Tunisia's yacht yards ride a €500M export wave

Tunisia's yacht builders have quietly turned a coastline of small workshops into an export machine. The sector shipped about €500 million ($558 million) worth of pleasure boats last year, according to the country's Marine Industries Association, and it now counts roughly 75 companies, up from around 20 a decade ago. Montassar Dhiaf, who heads the association, says the plan is to double exports again by 2030.

The industry's calling card got a polish this year when the WAMA 42XL, a luxury catamaran built by a Tunisian yard, took the under-45-foot power category at the 2026 Multihull of the Year awards, which honor the best new multihulls internationally. Dhiaf credits Italian firms in particular with transferring technology and skills, letting local builders move from making components to designing, building and exporting complete yachts with after-sales service. Menzel Jemil yards near Bizerte, he said, even supplied parts for the superyacht of Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo.

In Bizerte, Tarek Rassas runs a boatyard his father started three decades ago to build small pleasure boats. It now turns out 10 yachts a year, catamarans and smaller models selling for as much as €400,000 each, with about 60 employees. A single luxury catamaran can take two months or more to finish, and Rassas's operation is spread over five yards.

Rassas says he wants to double output and push deeper into luxury catamarans. His boats run from 7 to 25 metres (23 to 82 ft), and one 11-metre model under construction will carry three cabins and hit 25 knots. Watching a finished hull hit the water still gets him: it's like watching your child set sail, he said.

French builders including the Beneteau Group also operate in Tunisia. Dhiaf wants the government to step in with training centers and tax incentives to sharpen the country's edge, arguing that more yacht exports would pull in foreign currency and create jobs — a tempting pitch in a country where average monthly wages are only a few hundred dollars.