Stephen Cutsforth, MD of Luhrs in the UK, said it had been difficult to be profitable in Europe because Luhrs was competing against massive German and French manufacturers and because of the strength of the pound against the euro.

Manufacturing will be concentrated in the USA and the company will continue to sell to the European market, but it's difficult to see how such an arm's length manufacturing operation will work if Luhrs couldn't make local manufacturing pay when pitched against the likes of Bénéteau, Jeanneau and Bavaria.  

But Hunter Yachts - the US parent company - already has space booked at the London Boat Show and the Paris Boat Show for its new 50ft flagship yacht.

'The workforce has been excellent and the quality of boats built has been as good as any we have done in the United States,' said Cutsforth.  'The work ethic and efficiency of the local UK labour force has been excellent and has allowed Luhrs Marine to build over 600 mid-range yachts from this facility to date.'

Redundancies will be phased to the end of March.  The first 20 jobs will officially go on January 1, although employees will finish work on December 21.

Luhrs aims to keep a sales and servicing base in the UK, although it is not yet decided whether this would be at Portland or a site closer to The Solent.