In Focus: Ukrainian-manufactured Brig RIBs return to Australia

After a year of forced hiatus due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Brig factory in Kharkiv has resumed production and the first all-new Brig RIBs have arrived in Australia.

Sirocco Marine, Australian dealer for Brig since 2006, welcomed the return of Ukraine-designed and built Brig boats, at a reception early July. It says Brig was the world’s largest manufacturer of RIBs and accounted for 70 per cent of the local Australian market, creating employment for dozens of businesses. But that was prior to a year of forced hiatus due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“In February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Kharkiv took intense bombing. So, the management at Brig made the decision to cease manufacturing to protect the safety of their employees,” says Neil Webster, managing director of Sirocco Marine (pictured above). “At the time, they also vowed to themselves that the Russian aggressors wouldn’t destroy their dreams, their business and their employees’ livelihoods and lives, and they bunkered down and started looking to the future and planning their restart.

“So, today in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, a factory that the Russians came close to occupying only a few months back is now back in production and providing work and generating an income for its large team of Ukraine employees. Brig is helping to breathe life back into the local economy and showing the world that despite adversity, with perseverance, hard work and the right mindset, they and Ukraine will prevail.”

Made in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Brig has been designing and manufacturing rigid inflatable boats since 1991.

“Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, sits 30km from the border with Russia in the northeast of Ukraine. It was the city most severely targeted by the Russians from the outset of this illegal and unjustifiable war, which has now reached almost 500 days. Kharkiv, for many, many months endured daily bombings – more so than any other city in Ukraine. Thankfully, it has also been one of Ukraine’s successes in returning to Ukraine control late last year,” says Jaroslav Duma, Honorary Consul of Ukraine.

“Notwithstanding the horrendous facts of this terrible war, there are some good stories. One of which, of course, is the ability to import goods from Ukraine itself. Sirocco Marine is one such business, importing Brig Boats from Ukraine. I take this opportunity to thank the owners, directors, management and staff of Sirocco Marine for their willingness to stick with Ukraine for its business and help rebuild a sovereign Ukraine.”