Deep in Brabant is one of the workshops of the Russian elite. From the Maas, just past Maasbommel, a canal runs between meadows with sheep and schoolchildren bent over the wheel to an industrial area with sheds and heaps of rubble and even a few container cranes, only to end up at a dead end at about twelve enormous closed doors through which only the smell of sprayed paint can escape.
Heesen Yachts, it says in the white brick office, under a logo with a compass cross. The silver letters are the only thing that shines in the distant surroundings.
Behind these doors, in the part of Brabant best known for the smoked sausages and contraceptive pills and the pigs from which they are made, hide some of the upcoming showpieces of Russia’s kleptocracy: super yachts, the caravans of the super rich. Heesen is not only one of the large shipyards in the Netherlands where these are being built, but is also owned by a Russian oligarch, a man who has prospered with former state property of the Soviet Union and who now converts collective wealth into exclusive opulence. .
Vagit Alekperov, a 71-year-old former State Secretary for Oil Affairs and now a major shareholder of the oil company Lukoil, bought the family business Heesen in 2008 and has since had at least three superyachts built for himself. The latter, the Galactica, sailed in January via the Burgemeester Delenkanaal through a lock that was just long enough and under bridges that were just high enough to Harlingen, where the ship has been completed and is now waiting for its first major voyage, towards a harbor where you no longer need a winter coat.
But it will have to wait for that for now.
Twelve yachts on the chain
On Wednesday, Minister Wobke Hoekstra of Foreign Affairs announced that twelve yachts under construction at Dutch yards may not be ‘delivered, transferred or exported’ for the time being. The Galactica seems to be one of them, because ‘one of the yachts is nearing completion’, writes Hoekstra. ‘Under customs supervision, the first sea trial took place on 2 April.’
Alekperov is on ‘Putin’s list’, a list of friends of the Russian dictator, compiled by the US Treasury Department. He was one of the oligarchs summoned to the Kremlin on February 24, the day of the attack on Ukraine, to show his support for Vladimir Putin. However, he has not yet received any sanctions.
Also with the other eleven yachts, Hoekstra writes, it seems that the ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs), or the ultimate owners who are hidden in all BVs, are not personally on the sanction list. But they are Russian, and that is why the ships cannot be delivered: there has been a general export ban on the supply of luxury goods above 300 euros to Russians since March 15. The yachts are certainly one of those. There are also two yachts – one of which until recently by Roman Abramovich was – placed under supervision which are now under maintenance. Another maintenance order has been cancelled.
What does that mean for this striking sector of the Dutch economy? And how come this rural country has become such a major producer of such high-quality bling?
Six large Dutch yards
There are about six large shipyards in the Netherlands, which have sometimes been building motor yachts for decades and together account for a quarter of the world’s superyachts (longer than 40 metres): Heesen in Oss, Damen in Vlissingen, Oceanco in Alblasserdam, Royal Huisman in Vollenhove, Hakvoort in Monnickendam and Feadship, a consortium of a number of shipyards, in De Kaag, Aalsmeer, Makkum and Amsterdam. Over the past ten years, they have sold about two hundred superyachts worldwide, of which between 10 and 20 percent to Russians.
Surrounding the sites is an ecosystem of suppliers, from designers and furniture makers to installers of air conditioning, lifts and swimming pools. The total turnover of superyachts is estimated at 2 billion euros per year, the total employment at ten thousand people.
The lines run across the country. Take the phi. The design came from Cor de Rover from Rotterdam, the engineering of Van Oossanen in Wageningen, the interior of Struik & Hamerslag in Strijen, the curved salon doors of Rondal in Vollenhove. ‘That is the strength of the Netherlands, that we have such an entire network of specialists and suppliers’, says Merijn de Waard, who became publisher of the yacht spotter. Superyacht Times, the newspaper and also the most important data collector of the sector. ‘The lines are short, there is a lot of know-how.’
According to Feadship spokesperson Farouk Nefzi, these specialists are important because the Netherlands has traditionally been good at complex ‘specials’, i.e. ships that are specifically designed for certain tasks, whether they are dredgers or superyachts. ‘Then it is useful if you have companies that know exactly how to make such a detail or how you can fit it in.’
‘Sanctions don’t help a bit’
In Amsterdam, entrepreneur Wim Beelen, who earned his money from waste, wants to set up a real Superyacht Tech Campus for this purpose. A cluster of suppliers and other specialists is to be built on the site of the former Amsterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij, where yachts will be built, completed and – above all – maintained. Most yachts have to be returned to the yard every few years for parts replacement and a new coat of paint. Or is he afraid that his plan will collapse if his Russian customers are no longer allowed to come? ‘I think it’s so pointless, those sanctions. If you want to do something, you have to do it there, in Ukraine. Now you give those people hope, but it doesn’t help one bit. It only hurts ourselves.’
The sanctions therefore have much more effect than just the builders. From designers to air conditioning suppliers: everyone has to be careful. ‘I look at an update of the sanctions list every day,’ says Cor de Rover. The Phi, the last ship he designed, was detained by British authorities in London last week, though owner Kochetkov is not on the sanctions list. ‘It is accompanied by a lot of fanfare and show of muscles. But there will still be sanctions, and they are anticipating them.’
The Phi isn’t the only ship captured. Two days ago, the yacht Tango, built by Feadship, was also detained by the Spanish authorities in Mallorca. Its owner is Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. French authorities seized the Amore Vero belonging to Igor Setsjin, the boss of oil company Rosneft, also Putin’s deputy chief between 2008 and 2012 and still a silent force in his regime. The Amore Vero was sold to Setsjin by Oceanco in 2013 for just over 100 million. The Madame Gu, owned by parliamentarian, Putin confidant and steel magnate Andrei Skotsj, escaped and took refuge in Dubai. “Sleek and fast, with exquisite exterior details, this finely carved masterpiece is sure to turn heads in the marinas of the world,” builder Feadship predicted in 2013.
No comment from the yards
Most yards do not want to say how many ships can now not be delivered to Russian customers. Also much in demand designers for Russian ships, such as Sander Sinot in Eemnes, cannot comment on the impact on his order book. The superyacht industry is an industry of products that should stand out, but should not attract attention.
“No, we never communicate about Damen Yachting’s customers,” said a spokesperson for Damen, which is rumored to have two Russian ships under construction. Oceanco, which probably has the most Russian portfolio and has to stop building two of the six ships, says nothing. Feadship and Heesen say they won’t be hit hard. “Our Russian clientele is only 2 percent of the total,” says Nefzi. “The sanctions have only a limited impact on the number of customers,” said a spokesman for Heesen, which also has a Russian-language website. ‘The demand for Dutch yachts is so great that we can meet it and do not foresee any redundancies.’
Silence is part of the industry, says everyone who speaks about it. ‘We build private property, so ownership is often secret. We want to respect the privacy of the customers,” says Nefzi of Feadship. According to him, his company’s clients are often entrepreneurs, especially from the United States, who have made a lot of money and just want to ‘cocoon’, either on a family trip around the world or quietly anchored off an island in the South Pacific. What about those marketing pictures of men in baggy linen shirts and women on the sundeck? And the marketing texts about catching attention in the marinas of the world? ‘Our customers are different. Everyone has their own wishes, just like other people. You can’t generalize them.’
Toys for the super rich
What you can generalize is that the buyers are people with money. Oceanco’s directions describe where the nearest private airport is (Rotterdam) and how to get to Alblasserdam by helicopter from there. Oceanco is also the yard that dismantles and rebuilds a Rotterdam bridge to allow Jeff Bezos’ sailing ship to pass. Steven Spielberg’s yacht, which is being finalized, does not require any special surgery.
Part of the criticism of the yacht sector is explained by this enormous luxury, according to Nefzi, among others. ‘We make very visible products, I understand that. If you buy a work of art for the same amount, it will hang in a depot somewhere and no one else will crow. We can’t do anything about rich and poor, that’s just the way it is. What we can do is translate that wealth into quality for our customers. And so part of their money ends up in the Netherlands, with craftsmen and craftsmen in the manufacturing industry. And whether that ultimately goes to the wrong owners? There is always a conflict somewhere in the world. We are extremely attentive to norms and values. We’re royal, after all.’