Tag Archives: yard time

The yachting industry has long held to the belief that a successful luxury yacht charter vessel can expect 12 weeks of charter business a year.  This expectation included both Caribbean yacht charter and Mediterranean yacht charter business.

Excluding the small sail boat charters that dominate the Caribbean market, in the world of megayacht and superyacht vessels, there are about 830 yachts 80 feet and larger available for a luxury yacht charter worldwide.  What might be surprising to many is this fact: some 600 of these vessels do no more than 3 or 4 weeks of chartering each year.

Thus, the upcoming Mediterranean yacht charter summer season has a lot riding on it for boat owners and captains who have — perhaps ill-fatedly from the start — factored 12 weeks of megayacht charter business into their calculations.

So what does a 52 week year in the life of a superyacht look like?  A recent industry survey breaks it down like this:
*Owner’s personal use – 6 weeks.
*Yard time (for repair and maintenance) and crossing time to reposition (Caribbean to the Mediterranean, etc.) – 26 weeks.
*Undesirable charter dates – 14 weeks
*Actual Possible Charter Time:  14 weeks.

Charter fleet managers believe there is a a realistic goal.  In specific, a luxury mega yacht charter vessel is no more than 8 weeks per year…

This entry was posted in Yacht Charter Frequently Asked Questions Educational and tagged yacht owners, How many weeks of charter should a superyacht do per year?, life of a superyacht, year of a superyacht, yard time, Superyacht, Megayacht