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Joined: 26/04/2010
Posts: 10
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Hello,
I have a vague question
here. How many weekly charters do yacht owners hope to get from their
yachts a year? I'm sure the answer to this will differ greatly ship
to ship but I would appreciate any answers.
Thanks!
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Joined: 14/01/2009
Posts: 1026
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I read somewhere....perhaps Camper and Nicholsen...that the average boat gets 4 weeks per year.
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Twelve is the magic number, more than that is quite busy and less is not as busy. 12 is average.
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Joined: 14/01/2009
Posts: 1026
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Industry analysis
http://www.luxuryboard.com/resource/resmgr/Industry_NewsData/CNI_SuperYachting_Index_09.pdf
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Joined: 26/04/2010
Posts: 10
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Thanks for your replys, its going to take some time to take in that market analysis!
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Joined: 01/06/2008
Posts: 1049
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Quick and dirty, in the 13th charter week of the year, a properly run vessel will typically start to show a profit. This is contingent on the owner not wanting to use the boat on the prime "High Rate" weeks and not starting with a vessel that requires an inordinate amount of repairs and refit to "get up to spec".
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Joined: 14/01/2009
Posts: 1026
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Very few yachts operate commercially year round. 13 weeks is an industrial strength charter yacht. I have heard of yachts doing twenty weeks in one year. These yachts are usually connected to business hospitality or promotion charter work. The typical Med yacht charters when " the kids" are out of school. To get 13 weeks would imply fully booked June,July and August...back to back...flat out with no port to port delivery time.. In a typical Med summer I will have 5 weeks of only transport, delivery work between cruises. I am en Route to the Aegean at present. 75 percent of all charters booked world wide are Med charters. I work a private yacht, but mates doing charter tell me that a back breaker season would be 6 weeks Med summer charter and a few winter Carib charters. Most yachts lie silent during the off Carib season. The C and N analysis might not include the vibrant Black Market charter scene and understate the market for the 25 meter class. By Black Market I mean no contract signed,no broker involved. South of France is full of them
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Joined: 01/06/2008
Posts: 1049
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I don't dispute any of that, which is why most boats never turn a profit. There are boats though that operate both the Med and Carib season hard core and do turn a profit. You pretty much need a crew rotation to do it though because as you say, it is quite wearing.
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Joined: 14/01/2009
Posts: 1026
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Very Much hype and dishonestly in the yacht brokerage side of the charter equation. Easy to promise that your yacht will do enough weeks to break even...very difficult to do. The reason you see so many sad mothballed yachts growing barnacles is that the owners took the the bait then morphed into Vladamire Bankruptski or Charles Checks in the Mail III when reallity hit them . For yacht crew don't fall for charter promises when negotiating salary. To many crew sign in on a low wage with the promise of charter tips... Its a looser
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Joined: 05/09/2008
Posts: 22
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In the BVI the average crewed charter boat goes out about 15 weeks a year and a busy one might do over 20... One year we did 26 weeks of regular old charter between November and August, that was insane. These top shelf charter boats (mostly 50-60 foot sailing catamarans), while nice, are basically workhorses. They make at least enough money to pay for the operation, but the owners are definitely not getting rich off of them. The crews who work hard are able to save a bunch... especially 'cause when you're busy you have no time to waste your tips on booze and strippers! The boats that do 4 or 5 charters are either a tax writeoff or a poor sucker's failing dream. Im sure the Med is a completely different story, as are the mega-yacht gin palaces that tour the Caribbean or sit alongside the wharf in St. Barts for weeks at a time.
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Joined: 26/11/2008
Posts: 9
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I run one of the busiest charter boats in the Med, 42 meter, and we have 10.5 weeks and will do 13 weeks before we are all done this season. This does not include owner use. The boat will probably make a profit on the books but I will spend a alot in the yard to keep the boat in charter shape. Back to back charters are hard work and not everyone can handle it. The boat has to be maintained to the highest standard or it will be a problem.
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Joined: 01/06/2008
Posts: 1049
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junior wrote:Very Much hype and dishonestly in the yacht brokerage side of the charter equation. Easy to promise that your yacht will do enough weeks to break even...very difficult to do.
The major mistruth is "You can have a yacht to use that pays for itself". While that is possible, what they should actually say is "You can have a yacht to use when nobody else wants to use it that pays for itself." The problem most people run into is that they want to use the boat during the same periods that people want to charter the boats. My advice to prospective buyers is always "It's really 'either or'. You are either making a business investment in a yacht and you treat it as business equipment, or you are spending your money on a personal luxury item. If you try for both, neither will work." Now many yachts are in "charter service" for taxation reasons, and never or rarely see a charter, that is their prerogative to do so and they aren't expecting an actual return on investment. However, it appears that governments are cracking down on that and arresting vessels for tax evasion, we'll see how this current situation plays out....
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