Chartered Waters: Sea Stats May 15, 2008 Camper & Nicholsons Unveil The (Super) Yachting Index
By Alex Palmer
On May 13, Camper & Nicholsons International unveiled The (Super) Yachting Index at the historic New York Yacht Club in Manhattan. The 46-page survey of the yachting industry is the first of its kind, according to the leisure marine company.
In their introduction to the Index, Camper & Nicholsons' CEO Jillian Montgomery and Director of Marketing Laurent Perignon describe its purpose as "to bring to light the realities of a booming sector that has evolved from a relatively small niche and cottage industry into one of the world's strongest growing luxury markets." While much of the data focuses on the market of individually-owned yachts and superyachts, which is booming but remains mysterious to outsiders, it also provides data on yacht chartering, a practice of growing popularity among incentive groups.
The report includes these facts on yacht chartering in 2007:
• Average size of a yacht in the charter fleet: approximately 40m (130 feet) • Portion of yachts for charter by size: 24-30m: (27 percent), 30-50m (60 percent) and 50m+ (13 percent) • Average rate for chartered yacht in 2007: $125,000/week • Number of yachts (over 24m): 3,800 • Number of yachts available for charter: 830
By far the most popular destination for chartered cruises in 2007 was the Mediterranean basin, split between the West Mediterranean (56 percent of all charter destinations) and the East Mediterranean (14 percent). The Caribbean was the second most popular, with 15 percent, followed by Florida with 7 percent, and New England with 2 percent. The remaining 8 percent of charter destinations was shared between such occasional hotspots as the Galapagos, Antarctica, and the northwest coast of America.