Hythe yacht builder Green Marine goes into liquidation
A boat builder, involved with leading yachting events including the Volvo Ocean Race and America's Cup, has gone into liquidation.
Green Marine, based in Hythe, Hampshire, has ceased trading with the loss of 46 jobs.
Established in 1982, it has built more than 180 boats and specialised in manufacturing advanced composite designs.
The company blamed a slowdown in large orders.
Green Marine's core business was building custom racing yachts, high performance superyacht hulls and lightweight components in carbon fibre composites.
It had provided race designs for the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race as well as Portsmouth-based Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR), as part of its failed attempt to become the first British crew to win the America's Cup.
It also built yachts that competed in the Vendee Globe race.
The company said it had been hoping to win an order for the hull and superstructure of a superyacht but this failed to materialise.
Insolvency specialist Peter Hall, who was instructed to place the company into voluntary liquidation, said it was an "incredibly emotional" time for the family company's directors and employees.
"It highlights the issues facing companies which rely on a low number of very high value projects," he said.
Green Marine moved from premises at Lymington and Southampton seven years ago to a larger state-of-the-art facility at Hythe Marina to enable it to work on several large projects at once.