18 Percent Increase in Megayacht Construction for 2008
by Carol BareutherThe Superyacht Century has definitely arrived. According to ShowBoats International’s 2008 Global Order Book, the number of new orders for large luxury yachts has risen steadily throughout the past decade.
As of September 1, 2007, approximately 916 new yachts measuring 80 feet and longer currently are in build or are scheduled for construction at shipyards throughout the world. This is a 17.9 percent increase over last year’s tally of 777 yachts, and nearly four times the 241 orders reported in 1997, when ShowBoats first added yachts from 80 to 89 feet to its annual megayacht survey. If you were to line up these 916 new yacht orders bow to stern, they would stretch for 21.5 miles.
The Global Order Book yacht listings are compiled via a survey of shipyards and by consulting other yachting industry sources around the world. The authors noted one challenge this year. That is, more yacht owners were binding builders with confidentiality agreements and therefore key builders were only able to provide partial information. For example, well-known Dutch boatbuilders, Feadship, are reportedly building twice as many yachts as the company will admit to in print.