Azimut|Benetti is the world’s leading producer of megayachts for the 22nd year
Azimut|Benetti ranked first out of 186 shipyards on five continents, accounting for 12.5% of the total number of projects FB272 M/Y “Luminosity”, the Hybrid Giga Yacht that defines ocean-based leisure.
With a record number of 128 projects totalling 4,061 metres in length, Azimut|Benetti leads the Global Order Book: the annual ranking drawn up by Boat International and confirms its position as the world’s top builder of yachts over 24 metres in length. Azimut|Benetti ranked first out of 186 shipyards on five continents, accounting for 12.5% of the total number of projects, which is a significant percentage in such a fragmented market. Highlights presented by the Group, report an order book currently totalling 1.5 billion euros, and the value of production for the current season is forecast to exceed one billion euros - a 20% rise on the previous year (2020/2021).
“Our Group owes its long-standing leadership to the ability to build highly innovative yachts that are greatly appreciated by the market and cover the typically Italian size range of up to 50 metres,” said Azimut|Benetti Vice President Giovanna Vitelli. “But this important segment is also joined by numerous larger steel and aluminium superyacht projects, traditionally the preserve of northern European shipyards. We are the leading player today, and have been for over 20 years, because we are the only Group in the world to cover both these size ranges with models of undisputed success, a client-centric approach and high build quality.”
The Group’s strategy is based on the following key factors: a highly diversified range of models, unfailingly innovative designs and state-of-the-art solutions. “Our success stems from close alignment between the vision and new product development insights of the entrepreneur on the one hand, and the absolute professionalism of the management team on the other, establishing an understanding that makes us a very solid company. In this way, we have successfully maintained our leadership in both good times for the market as well as in more difficult ones,” says Vitelli.
The company’s corporate mission is to focus on product innovation and in the last 15 years, the Group has concentrated on issues that protect the sea, working profitably to find solutions that reduce environmental impact in both the short and long term. The most recent examples are the 108-metre Giga Yacht Luminosity, the world’s largest hybrid yacht, which has a range of over ten nautical miles in fully electric mode, and the steel superyacht B.Yond 37M, which is fitted with the E-MODE HYBRID system. Developed on an exclusive basis with Siemens Energy, the propulsion system of B.Yond 37M significantly reduces emissions (up to 70% NOx and up to 20% CO2), not least by using urea-based Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) filters on the main engines, like those installed in cars. When launched in the first half of 2022, this yacht will be the greenest in her segment. The shipyard is now ready to transfer the solutions introduced on the Giga yachts to smaller units as well.
Vitelli concluded, “For us, efficiency and reducing fuel consumption are not just slogans for the future, but milestones we are achieving in the present, by investing in research and infrastructure to reduce the consumption of our yachts by 30% and significantly cut emissions. This is a tangible result achieved through the extensive use of carbon fibre - a material with production processes that we have internalised for use in yacht building - and investing in the optimisation of hulls and propulsion systems.” To back this up, the Group has confirmed a three-year R&D investment plan worth 100 million euros.