Members of our market leading Family Office & Private Capital team attended the Monaco Yacht Show 2024, and Campbells was a proud sponsor of Marine Money Superyacht Finance Forum and the Mare Forum 6th Super Yacht Europe conference. Here are some key take-aways from the event:

The 2024 Monaco Yacht Show was the largest show on record with 111 Superyachts being exhibited, including 3 Superyachts with a length of more than 100 meters (the largest being the Lurssen Kismet at 122 meters). The average yacht length overall was 47.3 meters and the average gross tonnage was 716 tonnes up from 632 tonnes the year before. There were 48 new yachts in the Monaco port for the 2024 event, with 26 debutants.
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The Superyacht industry as a whole remains a sector in growth mode. There are currently just over 13,000 Superyachts in the world with an average age of 22.65 years and an average length of 33.58 meters. The fleet size has grown year on year since the 1990’s and the number of new builds currently under construction or on order is over 1,100 with an average length of 39.2 meters. Growth exists in the size of the fleet and the length of the vessels making up that fleet.
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The majority of Superyachts currently in-build or on order remains the motor yacht. Interestingly, the number of explorer yachts currently in build is the highest it has ever been with close to 100 currently under production. Italy remains the production country of choice with estimates that account for just over 51% of all new builds being constructed in that country alone (40.1% in gross tonnage terms). The past decade has seen the highest percentage increase in yachts with a length between 24 and 30 meters and in excess of 76 meters, showing growth at both ends of the Superyacht sector.
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Ongoing risk and insurance concerns dominated discussions during the 2024 Monaco Yacht Week conferences, with an incident rate of 0.29% having occurred against the global fleet in 2024, marking the highest rate since 2018 (where incident rates were 0.28%). 17 severe incidents lead to Superyachts being destroyed or heavily damaged. Port and marina fires, vessel sinkings, groundings and collisions all served to increase the incident rate during 2024. Geopolitical activity and war has led to a sharp increase in war premiums to cover navigation in certain areas. The Red Sea and Southern Red Sea region has seen a sharp increase in attacks on vessels.
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Sanctions remained a topic of discussion, most notably with respect to the treatment of Superyachts which have been seized pursuant to various sanctions regimes and remained berthed in ports, typically without crew. The panel discussions on this topic reflected the industry’s hope that clarification or solutions would be provided as to how these vessels could be treated or dealt with in the future as the term of the sanctions were extended.
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Private wealth migration has seen yet another increase in 2024, continuing the strong increase in the prior two years since the end of the COVID pandemic. The expected forecast for 2024 will likely represent the highest migration of high net worth individuals (“HNWI”) in global history. China, India, and the Russian Federation were expected to see the highest outflows of HNWI while Australia, the UAE, Singapore and the USA were expecting to see the highest inflows.
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The Cayman Islands remains one of the leading jurisdictions for Superyacht registration. It rates among the world’s best performing flags, receiving high rankings across the key metrics used to compare flag statistics. Being an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom, the Cayman Islands and the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry operates as part of the Red Ensign Group of registries and benefits from the Cayman Islands status as an efficient, tax-neutral, international finance jurisdiction with stable economic and political environment.
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Campbells’ market leading full service Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands Family Office & Private Capital team comprises dedicated specialists with considerable expertise in all areas of ship and aircraft finance structures involving the establishment of both on and off balance sheet special purpose vehicles.Our lawyers are at the forefront of shipping and aviation industry developments and have assisted with revisions to the Cayman Islands Merchant Shipping Act. Please do get in touch with any of the below contacts or your usual Campbells contacts if you have any questions.