Alisher Usmanov’s Dilbar is currently stuck in Hamburg.Photo: Wikipedia
Wars in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia could affect the Dutch superyacht industry, which has relied heavily on Russian customers in recent years.
According to the magazine Superyacht Times, Russian customers account for 9% of luxury yacht sales and 13.2% of boats over 40 meters.
Among the largest suppliers are Dutch manufacturers such as Male Heesen Yachts, Brabant, Vlissingen’s Damen Yachting and Alblasserdam’s Oceanco.
The last company was recently in the news to build a 127m yacht for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The yacht was so large that it was possible to temporarily dismantle the historic bridge at Rotterdam and bring it to the sea.
But losing Russian customers will hurt boat builders like Heesen, who are currently finishing up a 100 million euro yacht commissioned by Azerbaijani businessman Vagit Alekperov.
Alekperov, a former Deputy Minister of Oil and Gas of the Soviet Union, is now the president of the Russian oil company Lukoil, but he is not currently included in the Russian businessmen and oligarchs on the European Union sanctions list. Hmm.
“Major impact”
According to the research website Follow the Money, Heesen also built a boat for Russian retail giant Igor Kasaev and oil exploration billionaire Alexander Dzhaparidze, with two Russians on the board of auditors. ..
Spokeswoman Sara Joanora said: It will have a big impact on the industry. “
Damen Yachting is currently working on two orders for Russian customers and built a boat for Tinkoff Bank founders Dzhaparidze and Oleg Tinkov, who were convicted of tax evasion in the United States last year.
Spokesman Robin Midelt said there have been no other orders from Russia recently and the company’s customers are not on the sanctions list. “We’ll see what happens. We’re dealing with sliding doors,” he said.
Oceanco built a € 290 million Nirvana for banker and art collector Vladimir Potanin.
Seized vessels
Since the start of the invasion, several Russian-owned superyachts have been confiscated by European port authorities. Amore Bello, built by Oceanco, owned by Igor Setin, chairman of Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, was detained at the port of La Ciotat in France last week.
Also, a € 550 million yacht owned by Uzbekistan-born Kommersant publisher Alisher Usmanov, Dilbar is currently under repair at the Port of Hamburg.
Hamburg’s economic authorities denied reports that the boat had been confiscated, but a spokesman told Reuters:
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