Yacht news

Cantiere delle Marche has launched Darwin 106 named Uptight. The 32m yacht was built for an American client with specific requests. The owner de­sired to have a re­li­able and com­fort­able ex­plorer yacht to en­joy month­s­long fish­ing ex­pe­di­tions in re­mote and un­con­t­a­m­i­nated seas. The fam­ily, who dreamed about going to Alaska, owns a few fish­er­man yachts and they wanted to add to their pri­vate fleet a slow dis­place­ment ves­sel to en­joy long ex­pe­di­tions from the moment the yacht leaves the quay to the fi­nal des­ti­na­tion. Fast trips to fish­ing spots and adren­a­line fish­ing ac­tiv­i­ties will be held by us­ing the yacht’s large ‘ten­der’, which is a real Amer­i­can Fish­er­man that will be towed dur­ing long trips.Up­tight is based on the naval plat­form of the Dar­win 102, de­signed, en­gi­neered and mod­i­fied by Ser­gio Cu­tolo/Hy­dro Tec to match her owner's re­quests. Ac­cord­ing to her owner’s wishes the yacht fea­tures a specif­i­cally de­signed lay­out with a ‘coun­try kitchen’ which opens onto the main sa­lon giv­ing the whole en­vi­ron­ment an in­for­mal at­mos­phere and, in­stead of a sky-lounge, the up­per deck hosts a panoramic master state­room. The most pe­cu­liar fea­ture of up­tight is un­doubt­edly the fish­ing cock­pit fit­ted as a sport­fish­er­man’s.The stern plat­form has been trans­formed into an en­closed cock­pit with a bul­wark. A ‘bat­tle sta­tion’ has been cen­trally placed in the cock­pit, and fish­ing will be car­ried in ‘stand up’ po­si­tion al­low­ing mul­ti­ple strikes to be man­aged at the same time, giv­ing more fun to the ‘fish­ing fam­ily’. A dou­ble Es­kimo ice maker with both salt and freshwater is in the main cock­pit along­side a few freez­ers lo­cated be­neath the sofa. In or­der to in­crease the range also in terms of food load­ing ca­pac­ity, the stor­age space has been im­proved and op­ti­mized for long term food con­ser­va­tion. An out­stand­ing in­te­rior lay­out makes the most out of the 255GT.The Uptight’s in­te­rior was penned by Francesco Guida. It fea­tures a large main sa­loon with loung­ing and din­ing ar­eas in di­rect con­nec­tion with the gal­ley lo­cated to port side. Three crew cab­ins are lo­cated on the main deck for­ward along­side a crew mess. Five guest cab­ins – two doubles, a large VIP and two twins – are on the lower deck. “We knew that our ex­plor­ers per­fectly fit­ted with Amer­i­can own­ers’ re­quire­ments as for vol­umes, spaces, ro­bust­ness, long range, tech­ni­cal re­li­a­bil­ity, func­tion­al­ity, no non­sense ap­proach and, last but not least, cus­tomer care and af­ter sale ser­vice. It has taken us a few years to pen­e­trate the Amer­i­can mar­ket but we made it, even­tu­ally, as sched­uled,” says Vasco Buon­pen­siere, co-founder and Sales & Mar­ket­ing Di­rec­tor at CdM. “The Owner of the Dar­win 106 has a great deal of ex­pe­ri­ence in yacht­ing and is as­sisted by a highly ex­pe­ri­enced team. This means a lot to us. It is proof that we are do­ing our job prop­erly com­bin­ing con­struc­tion and tech­ni­cal qual­i­ties with style and elegance.”To de­liver a top speed of 13 knots the dis­place­ment hull is fit­ted with twin Cater­pil­lar C18 Ac­ert 500kW each. The range of 4 700 nau­ti­cal miles can be reached at around 9.5 knots.CdM's story begins in 2010. The facilities cover an overall surface of 16˙000 square meters, including 7˙000 sq m of workshops and 1˙000 sq m of docks. Since 2015, the shipyard has been the world’s leading builder of explorer yachts. Based in Ancona, Cantiere delle Marche builds yachts from 26m to 43m in length.Credits: CdM

A huge fire broke out at 9.30 a.m. today in the yards of Ferretti Yacht in Cattolica. A boat that was being worked on in the warehouses about 30 meters long, one of the largest in production, caught fire. Several teams of the Rimini firefighters intervened on the spot and are still struggling with the flames at 11 even if the fire should be put out within a few hours. From the yacht the flames then spread to some nearby boats.Cattolica firefighters and carabinieri are still at work on the construction site, where the fire continues to burn. Soon for an estimate of the overall damage, which will certainly be huge, and to establish the causes of the fire. At the moment the most plausible hypothesis seems to be that of a malfunction of an electrical panel. Arpae is also on site for environmental surveys.A dozen workers, those closest to the fire, were visited by health personnel for an airway check after inhaling smoke. Fortunately no one was hurt. The Ferretti Group, led by Chief Executive Officer Alberto Galassi, is now one of the world’s leaders in the construction and sale of luxury yachts and pleasure vessels, with a unique portfolio of brands: Ferretti Yachts, Riva, Pershing, Itama, Mochi Craft, CRN, Custom Line and Wally.Credits: YouTube/Corriere Romagna

Heesen has shared the pictures of the 80m superyacht Galactica (Project Cosmos) on her way to the North Sea at the shipyard's Facebook. The superyacht was launched on Friday in the Netherlands. At 80 meters, with a gross tonnage of 1,700GT and a top speed of almost 30 knots, she is the biggest and fastest all-aluminium yacht ever built. A remarkable top speed of almost 30 knots is achieved thanks to the lightweight and low-drag hull design, honed to perfection by Heesen’s naval architects on an iteration of the Fast Displacement Hull Form devised by van Oossanen, and assembled, millimetre-perfect, by Heesen’s welders. Power comes from traditional, if highly refined, diesel propulsion – four engines, two gearboxes, variable-pitch propellers and ultra-innovative Promas rudders.Her elegant exterior comes from the renowned British studio of Winch Design. Clean lines, a sporty silhouette and the extensive use of glass create a timeless, dynamic profile, which will look as good in twenty years as it does today at launch. Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design was responsible for the light and soothing interior design that makes guests feel at home from the moment they step aboard. While the overall palette is neutral, splashes of a range of blue hues are infused into the design throughout. Galactica can accommodate up to 12 guests across six cabins. The master suite is located on the main deck, the VIP on the bridge deck and four cabins are placed on the lower deck. The crew of 19 people will assist them. She will be delivered to her owners in April 2022 after the intense sea trials in the North Sea.Heesen Yachts is a Dutch ship building company that specializes in custom-built superyachts in aluminium and steel from 30m to 70m in size. Founded in 1978, it has launched more than 170 yachts since its inception.Credits: Heesen Yachts Facebook (Dick Holthuis; Monique Gulickx)

Bremerhaven-based Lloyd Werft shipyard with 300 employees and the MV Werften in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 1900 employees filed for bankruptcy on Monday, January 10. Both are owned by the Asian conglomerate Genting Hong Kong. The cruise division of the Genting Group has been in trouble because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The MV Werften shipyard was bought by Genting in 2016. The troubles started with the completion of the €1.5 billion cruise ship project Global Dream, which can accommodate up to 10,000 passengers and 75 percent finished.Lloyd Werft The German government had earlier said it was willing to discuss a 600 million-euro ($678 million) bailout plan that would protect 1,900 jobs. But German officials made clear that they wanted Genting, which is majority-owned by Malaysian billionaire Lim Kok Thay, to contribute at least 10% to the rescue effort.“The German government did everything to prevent the insolvency of MV Werften and thereby save jobs,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck told German news agency dpa. “However, the owners rejected our offer of help; the bankruptcy application is the result.”MV WerftenThe Lloyd shipyard was founded in 1857 and in 2021 had launched the 140m superyacht Solaris. According to the DPA the federal and state governments would continue to discuss the shipyard’s future in the coming weeks.Concept ApexThere are potential buyers for the Lloyd shipyard – the Bremerhaven steel and shipbuilding group Rönner has expressed an interest. At the Monaco Yacht Show 2021 Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven and The A group revealed a 115 meter explorer concept Apex with a range of 9000 nautical miles.Credits: Lloyd Werft; MV Werften

Netherlands based shipyard Moonen Yachts has announced the sale of their 36m Moonen Martinique, YN201. Due for delivery later this year, YN201 is the fourth hull to be built on the Moonen Martinique platform and will incorporate all the best features of her sister ships that came before her.The YN201 exterior was made by Dutch designer René van der Velden and naval architecture by Diana Yacht Design. "Having looked at multiple shipyards and what they had to offer, the choice to choose Moonen was simple. A beautiful boat with very high build quality, smart design and layout. Add to that a great team and the decision was easy. I can't wait to see the final product," says the new owner.The 36m superyacht can accommodate 12 guests and seven crew. She features the full beam master stateroom, large guest cabins, spacious crew quarters, and a 65 sq. m sun deck, providing her owners with an extra 2.5 meters of space on-board. At the owner's request the steel aluminum yacht will also feature a fully integrated hydraulic swim platform, which is ideal for scuba diving. Her design focuses on creating the perfect balance between indoor and outdoor living, and to accentuate her beauty and style, her interiors will be executed by Andreas Martin-Löf Arkitekter to create a beautifully balanced and fully customized Scandinavian design. A2B Marine Projects is heading up the owners team with Christian Poorte as owner's representative.Moonen Yachts is a yacht builder based in the Netherlands, and its first yacht was built in 1964 under the original yard name of De Ruiter. In 1981, the yard was renamed Moonen Shipyards. It’s launching its first vessel under new ownership: Alhena. In 2017 Moonen Shipyards changed into Moonen Yachts. With the help of strong vision, innovative technology and new designers, Moonen is once again becoming the market leader in 30m to 50m luxury yachts.Credits: Moonen Yachts