Superyacht Collection from 100ft upwards.

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If we bring models from the Yacht Collection, it’s a different distribution model and the yachts won’t be at the Super Yachts Extension in Cannes but with similar-sized yachts [from other brands] in Vieux Port. The SilverCat powercats will be in the Power Cat Village and Oryx may be in Port Canto. These all need a different set of dealers. There’s a lot of work to be done to find the right partners for each series in different markets.

gulfcraftgroup.com