Owners of luxury yachts know all too well what level of investment they have made in their vessels.
Consequently, when a yacht owner needs to relocate the yacht due to seasonal location preferences or one-way journeys, the need arises for a qualified third party to step in and transport the craft.
What to Consider for Your Yacht Delivery
Before handing that major investment over to a company, the yacht owner needs to consider four important factors:
- Does the company have experience moving/relocating yachts?
- What credentials does the captain who will pilot the boat have?
- Who will coordinate pickup and delivery?
- How safe is the delivery method?
Whether the boat is being delivered for a yacht owner or a dealer who sold the boat, the professionals at Onyx will exercise extreme care in getting the vessel from Point A to Point B.
Effective boat transportation services require a strategy. That strategy is customized for every yacht owner because no situation is the same. Before transporting the boat, a detailed inspection of the vessel documents its condition.
Three factors will determine the cost of using a yacht delivery service:
- Size of the vessel – Yachts come in various sizes and that size will determine what equipment is required to make the move.
- Boat weight – Though related to size, the weight of the boat is not always commensurate with the size. Weight is also a function of boat design and materials used in construction. If truck transport is used, weight becomes a critical factor in determining what size and type of truck is needed.
- Location – As with real estate, location is everything. We handle seasonal yacht repositioning from Florida and the Caribbean to points north. Some yacht owners move their vessels from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. One-way deliveries are necessary when yacht owners want to sail to the islands in the Caribbean or the Bahamas and then fly back home after a vacation.
The type of boat transportation varies for several reasons, including repositioning for boat shows, delivery to new owners, transfers between dealerships, seasonal repositioning, delivery to a boatyard for repairs, holiday and vacation delivery and return, and vessel to port delivery.
Trust Your Yacht Delivery to our Captains
Our captains are seasoned veterans at the helm who hold USCG master’s licenses and are fully qualified to pilot your vessel. We recruit only the highest echelon of captains who have the experience and knowledge necessary to deliver your yacht safely and on schedule at the appointed time and place. We verify their licenses and experience and ensure that they have the knowledge and personality to provide you with the service that you expect.
Additionally, we run thorough background checks on all of our Captains. It’s our goal to ensure that we have the best crew to protect your investment.
Depending on your vessel and the origin and destination of your shipment, the two most viable methods of repositioning your vessel are Ocean Transport and Land Transport. While overland transport is a viable option in many cases, we know our expertise and we focus entirely on overwater yacht deliveries. It’s important to us that we focus on those areas that match our expertise and our experience.
Using industry best practices and cutting-edge technology, the professionals at Onyx consider the logistics of each transport from all angles, ensuring that your yacht receives premium care and handling.
Know the Yacht Market
We use only thoroughly vetted, experienced drivers to handle our shipments. The transport of a yacht is a specialized field with specific equipment, knowledge of permitting requirements, and a driver behind the wheel who has done it many times before. The equipment we use ranges from tri-axle bunk trailers to special lowboy boat haulers for oversized vessels requiring high clearances.
Moving or repositioning a yacht in today’s economic climate can be a challenge. The industry is experiencing a boom period wherein yachts and many other vessels have become more costly and sometimes difficult to find due to manufacturing shortages.
One boat dealership displayed signs warning would-be customers to “buy now before they are gone.”
Customers looking to buy new boats are facing wait times from three to six months or even longer for special orders.
A report in the New York Times said boating saw a rise in demand at the beginning of the pandemic and that rise has continued. Yachts and other boats offer a way for people to enjoy the outdoors and spend time with family while socially distancing from the crowds.
Adding to the shortage is reduced production in the supply chain that has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels. Factories that shut down during the pandemic are struggling to return to previous production output levels.
Yatco, an international database of all yachts for sale and for charter, reports that sale prices and charter rates have increased significantly from their pre-pandemic levels.
Sales of boats under 50 feet are up 27 percent from 2019 and 35 percent over last year. Sales of larger yachts have increased as well, with yachts over 150 feet up 62 percent from last year and 47 percent from 2019.
“We’ve seen a seismic shift,” said Steven Myers, founder, and chief executive of Yatco. “Across the industry, there’s been a surge in sales and charters.”
According to a report in the Financial Times, the demand for superyachts has rarely been stronger.
“Since we came out of the first lockdown [last summer], the market has been absolutely booming to levels far in excess of before we went into lockdown,” said Antony Sheriff, chief executive of Plymouth-based Princess Yachts.
The success story is echoed by yacht makers across Europe. Ferretti, a shipbuilder based in Forli in northern Italy, delivered a record 56 yachts in the first quarter and said the “fantastic acceleration” in orders defied forecasts.
According to BoatInternational.com, rising global wealth is likely to feed any increased demand for superyachts over the next three years, with new-build sales expected to rise by 11 percent.
The number of newbuilds sold is predicted to grow by 310 units in the five-year period ending 2024, compared with the previous five-year period, according to a report by Technavio.
New-build deliveries slowly declined from a high of 481 in 2007 but peaked again in 2019 with 366 deliveries, BOAT Pro data showed.
While deliveries have seen peaks and valleys in recent decades, climbing from a low of 268 in 2000, lengths have remained stable, with the average size of a delivered yacht sitting at around 115 feet.
“The market has witnessed steady growth in the high-net-worth individual (HNWI) population over the past few years,” said Technavio’s report.
“In addition, the expanding middle-class income group and growing consumer interest in the purchase of luxury products are expected to have a positive impact on the growth of the luxury yacht market during the forecast period of 2019–2024.”
The HNWI population increased by 48 percent in North America between 2011 and 2018, with similar gains in Europe and other territories.
All of which foretells a bright future for the yacht industry. More new yacht owners are entering the market and exploring the oceans, Intracoastal waterways, lakes, rivers, and bays from the Caribbean, Bahamas, Gulf of Mexico, and up and down the East Coast of the United States.
You Can Trust Our Team With Your Yacht
New boat owners, dealers delivering boats, yachts being repositioned, vessels being shipped to a boatyard for repairs, holiday and vacation delivery and return – all these scenarios call for a company that can deliver your yacht to its destination safely and efficiently and skippered by an experienced captain and crew who know the waters they are sailing and how to deliver your prized investment in shipshape condition.
That’s the commitment you will get from Onyx.
