Denison Yachting reports increased charter and brokerage activity
The positive numbers are attributed to the impact that the pandemic has had on the US yachting market…
By the end of 2020, Denison Yachting had experienced one of its best years in terms of yacht sales and charter bookings, and is still riding that wave into 2021. As Ben Farnborough, superyacht director at Denison Yachting, explains, the company has already surpassed 2020 in terms of charter bookings in just the first quarter (Q1) of this year.
“On the charter management side, we’ve already received 25 more charter bookings than we did in the whole of the calendar year last year,” he says. “And 2020 was strangely a really good year in terms of charter bookings, even in spite of the cancellations caused by the pandemic. In terms of revenue, we're currently up 35 per cent on wholesale charter bookings this year compared to all of 2020.”
“We are getting a lot more enquiries from the large, European-based brokerage houses because their US clients can’t travel to the Med where a lot of their charter fleet is based...”
Farnborough largely attributes this uptick to Denison’s growing charter fleet, which includes some newer inventory, as well as an increase in demand for charters in US waters and the nearby Bahamas. “We are getting a lot more enquiries from the large, European-based brokerage houses because their US clients can’t travel to the Med where a lot of their charter fleet is based,” he explains. “Our charter fleet is largely based in the US, so they are approaching us for local alternatives.”
While the numbers are not quite as high for Denison’s retail charter bookings, they are still tracking to be well ahead of 2020. “We are starting to book charters in the Mediterranean again, which is really encouraging, and obviously those boats are in the process of figuring out where they can be,” Farnborough adds. “As countries open up, boats are moving to the areas they know that they can go to and being made available for charter.”
Denison’s brokerage sales are also booming. In 2020, Denison sold 65 yachts over 24m and, in Q1 of 2021, Denison has sold 40 yachts over 24m, surpassing Q1 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively. The company’s first half-year numbers are also looking to be very strong. “The pandemic just got people wanting to go out and buy a boat, and it seems as if this trend has carried into this year as well,” Farnborough concludes.
Image courtesy of Denison Yachting
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