Adapt or die

Last year’s Superyacht Forum in Amsterdam hosted an unprecedented meeting of minds when Peter Lürssen, CEO of Lürssen, stepped on stage with Henk de Vries, CEO of Feadship.

Peter Lürssen leads one of the most ambitious superyacht manufacturers in the world. Lürssen, a shipyard that has presented so many of the largest and most groundbreaking motoryachts ever constructed, is now looking ahead to the delivery of its first zero-emissions methanol-powered project and the next evolution of the legendary shipyard.

“My grandfather built the world’s first motorboat in 1886. My dream is to be the first to build a yacht without a combustion engine,” says Lürssen.

The shipyard has a 148-year-old history that bears witness to its commitment to breaking records in the newbuild sector. On its website, the company details how it built the first motorboat in 1886, the world’s fastest commuter yacht in 1927, the longest yacht in the world in 2015 and the biggest yacht in the world in 2016. Therefore, as reputations in the new-build sector go, it’s not a bad one.

Feadship was founded in 1949, and since then the company has built well over 300 yachts and it is one of the main instigators of the saying ‘If it ain’t Dutch, it ain’t much’. It was under De Vries’s leadership that Feadship became a true global leader in the industry. Since he took over as CEO in 1996, Feadship has gone from strength to strength.

De Vries is the fourth generation of his family to take a leading role in the construction of superyachts at the storied shipyard, and the Feadship CEO is now guiding the iconic builder into the future. Deliveries such as the hybrid pioneering Savannah and Viva have made waves in the industry, and the shipyard is now moving forward with boundary-pushing concepts such as Slice, which debuted at the Monaco Yacht Show 2022.

The superyacht industry is one of the most exclusive and luxurious industries in the world, with a global economic impact that is worth billions. Having influential figures such as De Vries and Lürssen come together to share their ideas and insights can only help to foster collaboration and cooperation between stakeholders.

Both are integral partners of Water Revolution Foundation and share a vision for a sustainable future for the sector; therefore, much of the conversation is centred around sustainability. A discussion between two millionaires about environmentalism at a superyacht event that 600 people travelled to get to may seem counter-intuitive, but the candour and transparency provided would surely have been of benefit to many delegates and their own aspirations for a sustainable future.

Lürssen admitted, “The problem is almost too big for any one of us to solve. When Henk sent me an email about the Water Revolution Foundation I thought, ‘Oh dear God, not another club’.”

De Vries replied, “Only three years ago, I think the majority of yachties were still completely conventional in their thinking about propulsion, energy, fuels and things like that. That is changing rapidly. And I take great pride in the little foundation that we started. I look at big industries because I have an economic background. I look at them with great interest and I look at governments with great interest. But most of the leaders of these enormous firms and nations, regardless of what they say, don’t have a clue.

“However, I believe that we are not so clueless. What helps us is that we are dealing with the most powerful and most inspired people in the world as our clients. Some billionaires we work with earn more in a single hour than we make in an entire year. So we are in a unique position. Not only can our clients afford it, but we can challenge the things that they want to purchase. And, in that interaction, beautiful things can happen.”

Lürssen added, “At the end of the day, if you want to experience luxury, then you are going to have to pay for it because you are putting a burden on the planet. And it’s not only about paying for it because you can afford it. It is simply not smart to not make products that aren’t as clean as possible. Realistically, when you’re really old, do you want to look at your children and say, ‘I didn’t really try to do the right thing’? That’s part of it.”

The conversation peaked halfway through when De Vries poignantly stated that the theme for the event should not be ‘Evolve or Repeat’ but rather ‘Adapt or Die’. When it comes to making the newbuild sector more sustainable, a large part of that responsibility obviously rests on millennials are not as interested in philanthropy as other generations in the ultra-high-wealth bracket. This is down to the fact that they are more likely to be focusing on their careers during the early professional stages of their lives.

However, as their net worth rises along with their age, they become increasingly likely to want to spend their accumulated wealth on personal and emotive ambitions. The drive to give back to society and leave a legacy tends to come to those who are wiser and more experienced.

Lürssen even went as far as to float the has been a dramatic rise in the number of global UHNWIs, while the superyacht fleet growth has been comparatively incremental.

Therefore, the performance of the financial elite is not a barometer for the success of the yacht market, and while many businesses will continue to dazzle with full order books and high turnovers, profit margins will continue to be squeezed by high inflation, the energy crisis and ongoing issues with the supply chain.

In a recent interview with Chris Anderson for TED, Musk was questioned on the disparity between billionaires and the average US citizen. Musk replied, “I don’t own a home, I stay at friends’ houses. I don’t have a yacht, and I really don’t take vacations, so it’s not as though my personal consumption is high. I mean, the one exception is a plane, but if I don’t use the plane, then I have fewer hours to work.”

If there’s one thing that a billionaire can’t buy, it’s image and reputation, and these are particularly important if you have a high public profile and rely on your charismatic entrepreneurial personality to influence change. It appears that Musk, who utilises his fluency in the language of the internet to appear relatable, has deemed yachts as being something purely for personal consumption and, therefore, not fitting his own raison d’etre.

Of course, the opinion and lifestyle of one individual won’t have an impact on the entire superyacht industry which has a proven record of accommodating some of the biggest philanthropists in the world. Many of the most innovative superyachts aren’t used only for leisure; they are floating homes, offices, expedition platforms or even laboratories in some instances.

It would be relatively pessimistic to say that there isn’t a chance the industry can evolve and become more appealing to someone such as Musk in his later years. The late Steve Jobs, another famous workaholic and visionary, was only a few years older than Musk when he commissioned Feadship to build the iconic Venus

Similarly, Jeff Bezos, the second richest person in the world, appears undeterred by the current struggles that may come with owning one of the world’s largest sailing superyachts. Even Leonardo DiCaprio, arguably Hollywood's biggest spokesperson for climate change and environmental relief, enjoys an annual charter in St Barths.

After this riveting opening keynote discussion between these two industry giants, Lürssen, who was also our headline partner, once again referred to the work of Water Revolution Foundation. “Feadship are real competitors. I would like to have some of his [De Vries’s] clients, and he would like to have some of mine but, initially, it was a leap of faith from both sides to say, ‘OK, let’s do this together’.”

It’s somewhat indicative of the superyacht industry’s rigid nature that this was the first time the two have shared a stage. On a more positive note, it’s also evident that there’s now much more communication at the top of the yachting food chain. The collaboration of the industry’s top brass is essential to its evolution, and in the coming years we can hopefully begin to see the benefits of this new-found appreciation for transparency and candour in yachting. MS