Northern Advocate newspaper, Whangarei

That's one hull of a lot for Circa Marine
It was a happy 100th birthday when this aluminium hull was completed by Circa Marine and Industrial's crew.

The boat was not 100, but it was the 100th 28-foot aluminium hull to be produced by Circa Marine's proud family, based at Whangarei's Port Rd.

The hull was finished on Friday.

The company's financial controller, Martin Lockhart, said the hulls were sent to McDell Marine in Auckland where they were finished with fancy fibreglass cabins and shipped to Japan for sale.

The company landed the ``several million dollar'' contract to produce 155 of the hulls for Toyota's marine division five years ago, Mr Lockhart said.

The company had built 63 of the aluminium hulls when the Asian economic crisis struck in 1999.

The crisis caused an 18-month slowdown in production, but, in the next 18 months, the company produced another 37 hulls, taking the total to 100. Mr Lockhart would not comment when asked if the company's 45 workers would receive a morning tea shout to celebrate their success.