AN EXTRA 200 jobs could be created by Princess Yachts' move to build £12million superyachts at Devonport naval base's South Yard.

The Plymouth-based luxury boat firm said the jobs would be on top of the numbers already employed making boats at its other sites.

And it means some of the 300 workers axed just last month could be brought back.

Managing director Chris Gates said the firm's £15million to £20million investment in establishing a new factory on redundant Ministry of Defence land had already protected existing jobs.

It was a key factor in the firm making 150 redundancies less than the predicted 450, last month.

And Mr Gates stressed the deal had 'the potential to see plus 200 jobs on top of core Princess Yachts' business'.

He added: "We hope to strengthen the job security of people with us today and get back into the position of employing people we have let go as soon as possible."

He said some specialist workers will have to be brought in soon and added: "We will be looking to employ some people in the design stage, but the craft skills are in Princess Yachts today."

The firm, which already employs 2,125 people, said the move into a 15-acre site in the South Yard, revealed in The Herald yesterday, would allow it to build much bigger vessels than can be accommodated at Stonehouse and break into the market inhabited by super-rich customers.

Currently the firm's biggest model is 95ft long, selling for £4.5million. But the firm is already carrying out development work on a 105ft vessel, which will be the first built in its new South Yard plant.

Work is due to begin within three weeks, with a small team making a wooden 'plug' from which a mould can be created.

That boat, being built for a wealthy Norwegian, will be ready by the end of next year.

The firm will then step up production of 105-footers, which will sell for between £5million and £6million, and aims to go even bigger – producing £10million to £12million boats.

"We have a larger vessel we have concept drawings of and which we are turning into detailed drawings," said Mr Gates. "We will finalise that with the customers.

"Five years ago we built four boats a year of over 75 feet in length," he said. "We want to get into the position where we are building in excess of 20 boats a year, over 80feet in length.

"The market is out there already. We want to be pushed by our existing customer base and gain customers from other brands – there is a market we have not tapped into."

He explained that the more expensive 'flagship brands' help sell the smaller yachts because they create an 'aspirational' brand name.

"Building larger helps to sell the others," Mr Gates said.

The superyachts will be sold worldwide, but particularly in the Middle and Far East, and Russia, with the firm hoping to expand into India and target the US and British markets when they come out of recession.

Princess Yachts will start by using existing buildings they are leasing, on a 125-year lease, at the South Yard but will be building new facilities in 'a couple of years'.

"We will develop this into a world-class site," said Mr Gates.

The Herald revealed yesterday how the South Yard's 'Number 3 Shop' will be used to construct the superyachts after the deal was struck with the Ministry of Defence.

Plymouth City Council, the South West Regional Development Agency, Plymouth City Development Company and the Homes and Communities Agency have been engaged as external stakeholders throughout the Princess Yachts project.

David Marlow, interim chief executive of the CDC said: "This is an example of where we could be part of a 'team Plymouth' approach to delivering something."

Plymouth's Sutton Labour MP Linda Gilroy today said that the move prevented any possibility of Princess Yachts pulling production out of Plymouth.

She said: "Princess Yachts needed to get in here to be ahead of the field and build larger boats and keep their prime position in the international market. The thought of losing it from Plymouth was on the cards."