Beyond the harbours of habit: mapping luxury yachting’s new territories
© West Nautical
As superyacht horizons stretch from Greenland’s ice fields to Dubai’s scorching marinas, industry veterans from West Nautical decode for Monaco Tribune a market transformed by younger fortunes and longer voyages.
The Mediterranean’s azure playground no longer holds monopoly over the dreams of the ultra-wealthy. In Monaco’s yacht brokerages, where deals worth hundreds of millions change hands over champagne and handshakes, a fascinating metamorphosis unfolds. The traditional superyacht – that floating palace designed for a week’s Mediterranean sojourn – finds itself sharing harbour space with ice-class explorers built for Arctic adventures and sleek speed demons crafted for the adrenaline-seeking entrepreneur.
The great diversification: from floating palaces to polar explorers
“Twenty-five years ago, there was only one type of boat,” reflects Andrey Lomakin, CEO of West Nautical Group, speaking from the Fairmont Monte Carlo during this year’s Monaco Yacht Show. His observation captures a seismic shift in marine luxury. Where once stood a monolithic market of classical vessels – those stately ships where wealthy families entertained guests along predictable Riviera routes – now flourishes an ecosystem as varied as the automotive world itself.
The numbers tell their own story: shipyards like Sanlorenzo report zero availability until 2029, while builders from Benetti to Cantiere delle Marche pivot toward explorer yachts equipped with ice-class hulls and fuel reserves that would shame a small navy. These aren’t mere boats; they’re autonomous kingdoms capable of reaching Greenland’s forbidden fjords or Australia’s remote atolls, carrying enough provisions to outlast a polar winter.
The COVID calendar: when yachts became countries
Perhaps no phenomenon better illustrates the industry’s evolution than the transformation of usage patterns. The pandemic didn’t just change how people worked – it revolutionised how they lived at sea. “Before, owners would come for one or two weeks per year,” notes Andrey Lomakin. “Now they’re spending two, three, four, even five months aboard.”
Simon Gibson, West Nautical’s European sales director, frames this shift through the lens of connectivity: “Working trends have completely changed. It doesn’t matter where you are.” The yacht has evolved from a status symbol gathering dust in Port Hercule to a floating headquarters where billion-dollar deals close against backdrops of Antarctic icebergs or Polynesian sunsets.
The wellness wave: from wine cellars to weight rooms
In this new maritime order, the hierarchy of spaces aboard these vessels has been radically rewritten. Where once the wine cellar and formal dining room commanded premium square footage, today’s buyers demand different luxuries. “The gym has become the third most important area,” Andrey Lomakin observes, “after the main salon and master suite.”
Consider the 67-meter vessel currently under construction that West Nautical is managing – its wellness center spans 100 square meters, rivalling the fitness facilities of luxury hotels. This isn’t merely about treadmills facing ocean views; it’s about a fundamental reimagining of what constitutes luxury in an age where longevity has become the ultimate status symbol.
The sustainability paradox: green dreams, diesel reality
Yet for all the conference rhetoric about sustainable yachting that dominate this year’s Monaco Yacht Show, the industry’s environmental awakening proceeds at a pace more glacial than explosive. “Not as fast as you would think,” Simon Gibson admits when pressed about client demand for eco-friendly vessels.
The real catalyst for change may come not from conscience but from restriction. Already, certain pristine waters forbid anchor drops, demanding battery power for station-keeping. As more nations implement maritime environmental zone — marine equivalents of London’s low-emission districts — the industry may find itself forced into a green evolution it has so far only flirted with.
Monaco’s eternal magnetism
Despite the geographical diversification of both buyers and cruising grounds, Monaco maintains its gravitational pull on the industry. “It is the center of yachting people,” Gibson emphasises, dismissing predictions from a decade ago that virtual tours and digital platforms would render yacht shows obsolete. Instead, in an age of artificial everything, the value of authentic human connection has only intensified.
As West Nautical expands its footprint from Newcastle to Dubai, with Monaco as its new European retail hub, the company’s trajectory mirrors the industry itself: growing not just in numbers but in sophistication, serving clients who no longer view their vessels as mere toys but as extensions of their increasingly fluid, borderless lives.