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The Mariner
The Mariner
E
ach year, around 33,000 players in the yachting industry
make a beeline for the principality of Monaco, where the
per capita income of residents is said to be the highest
in the world, to network, to trade and to admire the latest sleek
designs and accoutrements of luxury yachts.
This is no ordinary trade show, however. It is serious business
– some 500 companies exhibit here, with more than 100
superyachts and megayachts afloat to be admired, bought and
sold.The main interest tends to come from the brokers – with
clients to represent – who are here to assess the latest in design,
styling and build.
Perhaps its no surprise to learn that the word ‘shipbuilding’,
with its connotations of heavy industry and lumbering oil
tankers, is rarely, if ever, uttered amid the cobbled streets of the
principality.The buzzwords instead are naval architecture and
marine engineering.
Southampton-based yacht manufacturers BMT Nigel Gee Ltd is
reckoned to be in the top six yacht builders worldwide and will
be exhibiting at the show.
The firm’s yacht design director, James Roy, says: ‘The first thing
to explain is that the superyacht world is somewhat fragmented.
The stylists and designers who chose the look and the fit-out of
the yacht are closest to the clients in deciding how the yacht will
look.That said, they are not engineers so they come to us – we
effectively support the stylists, who come direct to the shipyard
once the design has been signed off.’
Exclusively so? No, concedes Roy, but eight times out of 10, we
The Monaco Yacht Show is perhaps the biggest event in
the calendar for those looking to buy something exceptional
Words: Eugene Costello
Full speed ahead
The Monaco Yacht Show
attracts interest from stylists
and designers, but particularly
brokers with clients to please
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