ITS commercial footprint stamps a solid 16,500 square metres and three buildings at Arundel, but it’s out on the water where Superior Jetties really walks the talk.

Gold Coasters may recognise this company’s work from the construction of Australia’s largest superyacht berth at the Southport Yacht Club, and the installation of covered berths at Sanctuary Cove Marina – a first for the nation’s recreational marine industry.

But even if you haven’t heard of Superior Jetties, chances are you’ve stepped aboard one of their builds with this company installing in some of the world’s most stunning marine locations including the Seychelles, Caribbean and Great Barrier Reef.

Think: high-quality marinas, pontoons, boat lifts and jet ski docking systems for all types of residential, commercial and resort requirements.

Superior Jetties has been keeping the Gold Coast afloat for 35 years

CEO John Hogan said Superior Jetties was a division of the Superior Group, a multi-disciplined organisation that also includes Superior Rotomoulding, Superior Industrial and Waterscape divisions.

Established in 1988, it remains 100 per cent Australian owned.

“Superior is a diversified manufacturer of flotation systems in the marine and industrial markets,” Hogan said.

“The business started in recreational marine and with the Gold Coast’s natural assets of five rivers, 170km of navigable water and over 400km of canals, this made the location ideal.

“We have a quality product made locally by a trusted team that is personable and readily available.”

Superior Jetties CEO John Hogan

Superiors’ headquarters encompasses manufacturing, sales, operations, marketing, finance and engineering departments, each run by a senior professional manager with significant industry experience.

In 2019, Superior Jetties was supported by the City of Gold Coast’s International Trade and Investment Program (ITIP) as a trade mission delegate to the Marine Equipment Trade Show (Netherlands) and was provided subsidised exhibitor space, itinerary planning and business matching support.

The City of Gold Coast backing enabled the business to access a key international market at minimal cost while maximising its opportunities to establish new trade relationships.

Whilst most industries were heavily impacted by the pandemic, a recent City of Gold Coast report shows that the Gold Coast marine industry has maintained a steady annual growth rate of 5 per cent from 2016 to 2021 to reach a total value of $1.07 billion, up $351 million from 2016.

Hogan said they employed more than 60 people as well held a network of licensees and dealers in Malaysia, Korea, India, U.A.E, Fiji, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Over the past decade Superior has developed formal partnerships with companies to export to the UAE, New Zealand, Fiji and several other countries intermittently.

Its range of products include the Super Elite – its heaviest duty pontoon; the heavy-due Elite concrete pontoon; the popular and stylish Capri marina system; the Superior Modular Dock; and award-winning platform system Waterscape.

Superior Jetties offers a range of products and solutions

This company has won a swag of awards including Marine Industry Apprentice of the Year; Superyacht Industry Product Design or Manufacturer of the Year; and Marine Industry Champion (John Hogan) at the Marine Industry Awards 2021; and a multitude of Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards of the years.

Hogan, who co-authored the booked Sustainable Marina Development, said sustainability initiatives of his company included ‘going green’ with a total of 200kw of solar energy with 204 new solar panels installed across its sites.

Other measures included taking the single use plastic’s pledge from the Marina Industries Association and investigating ways to eliminate Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) from its marina structures.

And sustainability was not only environmental, with the company investing in the future of Gold Coast youth.

“We provide industry training and work experience opportunities for undergraduate, post-graduate and technical college students to enable them to work on ‘real’ business projects or operations under the mentorship of experienced staff,” Hogan said.

“To further develop youth working in the industry, Superior has recently implemented an exciting new program, with the goal to always employ a first and second year apprentice, which provides an exceptional opportunity to job seekers and students.

“The practical, hands-on training is managed by highly skilled and knowledgeable senior staff, with the theory side completed through TAFE Queensland.”

Superior Jetties’ work will form part of a Case Study to be discussed in the “Sustainability in Action – Business Best Practice” event on Monday, October 9 as part of Gold Coast Business Week.