ASENAV’s origins are closely linked to the city of Valdivia in the south of Chile. As a result of being on a river and close to the Pacific Ocean its inhabitants have developed a strong maritime tradition and excelled themselves as leading ship builders.
The experienced gained from nearly a century of building ships and the technological impetus provided by German inmigrants, inspired naval architect and mechanical engineer Eberhard Kossmann to establish the company in 1972 (formally as ASENAV in 1974).
During the 1980’s the company started to open up international markets by building luxury sport fishing boats for the American company Striker Yachts. In the 90’s ASENAV continued to diversify and work international becoming pioneers in the completion of significant projects. The first passenger aluminium catamarans, for Chile and Argentina, tugs, a cruise ship for the Fiji Islands, fishing boats for customers in Norway, the Faroe Islands, as well as an Offshore Support AHT supply vessel for Norway were, at that time, all built first in South America by ASENAV.