All crazy about Italy and the Mediterranean (by yacht)
The Mediterranean, and Italy in particular, are invaded by yachts. But in addition to the boats of actors and entrepreneurs, those of Russian oligarchs seized due to sanctions and maintained by the state also stand out. Facts, names and numbers
Such yacht traffic in the Mediterranean hasn't been seen for a while. Between the recent Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix, for months many Scrooges have kicked off the summer season in the name of luxury and relaxation, preferring countries such as France, Greece and Italy.
From the actor Leonardo Di Caprio, first tracked down near the Amalfi Coast and then off the coast of Forte dei Marmi – where a tourist even risked drowning to try to reach him – up to Amazon's father, Jeff Bezos, caught under the sun in Portofino , passing by the yachts of the seized Russian oligarchs, here's what they are, how much they are worth and where the most sumptuous vessels have been sighted.
HOW MANY YACHTS ARE THERE IN ITALY (AND IN THE MEDITERRANEAN)
“Right now there are more superyachts off the coast of Italy than anywhere else in the world.” This was stated by Bloomberg which, together with IHS Markit and Genscape, has collected data on boats moving or docked around the world.
According to the news agency, "the 259 boats that called off Italy on Friday were more than double those counted three months ago". In fact, since April, with the crossing of the Atlantic, many of the yachts have completed the annual migration from the United States and the Caribbean to start the nautical season in the Mediterranean.
Also identified in the Gulf of Naples are the 109-metre Bravo Eugenia , worth 250 million dollars, belonging to US billionaire Jerry Jones, and the 78-metre Legend , costing 50 million dollars to Eric Schmidt, former CEO and president by Google.
But not only Italy. “The number of yachts – writes Bloomberg – is increasing in almost all Mediterranean countries: Greece hosts 235, against 217 in France, 150 in Spain and 94 in Turkey, while the United States has dropped to 159” .
As the ranking elaborated by the newspaper shows, in the last three months, the yachts that have chosen Italy have increased from 121 to 259 (+138), in Greece from 177 to 235 (+58) and in France from 112 to 217 ( +105). On the other hand, the United States (-30), the Bahamas (-13) and the United Arab Emirates (-17) lose out.
THE MOST LUXURY YACHTS IN ITALIAN WATERS AND HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO MAINTAIN THEM
The largest yacht sighted in Italian waters, the news agency reports, was the Golden Odyssey, the 123-metre vessel put up for auction in 2022 , after being owned by Saudi prince Khaled bin Sultan al Saud.
This is followed by the 74-metre former Lady Jorgia, which belonged to Canadian billionaire Patrick Dovigi and passed since February through an internal negotiation with the brokerage firm Edmiston. The boat was built by the Italian company CRN based in Ancona and belonging to the Ferretti Group.
Under normal circumstances, Bloomberg writes, first place would have gone to Sailing Yacht A, which with its 143 meters and an estimated value of 450 million euros is the largest sailboat in the world . However, what is believed to have belonged to Russian oligarch Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, a friend of President Vladimir Putin's sanctions imposed on the country for provoking war in Ukraine, is now owned by a discretionary trust.
The maintenance of this little jewel – anchored, following the seizure, for 15 months in the Gulf of Trieste – costs 800 thousand euros a month and has a crew of 20 who take care of it.
But who pays?
THE YACHTS SEIZED AND PAID FOR BY THE STATE
At the beginning of the year, SuperYacht24, quoting the Corriere della Sera , when wondering how much it costs us to keep the yachts seized in Italian waters, wrote that "only the yacht of the Russian oligarch Melnichenko has already activated maintenance costs for the State of at least 7 million euros" , which reached 11-12 in recent months according to Il Giornale .
Behind Sailing Yacht A, however, there is an unclear story. While the Guardia di Finanza and the Agenzia del Demanio believe that a seized asset cannot change ownership – which would make the yacht still linked to the oligarch – the trust in question claims that it was able to challenge the seizure of the asset before the Lazio Regional Administrative Court as "not registered in the register of companies subject to EU sanctions".
In the meantime, the yacht would not only have changed owner but also flag, moving from Mann Island to Sierra Leone.
The skein to unravel has now been entrusted to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Finally, according to Il Giornale , in Liguria there are two other yachts belonging to as many Russian billionaires and always maintained by the state. These are Gennady Timchenko's Lena, reported in Sanremo and worth 50 million dollars, and Alexey Mordashov's Lady M in Imperia, worth 65 million dollars.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/tutti-pazzi-per-italia-e-il-mediterraneo-in-yacht/ on Mon, 19 Jun 2023 10:14:23 +0000.