Sometimes, great opportunities emerge slowly over months or even years; but sometimes, lightning strikes. When 95-metre Indian Empress (ex-Al Mirqab) became available at auction in Malta, an opportunity arose to try something that had never been attempted.
Oceanco's Chairman Mohammed Al Barwani and a business associate saw the potential immediately “We became very invested and, together with The A Group as the independent owner's representative, we came up with a whole new idea: not just to refurbish her, but to try something totally different -a transformation resulting in a new kind of new build.”
The objective was to take a highly advanced yacht from two decades ago and rebuild her to meet today's stringent IMO Tier III compliance standards. “We were inspired to bring new life to her design, going beyond superficial changes such as a surface-level facelift or a fresh coat of paint,” says Dr Barwani. “Once we made this strong commitment, progress quickly accelerated. This was the key moment when H went from being a refit project to a comprehensive rebuild.”
It was also, as The A Group's founder and CEO Richard Hein puts it, the moment the project got “crazy”. Hein was the original designer and architect at the time of Al Mirqab's delivery, so knows her in great
