John C. Yank Jr., owner and operator of Yank Marine, announced that his New Jersey shipyard business that has served mid-Atlantic fishermen for a half-century is up for sale.
Yank said he has been in the boatbuilding business for more than 50 years, and it’s time to call it quits.
“… timing is everything and now it is time for me to retire. I have raised six children and I am now taking the time to really enjoy my 12 grandchildren and my two great-grandchildren,” Yank said in an Aug. 15 letter to customers, business colleagues and friends. “I want to have more time with all of them and to be able to take more time to travel and enjoy life. My children and grandchildren are now spread out all over this beautiful country.”
Both New Jersey boatyards — Dorchester and Tuckahoe — are up for sale. The letter did not say if the yards would be sold as a pair or separately. “I started building my boat yard in Tuckahoe at age 27. Over the many years that have passed, I built more than 100 USCG-certified passenger vessels, and I repaired thousands more,” Yank wrote. “My boat yard is now a shipyard and my vessels are working all over the world.
“I have had the pleasure of employing hundreds of people over the past 50 years, many of them neighbors and local residents. Some employees stayed with me for more than 25 years, through good times and bad. I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful customers too, and some of them have become lifelong friends. Your business and your friendship are invaluable.”
In December 2017 Yank Marine introduced its new 820-metric ton capacity Marine Travelift boat hoist at its Dorchester yard, enabling the Maurice River facility to handle some of the region's biggest fishing vessels and workboats. Company president Bette Jean Yank said the project, a dozen years in the making, gives the industry a good mid-Atlantic alternative to steaming south to the Virginia capes or north to New England to get haulouts and repairs.
“It means we can work on every commercial fishing boat in Cape May (N.J.) and Atlantic City (N.J.). We have opened a whole new market here" she said at dedication event for the new machine. "We can work on the bigger Coast Guard vessels, like the 87’ patrol boats.”
