Decision power
The Crew Report’s Superyacht Golden Ticket survey revealed that 57.3 per cent of crew are heavily involved in their yachts’ refits and 45.3 per cent revealed they have influence in where an owner’s yacht goes for its refit.…
When an owner’s superyacht is in the shipyard, its crew plays a crucial role. The Crew Report’s Superyacht Golden Ticket crew survey revealed that 57.3 per cent of crew are heavily involved in their yachts’ refits while a meager 1.8 per cent of crew have no involvement. Moreover, 45.3 per cent of crew told The Crew Report they have influence in where an owner’s yacht goes for its refit. There’s certainly a bit of power in the crews’ hands, so we think it only fair to share with you their experiences of being in the shipyard with owners’ assets.
Of that 45.3 per cent of crew who said they have influence over where a yacht goes for its refit, the power lies mainly with captains and chief engineers. 85.9 per cent of captains have this leverage, as do 55.6 per cent of chief engineers. Having said this, both captains and chief engineers are more likely to influence this decision when it is based around a motoryacht – sailing yacht crew generally have a smaller part to play in this decision.
45.3 per cent of crew told The Crew Report they have influence in where an owner’s yacht goes for its refit.
So when an owner entrusts the responsibility of choosing a refit yard to his or her crew, what are the factors that make this decision? There is little argument; 60.5 per cent of crew base this decision on their own personal experience of the shipyard. Perhaps surprisingly, cost plays a minor role, with just 15.7 per cent of crew attributing this as the most important factor when choosing a refit yard.
Cost plays an even lesser role in the context of a new build. Of the 22.4 per cent of crew who claim they have influence over the yard of a build (76 per cent of whom are captains and 5.2 per cent chief engineers), while personal past experience of the yard is still the most important factor (49 per cent of crew said this) cost drops from the second most important factor in a refit to the third most important factor in a build, coming after the recommendation of the shipyard by industry colleagues.
If there’s one message that has come from the crew, however, it’s more time. In the current market we’re seeing refits last, on average, up to six moths (47.7 per cent of crew said named this the length of their last refit; 33 per cent said it lasted up to two months, 10.6 per cent up to a year and 8.6 per cent more than a year); however, when we asked crew what would have made their last refit experience better the most popular response was more time (followed by more honesty about both time and cost).
To view the above info graphic in high resolution please click here.
A detailed analysis of the results of the Superyacht Golden Ticket survey will be included in the Monaco Yacht Show issue (Issue 75) of The Crew Report.
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