The latest episode of The Superyacht Forum Live Tour is out now. Episode Two of the Amsterdam leg of the tour showcases some of the highlights from a day that shined a light on environmental, social and governance issues in all forms across the superyacht industry. Through a mixture of keynote sessions, panel discussions and networking opportunities, delegates and speakers wrestled with the many ways that the industry needs to change in the lead up to 2030.

“Do you ever think that you will say [to buyers] that you are no longer selling conventional diesel engines,” probed Martin Redmayne, Chairman of The Superyacht Group in a session called Fuelling the future: what makes sense in next-generation power.

“Hopefully by 2025-2026 [superyachts] will be running at zero emissions,” responded Ivo Veldhuis of Mayfair Marine.

Belén Martin, managing partner of Evolution Yacht Agents, spoke about the need for the superyacht industry to pay greater attention to superyacht crew and try and learn from their vast pools of knowledge and experience. Indeed, during TSF Live, Cor De Rover, founder of Cor De Rover Designs, conceded that he had learnt lessons from watching Below Deck, suggesting there is a gap in the market’s feedback loop. In an impassioned interview, Martin also spoke eloquently about the need for greater female representation within the superyacht industry.

“The crew have so much to say, and I am not just talking about women chief engineers or 50/50 representation. We need to invite captains, chief stewardesses, chief engineers [and so on] here to explain the reality of what is happening on board,” said Martin. “They are on board every day, not the owner, it is the crew, the captain, the chief engineer and the girls that look after the interior…I wanted to touch on female representation as well because it is an important topic. Why do you think there is such a big problem? Do you think it has something to do with the media? Perhaps there is a subconscious bias?"

Much of the conversation focussed on how being more socially and environmentally advanced and conscious that market could become ethically stronger as well are more attractive to current and new buyers across the various sectors. However, important discourse was also had on the fundamental principles of managing luxury assets in an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

Talking about the risks of asset mismanagement and increasing complexity, Victoria Blackburn, senior manager at JTC Private Office commented: “We’re all human and people make mistakes, and what was right five years ago might not be right now. That’s why with clients that we try and do a form of asset reconciliation to understand what they’ve got and what’s not working properly. It is not necessarily always us giving the advice, but it is about knowing when to use the right external partners as well as our experts in house…[Owners] have assets all over the place and using a business like ours, which starts asking questions and pulling in different service providers, means we can start to look at areas where something might need adjusting.”

Episode Two of The Superyacht Forum Live - Amsterdam is available to watch above, or you can watch it via our on-demand video library here.

The Superyacht Forum Live Tour – Amsterdam, represents the third leg of a global tour that will see The Superyacht Group visiting the market’s most interesting hubs and developing regions, as well as enjoy discussing that market’s various nuances with some of the industry’s most savvy commentators.

Profile links

Mayfair Marine

Evolution Yacht Agents

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