Yachting Intelligence

Roman Abramovich has become so frustrated over delays to the completion of his new £310 million superyacht Eclipse that he has allegedly threatened to withhold the final payment for the vessel.

The Eclipse, the biggest and most luxurious private yacht ever built, was due to be delivered on December 22 this year.

But four years after it was originally commissioned, the 548ft (167m) yacht is months behind schedule, stretching the Russian billionaire’s patience to breaking point.

The oligarch’s representatives have held a series of anxious meetings with the managers of the German shipyard which has built the superyacht Read the rest of this entry »

A lack of orders had almost sunk the shipbuilding subsidiaries of German steelmaking giant ThyssenKrupp. Now, an investor from Abu Dhabi is buying a large chunk of the operation. German commentators praise the move, but note how the financial crisis has forced Germany to be less picky about foreign investors.

Germany’s shipping industry has taken a pounding in recent years. And shipbuilding hasn’t been doing much better. Shipyards belonging to ThyssenKrupp, Germany’s largest steelmaker, haven’t seen a new foreign contracts for 11 years, with orders instead going to cheaper foreign competitors. And until recently, its books had been filled with orders for luxury yachts — but almost all of them have been cancelled. The time to act — or jump ship, as some would have it — has arrived.On Thursday, the company announced it was selling off a large chunk of its Blohm + Voss shipbuilding operations to the Abu Dhabi-based MAR Group. Read the rest of this entry »

On the 12 of June 2009 Roman Abramovich’s motor yacht ECLIPSE underwent a preliminary launch at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg. The superyacht will undergo further construction and finishing before being delivered to her owner later in the year.

You can see a video of the yacht’s launching here: http://www.liveyachting.com/ambramovich-super-yacht-eclipse-launch Read the rest of this entry »