The small French cruise line Compagnie du Ponant has ordered another custom luxury yacht with 132 staterooms, continuing its growth with what will be its sixth ship.

The new vessel, which will cost 100 million euros (about $134 million), will resemble the line’s Le Boreal and L’Austral, launched in May 2010 and April 2011 respectively, and will also comply with voluntary environmental “clean ship” standards. It is expected to launch in June 2013.
As with the other two vessels, the new ship will be built in the Italian Fincantieri shipyard, with the …

There is a first time for everything and Fincantieri has reached that milestone again with the launching of their first ever Super yacht Serene. The Serene is a culmination of more than 50 years of strong growth and creativity by Fincantieri whose base of operations is in Italy where it all started. Although, Fincantieri is only celebrated it’s golden anniversary they have had more than 7000 vessels constructed and 200 years of actual shipbuilding experience within the companies that make up the shipbuilding firm known as Fincantieri. Fincantieri has 10 …

An impressive looking 44m yacht built at MMGI Shipyard at Montfalcone, Venice, after a hard work of close to two years, has finally hit the waters this year. Popular as H2ome, the yacht was constructed with dual efforts coming in from naval architect Mario Grasso’s Navirex who planned the hull. Second company is the A-LAB design company of Marino Grasso and Federica Giovannone which has not only made a contribution to the interiors and exteriors but also the furniture designing. When the shipyard set out to manufacture this yacht in …

SEA OWL has been custom designed and built for an experienced American yachting family and is the result of an impressive collaboration between the Burger Design Team, Andrew Winch Designs and Vripack.  Featuring a nautical and traditional interior for a contemporary lifestyle, SEA OWL has been completely personalized to her owner’s taste and requirements.

Reflective of the owner’s appreciation for nature, and unique to SEA OWL, are various hand-carved wildlife motifs above doorways throughout the vessel. The interior features multiple varieties of teak to create her traditional wall paneling, flooring and …

Nature has been the source of inspiration for many technological developments. The hook-and-loop closures pioneered by Velcro, for example, were created after a researcher observed how tiny hooks on the edge of burrs allowed them to latch onto clothing, animal fur, and other surfaces that happened to have loops. Then there’s the famous swimsuit material that Speedo supplied to athletes in the recent Beijing Olympics, modeled after the drag-reducing ability of shark skin. These and countless other examples are based on the principles of biomimicry, wherein nature’s own solutions to …

Work on building the €10m 30m (98ft) solar-powered trimaran yacht PlanetSolar is progressing well at Knierim Shipyard in Kiel, Germany. The world’s largest vessel of her type is due to start a global circumnavigation in April 2011, with an estimated travelling time of 140 days. The yacht is due to be launched in January and will undertake a tour of European cities prior to the world trip. Next month, in advance of the float out, the two side hulls will have blocks of batteries with a total power rating of …

China and India have always been known to be at par with each other in almost every case other than Boat Building. This time around the competition is between China & Taiwan.
Taiwan and china are the news boat building hubs which according to this article are even competing with the likes of Europe and America.

Pricing and labor costs are certainly one of the key factors which are responsible for competing with other international markets. And why not when you can get the same size of yacht for 1/3 rd the …