John Muir wins Superyacht Person of the Year 2008
John Muir, Managing Director of Tasmanian-based Muir Engineering Pty Ltd, 
'John Muir is this year’s SYBA Person of the Year.'
Jeni
Bone
Click Here to view large photo
trading as Muir Windlasses Australia, was voted Superyacht Person of the Year for 2008 at this year's Superyacht Awards, 24 May.
Muir has been 'at the helm' of his business for 40 years (1968 - 2008) and is known throughout the industry as an extremely driven and passionate man, not only about his own business but also for the marine industry.
Manufacturing and selling to the superyacht industry for over 25 years in
both Australia and overseas, Muir Windlasses Australia recorded its best ever
year in 2006/07 and continues into 2007/08.
Muir Windlasses manufactures anchoring and mooring systems for smaller
pleasure craft between 10 and 28 metres and for mega yachts and work
boats between 30 and 120 metres. John has built up a very strong
distributor network that gives Muir product coverage in over 40 countries
worldwide.
A family-owned company, Muir has employees in Hobart, Sydney, Gold
Coast, Florida USA & Southampton UK.
John completed an apprenticeship as a diesel fitter, then with his father (the
legendary Jock Muir) built sailing and fishing boats for two years before
establishing his own diesel engine repair and marine engineering business in
1968 on an adjacent site.
John's business in the early days specialised in boat servicing and repair, and
given the number of winches they were repairing, he decided to design and
manufacture his own.
At the time John realised about specialisation and finding a product that he
could make and build and grow a business around.
The Muir Engineering business grew quickly following the move to a new
manufacturing facility in Kingston (10km south of Hobart) and by 1977 the
company took its first product overseas. Singapore was first, followed by
other Asian countries and markets in the Pacific.
In 1980 Muir attended its first boat show in the United States, which gave
Muir the growth they needed for their pleasure boat windlasses. In 1989
John spent seven months in Asia, Europe, Canada, the UK and the USA
developing these markets, with instant success.
The exporting strategy worked very well for Muir and in 2008 exports will
account for 65% (mainly superyacht business) of the Muir sales. It is
difficult to accurately predict but this is expected to grow to be 70% by
2009.
"The Company is privileged to work closely with some of the world's finest
naval architects and builders in Australia and overseas' said John Muir.
"We have been working with some of Europe's most reputable and
prestigious superyacht yards, including Lurssen and Thyssen Krupp both
of Germany and Feadship de Vries and Feadship Van Lent of Holland as
well as well known yards in Italy, France, Asia and USA."
Muir Engineering is currently planning further expansion at its manufacturing
site in Kingston, Tasmania in preparation to meet industry demand over the
next decade.
Muir's operate in a highly competitive, very changeable market and through
John's direction it has been able to constantly develop new products and
improve their existing products to stay competitive with current and new
players.
Research and development is also very important in this process.
John has maintained over the years that quality, service, relationships and
price are important to all Muir customers, sometimes not in that order, but
they are always important parts of the business.
John often tells his staff "that we are very fortunate that people are building
and owning boats of all shapes and sizes in all parts of the world. They have
helped us to develop our business to become a world leader and to fulfil our
passion of boats and the sea."
by Jeni Bone 
