The squeeze on marina capacity

While berths in some regions lie empty, parts of the Med are experiencing a pronounced level of demand…

The global superyacht marina sector is a curious animal; a sector that, in many ways, has seen its global expansion driven by the mantra ‘build it and they will come’.

Indeed, despite the spread of the superyacht fleet to further climes in recent years, the growth in worldwide berthing capacity has far outstripped the spread of the yachts themselves.

As evidenced by the ‘global fleet growth’ graph (see image gallery), current global berth supply for yachts over 30m will not be met by fleet inventory until 2025, by which time, it is fair to say, the number of berths worldwide is likely to have increased markedly.

Yet, there remains a pronounced supply/demand bottleneck, driven by the fleet’s preponderance with cruising in a concentrated region within the western Mediterranean.

According to data sourced by The Superyacht Intelligence Agency, 75% of the global fleet is located in the Mediterranean during the northern hemisphere’s summer months, while during winter months, this figure only falls nominally – to 56%.

When one considers that the entire Mediterranean is equipped with 3,287 30m+ berths, this concentration of vessel demand (3,796 vessels in summer months) clearly represents an existing supply/demand disparity.

So, while berths in other regions around the world lie empty, with an incremental YoY fleet growth unlikely to catalyse a spike in global demand any time soon, the paradox is that the Med is already experiencing such a spike, and the most in-demand areas to the west, must try and address these capacity issues.