Feadship – Deep Dive into the Data

Feadship Royal Dutch Shipyard – Deep Dive into the Data

Feadship is a Royal Dutch Shipyard officially established as a marketing partnership between six Dutch Shipyards in 1949. Its original mission comprised marketing superyachts to the United States. As the demand for motorboats in steel and aluminum increased, Feadship stopped building wooden yachts and enhanced its position in the American market. Subsequently, as the size of delivered yachts increased and American celebrities, with amongst others Henry Ford and Malcolm Forbes, engaged in yacht commissioning, Feadship’s reputation was further strengthened.

Currently, there are still two shareholders: Koninklijke De Vries Scheepsbouw, owned by the De Vries family, and Royal Van Lent Shipyard. With its two builders, four yards, and a naval architecture firm, Feadship has a reputation for being a leading superyacht brand. 

Yacht Overview 

Feadship is a highly influential player in the Dutch yachting industry. That is to say, of the 1569 Dutch-built yachts that are 18+ meters long, 242 yachts are Feadships. As illustrated in the graphs above, a majority of the Dutch-built Feadships comprise the size ranges 40-50 and above 60 meters. Furthermore, with regard to building year, a large share of the 242 Feadships was built between 1980-1990, 1990-2000, and 2010-2020. 

Of the 242 Feadship yachts, 6 are  sailing yachts, amongst others: 

• 30-Meter sailing yacht IDUNA, built in 1939, is offered for sale with Holland Yacht Connection and Edmiston.  
• 23-Meter sailing yacht DE VROUWE CHRISTINA was built in 1957 and is listed for sale with Camper & Nicholsons International and De Valk. 

Until the 70s of the 20th century, yacht construction concerned mainly smaller yachts of between 18 and 45 meters. Since the 1980s, Feadship started building yachts of up to 70 meters. Lastly, from the start of the 21st century onward, Feadship increasingly started to focus on building bigger yachts in the size range of 39-90 meters. The first Feadship marking a length of 100 meters was built in 2020, the Feadship MOONRISE. Furthermore, the largest Feadship built thus far is the 118-meter PROJECT 1010. She was launched in 2020 but has not yet been delivered to her owners. On the other hand, the smallest Feadship ever built is 18 meters long ENTERPRISE. 

A majority of the Feadships are custom-built, however, over the years a few yacht series have been constructed: 

• Between 2008-2010, 3 yachts of the SL39 were constructed. One of these yachts is OCEAN MERCURY, with an exterior design by Studio de Voogt and a length of 39 meters.
• Between 2016-2017, 5 yachts of the Lagoon series were constructed, for example QUINTET, with an exterior design by Studio de Voogt and a length of 33.5 meters. 
• Of the F45 Vantage, 6 yachts were built between 2007-2013, for example BLUE SKY. BLUE SKY was built after an exterior design by Studio de Voogt and Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design, and she has a length of 44.65 meter. 
• Between 1961-1968, 9 yachts of the Caravelle were constructed, one of which was CARAVELLE, with a length of 22 meters, which was built after an exterior design by Carlo Riva. 

Sales Data

As illustrated above, the number of new listings has increased since 2021, and the number of yachts withdrawn from the market remained relatively stable over the first half years since 2021. Furthermore, whereas the number of sales was relatively high in 2021 and this number significantly decreased in 2022, over the first six months of 2023 the number of sales was even higher than in 2021. 

All in all, it was found that the number of sales was lacking in 2022, but this was probably caused by the limited number of new listings. Despite this, sales data of the first half year of 2023 reveals that the market is thriving again, with significantly more sales and new listings than the year before. 

The figures above reveal a significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on yacht sales. Despite the relatively stable sales over 2018 and 2019, a significant reduction in sales was found in 2020, shortly after the start of the pandemic. Moreover, this decrease in sales was associated with a simultaneous decrease in the number of days before a sale was concluded. On the other hand, in 2021 a peak in the number of sales was found, which was accompanied by an even lower average number of days until sales were completed. Given that being a yacht owner can offer significant freedom in times like the pandemic, this is a potential reason for the booming number of sales in 2021. Over 2022, the number of sales reduced again, and the sales as well as the number of days until a sale is concluded normalized and approached the average data before the pandemic again. 

Sales Data F45 Vantage Series

Comparing the sales of these 3 yachts, part of the F45 Vantage Series that were sold in the last 5 years provide an interesting illustration. Obviously, the conditions of each individual yacht should be taken into account, as well as economic circumstances during the time of the sales, but it’s interesting to see that BELLA and GLADIATOR were brought to market approximately simultaneously against similar pricing, and SPORT was sold against a comparable asking price in the end. What’s striking is that GLADIATOR received a price reduction early on in her sales process, probably based on market circumstances, and therefore was subject to a short time on the market. On the other hand, BELLA experienced a minor price reduction later in time, which resulted in a market value that was too high. Consequently, she experienced two additional price changes later on before she was finally sold after more than 35 months on the market. This illustrates how the length of time that a yacht is for sale on the market is highly influential on the market value of the yacht. In comparison with the other 2 yachts of the F45 Vantage Series, the SPORT was brought to market against a relatively high asking price. After a year, she experienced a drastic price reduction and ended up at a similar asking price as the GLADIATOR, and was also sold approximately against this price. 

All in all, it can be concluded that yachts constructed by Feadship guarantee impeccable quality and an excellent position in the market, as they are always highly in demand. Feadship and its reputation lead to buyers’ trust in buying a high-quality yacht of unimaginable worth.