Why the super rich want a Dutch superyacht

If you ask superyacht salesman Victor Caminada what is the most extravagant request he’s received in his twenty-five years in this world, he has to think for a moment. Because he’s used to luxury, so he doesn’t look up so quickly from a bathroom made of imported marble, a swimming pool or helipad. “I think that time a customer asked if we could build a lawn for his dog, so that he had his own outdoor garden on board.”

You have to imagine the glamor of the superyacht world for yourself, this drizzly weekday morning on an industrial estate in North Brabant. Here is the shipyard of Moonen Yachts (20 million euros turnover, 38 employees), the company where Caminada works. Since 2019 it has been owned by wealthy Australian business couple Louise and Matthew Baxter. The skeleton of a superyacht is under construction in a shed tens of meters high. Groups of men are busy on the surrounding scaffolding with drills, sanders and paint sprayers. Business is going well, Caminada says. Normally they sell one boat a year. Now there are two – in the first month of this year.

With a blissful smile, marketing colleague Ali Woodall walks through the three floors of the ship, which is 36 meters long and 8 meters wide. “Imagine: there will soon be art on the wall here, there will be a walk-in closet,” she says in the master bedroom. What do you do during a day on such a superyacht? “Having breakfast on one deck, reading a book on the other. For lunch you moor at a nice restaurant. And when the sun goes down, the crew will prepare a tasty cocktail for you to drink in the jacuzzi at the very top. The world is your oyster.”

Woodall continues on to future guest rooms, the captain’s cabin, the crew room where there will soon be bunk beds. Then her look gets serious. “A superyacht offers an escape from the unfortunate situation of the world right now. It is the way to experience both seclusion and freedom in close proximity to loved ones.”

The demand for Dutch superyachts – usually 30 meters and longer – seems greater than ever. Sixteen were ordered in 2019, for a total of 1.05 billion euros, a year later there were 27, worth 2 billion euros, according to Netherlands Maritime Technology. The trade association expects the figures for the past year to be even higher. This concerns both motor yachts (about 90 percent) and sailing yachts (the rest). There are currently 61 superyachts under construction in the Netherlands.

Luxury export product

Superyacht building is a mysterious industry. This month she made the world news because of the rumor that a Rotterdam bridge may be dismantled next summer so that the megayacht of tech billionaire Jeff Bezos, the richest man on earth, can pass. Bezos is having a 127-meter sailing yacht built for 437 million euros at Oceanco in Alblasserdam, South Holland, a shipbuilder owned by an Omani billionaire. (Oceanco does not respond to questions from this newspaper.)

Bezos is not alone. The richest man in Europe, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, sails around on a hundred-meter motor yacht from Royal van Lent from Kaag in South Holland – the French luxury house owns this boat builder. Earlier, the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov and ex-President Donald Trump ordered a superyacht in the Netherlands – although the latter was never completed.

If France has champagne, Italy has fashion and Russia has caviar, then the superyacht is the Dutch luxury export product. Why is the Netherlands so successful in this, and why are these types of boats so popular right now?

“The Netherlands has traditionally been a shipbuilding country,” says Arnold de Bruijn of Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT). “We have a lot of knowledge in house. In a very small space you will find everything needed to make a superyacht: many architects, engineers, builders and workmen, who do not shy away from complicated requests. The sixteen yards and their hundred suppliers form a close network, the lines are short.”

The Dutch way of doing business is also internationally appreciated, says De Bruijn. “A deal is a deal, we deliver on time. As a result, Dutch yacht yards have a good reputation.” Competitors, says De Bruijn, are Italy (which mainly builds a lot) and Germany (especially large.)

The good reputation of the Netherlands, says Victor Caminada, has a self-reinforcing effect: whoever wants to buy a quality yacht, asks around in his network and soon ends up in the so-called Yacht Valley. Buyers are willing to pay for the quality, he says – Dutch yachts are considered the most expensive in the world.

Of the more than 5,400 existing superyachts, 663 have been built in the Netherlands, according to figures from the Superyacht Times platform. Most Dutch yachts are built for export. Buyers come from America (36 percent), Europe (23 percent) and Russia (16). Only 6 percent is Dutch.

In the spring of 2020, with the outbreak of corona, the industry held its breath for a while. Would there be another crisis, such as after the September 11 attacks and the financial collapse of 2008? But the reverse happened. The number of orders actually started to increase enormously; a superyacht turned out to be the perfect place to sit out the pandemic in all luxury and privacy. This is evident from figures from the London-based yacht platform Vessels Value – which, incidentally, already calls boats from 24 meters superyachts. In 2019, 481 were sold worldwide, a year later there were 508 and in 2021 there were even 984 superyachts sold – almost doubling.

A superyacht turned out to be the perfect place to sit out the pandemic in all luxury and privacy

“On such a superyacht you literally create your own bubble”, says Victor Caminada of Moonen Yachts. “I think people have started to see that a yacht is a good alternative to a villa or hotel during the pandemic.” His second explanation is the increase in the number of super-rich. “The popularity of superyachts follows the economic situation.”

The economic recovery that is fully visible after the corona crisis has made the rich of the earth even richer. business magazine Forbes last year, there were 2,755 billionaires – 660 more than in 2020. There were also more than five million millionaires, according to figures from Credit Suisse†

These people seek status symbols and luxury toys to express their wealth. For a new motor yacht of 36 meters you pay an average of 18 to 19 million euros, says Ralph Dazert of magazine SuperYacht Times† “For a motor yacht of about fifty meters you quickly go to double, and above that it goes very fast. For a yacht of 75 meters you quickly go over 100 million.” Maintenance also carries a hefty price tag: about 10 percent of the purchase price annually.

Small Submarines

The buyers are getting younger, says Caminada: many new tech billionaires like a floating status symbol. Where in the past you first bought a smaller yacht and then went a step bigger, this group immediately starts with a large one, he says.

In the meantime, Dutch yards have grown in line with the wishes of their customers – the length of a yacht under construction now averages 64 meters, according to figures from NMT. Although they also run up against the limits of the Dutch infrastructure: the yachts are built in such a way that they fit exactly through locks and bridges when sailing, often with only centimeters of clearance.

Another change: “Due to travel restrictions, people sometimes buy a boat without seeing it before. The contact is digital,” says Caminada. Boats with extra storage space are also in demand due to the pandemic, in order to last longer in a remote place. For rich young people, a healthy lifestyle is important, so they ask for a yoga studio or gym on board.

Another new trend, Caminada says, is yachts with small submarines. “There is a lot to experience underwater: diving to wrecks, sailing along coral reefs.”

There is a downside to the popularity of these ‘floating palaces’: they have become symbols of the gap between rich and poor – which has only widened during the pandemic. In March 2020, American billionaire David Geffen posted a photo to Instagram from his superyacht. “Isolated in the Grenadines to avoid the virus. I hope everyone is safe.” the tone deaf post led to angry reactions, to which Geffen temporarily took his account offline†

And the recent news about Jeff Bezos’ mega yacht also touches a nerve. Bloomberg news agency quoted the Rotterdam GroenLinks councilor Stephan Leeuwis: “This man has earned his money by squeezing out staff. [en] evading taxes and regulations, and now we have to tear down our beautiful national monument? That is really going a bridge too far.” We live in a world where ordinary citizens and their bridges are just a toy in the lives of the super-rich, commented Ewald Engelen, professor of financial geography. in The Green Amsterdammer† It was announced on Facebook as an event for next summer to throw rotten eggs at Bezos’ yacht as it sails through Rotterdam.

Victor Caminada of Moonen Yachts understands the fuss about Bezos’ yacht. “That you think: act normal, especially at a time when prices are rising due to inflation.” But, he says: “I think a superyacht is the best thing a billionaire can buy to get rid of his money. Because you can’t really get anything more expensive. And the money flows back into the Dutch economy. Do you know how many families can eat by building one such yacht? It involves an enormous network of people who build it and supply materials.”

Do you know how many families can eat by building one such yacht?

Victor Caminada Seller Moonen Yachts

Arnold de Bruijn of NMT: “More than 3,300 people work in the superyacht industry, not to mention the suppliers. I think we can be proud of this sector and proud of our Rotterdam bridges. From a technical point of view, it is not difficult to dismantle De Hef, and the bill would lie with the yard itself.”

The super-rich themselves probably didn’t get much of the fuss: during the European winter season, most superyachts head to Asia or the Caribbean, where the sun shines.

Moonen Yachts is now looking for a new location. Caminada: „The requests for our yachts are increasing. We are looking for a construction site near a movable bridge.”