Superyacht sales fell in 2023 over high costs, Russian oligarch sanctions

Sales of superyachts — luxury boats more than 100 feet long — fell 17% in 2023, according to a new report that attributed the dip to soaring costs, long waiting lists and sanctions of Russian oligarchs.

According to the SuperYacht Times’ latest State of Yachting report, there were only 203 sales of new superyachts last year — down from 245 in 2022 and a record 313 in 2021.

Ralph Dazert, head of intelligence at SuperYacht Times, noted that there are year-long backlogs to score a luxury vessel that originated during the pandemic, when costs were cheaper, CNBC earlier reported.

Since then, costs of operating a yacht, including labor and material prices, have skyrocketed — pricing aspiring superyacht owners out of the already exclusive market.

A buyer placing an order for a new superyacht more than 200 feet long today, for example, should expect to wait as long as four years to actually enjoy the glittering asset, Dazert told CNBC.

Superyachts of this size, more than 200 feet to roughly 650 feet, took the biggest sales hit in 2023, falling 40%.

And this year, Dazert told CNBC that he’s expecting new superyacht sales to “go down a little bit further this year” given the continued costs and delays.

The main reason for the hefty drop: Russian oligarchs have dropped out of the market following the Ukraine invasion by the country in 2022, according to SuperYacht Times’ report.

“The Russians were prone to ordering very extravagant and very large yachts,” Dazert told CNBC.

The US government has seized multiple vessels owned by Russian billionaires — including one called Amadea owned by Suleiman Kerimov, a money launderer who profited from the Kremlin.

Amadea, the 348-foot vessel that was seized at the request of the US government in Fiji in April 2022, has since cost American taxpayers $600,000 a month to maintain.

The hefty monthly tab includes $360,000 in payments to the crew, plus $75,000 for fuel and $165,000 in other maintenance, like waste removal and food, according to court papers filed by the US in Manhattan earlier this year.

Authorities are also on the hook for Amadea’s $1.7 million annual insurance bill and have therefore asked a judge to sell the superyacht after it undergoes $5.6 million in repairs.

Sanctioned Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg also had his $90 million, 255-foot superyacht, Tango, seized in Spain last March at the request of the US government. 

The US has hoped that by seizing the property of wealthy Russian leaders, it will punish them for backing the war.

However, not all superyacht owners are Russian.

Per SuperYacht Times’ report, Americans accounted for nearly 25% of all sales in 2023, CNBC reported, though Americans tend to build smaller yachts compared to Middle Eastern and Russian buyers.

The average length of a Saudi-owned superyacht is 202 feet, for reference, compared to 200 feet for Russian buyers and 177 feet for the Americans, according to the report.

One American who defied the statistics: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who purchased a $500 million, 417-foot massive superyacht named Koru last year.