Super yacht Baraka is currently carrying out her first refit since she was launched five years ago at the Melita Shipyard, part of the Melita Marine Group, in Grand Harbour on their floating dock facility.

The 58-metre yacht is in Malta for three months for engineering, painting, mechanical upgrades, underwater works and Class five-year survey. She is expected to be ready to go by next month.

The Georgetown-registered Baraka, based in Northern Italy, was custom-built by Turkish Proteksan Turquoise. Renowned Italian studio Paskowski Design was responsible for her contemporary interior. The super-luxurious yacht has six staterooms and is fitted out with modern, state-of-the-art equipment including an elevator, Jacuzzi, sauna and a fully equipped gym.

Baraka has 14 multinational crew members, including a newly-recruited Maltese stewardess, who will be starting her yachting career on board the Baraka.

 “As is customary with every yacht, the Baraka is having her first five-year routine refit at the Melita Shipyard,” said Captain Fernando Silvano. “This is the third yacht I bring to the Melita Marine Group in Malta because since 2008 I have had excellent experiences. Of course, when it comes to do jobs of this magnitude we do our research around the Mediterranean, but Melita Marine also come on top for the relation between quality and price. Their offer is superior and advantageous as they do a professional job which is delivered on time, with attention to detail and a log of all jobs executed.

“Since I first came here, Malta has changed a lot and the yacht industry has shown a massive growth in the last seven years. The capacity to accommodate super yachts and the skilled workforce put Malta in a much better position to land these high-end jobs and the country has become a stiff challenge to its competition in the Mediterranean.”

Melita Marine Group Managing Director Pierre Balzan said since the particular floating dock started operating in May last year after investing millions of euros and employing over 100 direct skilled workers and other Maltese subcontractors, it has almost always been full. The largest superyacht docked so far was the 75-metre Plan B.  Other yachts included the 67-metre Garcon, the 70-metre Martha Ann and the 45-metre Kriss. The yard is also awaiting a 100-metre yacht in the next months.

“The investment is known to have a massive impact on Maltese economy, running into millions of euros in sales, not only for the works carried out in the dock, but also for the indirect ripple effect. Crews on such yachts are known to be good spenders and during their stay they use many facilities – from restaurants, to excursions, taxis and spas, apart from the daily groceries shopping.”

It is known that there are around 5,000 super yachts in the world with a thousand of these in the Mediterranean.

The Melita Marine floating dock offers full shipyard services, including specialised engineering and painting, and has a 5,000-tonne lifting capacity to accommodate super yachts of up to 100 metres.