Lord Sugar's Yacht Refitted: Lady A

WRS Tech’s Shipbuilding team supported the substantial refit of Lord Sugar's Superyacht, MY Lady A, at the ship lift facility in Portchester, Portsmouth in the winter of 2015/16. The vessel, (ex Southern Cross III, Emihar Chios and Indian Princess) was built in 1986 in Japan with interior and exterior styling by Bannenberg & Rowell Design. She is 55m LOA, with an 11.8m beam and a 4m draft. As one of the ‘iconic’ Superyachts of a generation the owner undertook the project to both modernise her exterior profile and also to overhaul her key mechanical and operational systems.

The vessel arrived in Portsmouth from San Remo and after a short layover in the Commercial Port docked on using the 1000T Rolls Royce syncrolift. WRS Tech contractors attended the vessel in the Mediterranean pre her arrival and offered support on the delivery run to the UK. The planned package of works included minor structural, mechanical and electrical modifications, and the installation of new Quantum stabilisers. The refit also included modifications and improvements to both the interior and exterior styling, and a new external paint scheme.

The vessel underwent a significant 10-month refit at the shipyard, completed in June 2016. Alongside structural, mechanical and electrical modifications, she also underwent an exterior facelift, now sporting a light grey hull and slight changes to her profile including an extended aft deck and upgraded tender cranage.

WRS Tech provided technical recruitment and assistance direct to the Shipyard and Owners’ team throughout the refit whilst also completing the structural, mechanical and electrical works packages together with the provision of skilled Shipbuilding trades. WRS Tech clearly demonstrated our ability to both manage our own sub-contractors and provide to drawer recruitment soloutions to the many local companies involved in the project.

MY Lady A undocked from the shipyard in Portsmouth in June 2016 and set sail for the Mediterranean having under gone sea trials locally. The refit was a great success and testimony to the flexibility that WRS Tech can offer Shipyards, OEM’ and Owners in terms of technical recruitment and marine contractors in the modern refit environment. WRS Tech was proud to provide core ship repair skills, yard services and project management staff for this project.

Lord Sugar gave testimony to this sentiment and said: “refitting Lady A at home in the UK was a real, genuine, pleasure…British engineering and workmanship is something to be really very proud of - on the South Coast there’s the ‘know how’ and passion to make the most challenging refit a reality.”