Astilleros Nereo is one of the oldest traditional shipyards devoted to shipwrighting carpentry in Spain, and has been included in the country’s National Industrial Heritage Plan.

The shipyard specialises in historical replicas, along with the design, restoration and building of classic boats. Its outstanding figure is… the shipwright Alfonso Sánchez-Guitard. Together with other workers and volunteers, he carries out the complete boatbuilding process, from the sawing of timbers selected in woodland to their transformation into a traditional wooden boat. Formerly the process involved various trades (ironworkers, carpenters, caulkers, rope-makers, as well as upcountry sawmills) performed by different people. Given the lack of practitioners today, when building boats Alfonso does all of these tasks himself.

The types of boat built by his firm include traditional jábega fishing boats, lateen-sail sardinal boats, shellfish boats, light buceta sailing boats and paddling and sailing canoes or kayaks, as well as wooden pleasure craft.

His team masters the traditional boatbuilding and caulking techniques with oakum and pitch, as well as the manufacture of pitch by tapping pine resin and making wood tar.

Wood for building in this area has been sourced since time immemorial from the mountains of Málaga province, from species such as Portuguese oak, several varieties of pine (maritime, Aleppo or black pine), holm oak or olive. Esparto fibre for ropes is gathered in Monte San Antón, very near the shipyard, and hemp is sourced from Murcia.

Astilleros Nereo also does important work in the promotion of maritime culture, drawing up and carrying out nautical advocacy projects for museums and cities with nautical connections. Currently the firm is participating in the European All hands on deck project for the recovery of shipwrighting skills.