On May 7, 2025, on the first of two days of regional and global speakers and networking opportunities, the yachting industry presence swelled noticeably in Hong Kong.

Words: Andrew Dembina; Photos: SuperYacht Times / Yacht Style

Merijn de Waard of SuperYacht Times gets Day 1 of Asia-Pacific Superyacht Summit 2025 started

Founder and Director of SuperYacht Times, Merijn de Waard, was visibly proud as he succinctly welcomed attendees for the second edition of the Asia-Pacific Superyacht Summit. “Last year was the first APSS, also held in Hong Kong and 175 registered,” he said to those seated in the function room on Day 1, ahead of the roster of moderated panel discussions, presentations and interviews. “This year, 275 registered.”

Ralph Dazert (above), Head of the publication’s number-crunching Intelligence Team – who is in charge of the Asia-Pacific Superyacht Report 2025 – then gave a brief overview of its findings.

Figures in the Asia-Pacific are a mix of locally-based and visiting yachts, he said, with the most being present in Australia, and with Hong Kong lying in second place, adding that 66 per cent are from the region.

The total number of superyachts – of 30m LOA and upwards – owned in the region, including some based in the Mediterranean and other parts of the world, is 443 (an increase of 10 vessels, year on year), Dazert disclosed, which accounts for 7.3 per cent of the world’s fleet in this size category.

In the first panel discussion, Hong Kong as a Superyacht Destination, moderator Enrico Chhibber began by saying, “The city holds the foundation for superyachting in the region,” later adding that this appears to be flagging.

From left: Lawrence Chow, Cissy Chan, Benjamin Wong, Joe Yuen

Exploring various initiatives aimed at further developing Hong Kong as an attractive superyacht destination, the first panel discussion focused on essential upgrades and expansion of infrastructure, enhancement of regulations, and refinement of marketing strategies to better position Hong Kong in the global yachting sector. Lawrence Chow (pictured above), Chairman, Hong Kong Boating Industry Association (HKBIA) mentioned “since [the Summit] last year, when Colin Dawson [Managing Director of The George Group yachts insurance services] made a few comments about how the yachting situation here could be improved, the government has announced some suggestions.”

Benjamin Wong (pictured above), Head of Transport & Logistics and Industrials, InvestHK elaborated on some of these. “Looking at possibly up to 600 berths at Skytopia, depending on their size, expanding Aberdeen Marina Club, and Aberdeen Boat Clu, developing a marina in Hung Hom – with this Victoria Harbour background, and one on Lamma Island, with a greener environment, a lot more berths are under discussion,” he said. “Our catchment area is much bigger than just Hong Kong, we expect there will be demand from the Greater Bay Area as well.”

Cissy Chan (pictured above), Executive Director, Commercial, Airport Authority Hong Kong, went into some of the Skytopia details, including the mention of its Phase 1 scheduled to be ready by 2028, and its fine arts storage facility and gallery spaces expected to be ready in 2026.

On whether it is easy for foreign-flagged yachts to visit Hong Kong and cruise in waters nearby, Joe Yuen (pictured above), Director of Lodestone Yachts mentioned that it is, and they can start or end in Hong Kong and end in HK or different ports, such as Macau or Shenzhen. He added that in Hong Kong, berths exist for up to 65m, but that 70m-plus yachts need to go to the cruise terminal or be moored offshore – and that more superyacht berths would be ideal. He mentioned that Seabob and e-foils are currently not allowed in Hong Kong waters.

Chow suggested that infrastructure for visiting yachts could be improved, such as mooring at outlying islands and remote areas, where piers are built for public ferries and are not always ideal for private yachts.

Yuen added, “It would help if those with 180-day foreign-flagged yachting permits could easily extend this to 360 days.”

In the second panel, How to Build a Superyacht Destination, Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said that as a home for family offices and business infrastructure, the emirate has naturally attracted superyachts, adding, “we have a very supportive government around us and we work to try to remove any difficulties in regulations for Dubai-based superyachts or visiting ones” and that it has several world-class marinas.

Jean-Marc Poullet, Senior Partner Chairman Asia, Burgess said: “Looking at mature markets, it’s not only about the beauty of the waters, but what is onshore – social attractions – as you’d find in the Amalfi coast, Cote d’Azure and others. The Caribbean took 40 years to mature from its start as a destination; Asia is now at about 20 years of development. And some of our Asian clients have plenty to complain about in the Med – so mature markets are not all perfect.

“Asia has a lot of areas that are surrounded by water, which is not so easy to find in Europe or some other places. Unique destinations in Indonesia don’t have the ‘full package’ but have great natural attractions. Phuket has it all, so one-month charters are possible; we need more places like that.”

Manoa Rey of Tahiti Tourism said: “We choose quality over quantity – 50 to 60 superyachts visit Tahiti per year, has been the same for the past 10 years, and we will be careful not to have too many more, to preserve the after environment.”

Bob Hoogendoorn, of McKinsey & Company said, “Marine Protected Areas need to be taken into account when thinking of building more marinas. Key points in investing in a destination as a superyacht destination are: geography and seasonality; infrastructure and facilities; are there enough things to do there; are there enablers in place, such as a supportive government, and a reliable coastguard?”

Laura Verbrugge, Fraser Asia Manager said, “Captains in APAC often tallk about the frustration of paperwork for regulations when passing through Asian waters. This is more difficult for newcomers to visiting in particular. Finding 35-45m yachts with owners willing to charter is a challenge.” Poullet agreed with the latter – particularly in Indonesia.

From left: Issam Kazim, Manoa Rey, Jean-Marc Poullet, Laura Verbrugge, Bob Hoogendoorn

A presentation by Nigel Beatty on the upcoming Base Kobe marina followed, which he said is about half the size of Port Hercule in Monaco – with a public dockside. As part of the port regeneration in central Japan, it is well connected by infrastructure and on the edge of a large sheltered Seto ‘inland sea’.

Minimum size berths are 24m, and although no repair services are onsite as it’s downtown, it is less than an hour away from maintenance yards. Already in operation, since last month, when it welcomed a 170m superyacht and its support boat, a full opening is expected in April 2027.

Panel discussion, How to Manage Refits Successfully in Asia, had speakers mentioning their best experiences.

Petre Plesea, Managing Director, Golden Eagle Yacht Management, mentioned how a 70m superyacht refit in Singapore, with new engines, cost US$1.5m, taking 49 days (with 24-hour shifts), compared to an estimate of three times the price and duration in Monoco. “Painting is still not possible for 500GT-plus, even some smaller lengths in Singapore, as there are not large enough painting sheds,” he added. “We have bookings right now for 24 months ahead. Our owner is an engineer, which makes things more possible. I really recommend SD Marine for precision work – they’re experienced in building 40-90ft naval ships, and carpentry in Thailand is very good.”

Rob Taylor of Clearvac Engineering Asia in Bangkok and Phuket said, “In Thailand, there are a lot of climate-controlled good painting facilities, maybe not up to 500 GT or above, though. The quality of refit facilities is improving all the time there.”

Sam Thompson, Director at JMS Yachting in Monaco, reflected that getting the planning right and the budget right is always the challenge: “We manage yachts remotely, or put our team in places where our owners need refits. We just completed a 90 per cent refit in New Zealand. The key is to have a project manager on site 100 per cent of the time.”

Two more one-person interviews held interest next in quite different ways. Captain Fraser Gow of 62.5m Amels Stardust told an interesting account of how the owner took delivery in Norway, June 2020, during Covid, asking for Gow and crew to take it to Phuket, where he joined them six months later to use the boat. “We became one of 140 superyachts moored there,” Gow explained, as Thailand got back to post-pandemic normality.

“Thailand is quite free in movement around its waters. Hong Kong needed a certain captain’s license, so we didn’t stop here and we went to Japan instead. It would be incredible to see the [Hong Kong] harbour from the bridge.

“We avoided returning to the Med recently, because of wanting to avoid the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. We did stop in Kobe but there was not a good berth we could use there – the new marina sounds very interesting.”

Ben Sumadiwiria, aka “Supercoolben”, provided early afternoon levity in his How to Succeed in Social Media interview. He makes fictional / comedic videos about being the son of the richest person in Indonesia, starting with restaurant reviews, following a career as a chef. The popularity of his videos and sponsored restaurant reviews that followed paved the way for his work with yachting companies – in a recent one, Sumadiwiria acted being the father of a family, aboard three different yachts that his character owned, and the company sold one shortly thereafter.

His advice for yacht companies to reach a younger viewership was to liven up the likes of a lot of yachting websites and social media that he says he has seen and “are too boring”.

Navigating the Luxury Market in Asia was a broad discussion with six panellists. Paolo Casini – CEO, Camper & Nicholsons, Monaco, said: “We are a company offering the highest level of yacht services. Eight years ago, we opened in Asia, in Hong Kong, as we believed in the potential here. In 2022, we opened a second hub in Singapore. We developed our own proprietary software to connect our global offices. We are always looking for ways to improve our staff by training, and we are doing more with a focus in technology all the time.

“We believe that Camper & Nicholsons can be a leader in not only yachting but in other areas of luxury lifestyle – by offering the highest quality service and products.”

David Lau, founder, Cross Harbour Advisory said: Generation Z are really treating life differently to previous generations. I was at the Singapore Yachting Festival recently,  aboard a Camper & Nicholsons superyacht, and a 32-year-old asked me in Mandarin: “I don’t want the broker to understand me, but should I buy a superyacht or a private jet…?”

On whether global trade tensions impacted the super-luxury market, such as superyachts,  Marina Lui, 

Head of Wealth Management, UBS AG Hong Kong, said: “Not really, but UBS getting clients to commit may take more time at the moment. There is a big market for yachts, especially from mainland China clients. If the ecosystem is there, with the new marina near the airport in Hong Kong, this could attract more sales.”

Stephane Avis, Asia Co-Head of Lending, JP Morgan said: “Yacht sales are very important to us and we have not noticed a drop-off.”

Day 1’s Summit presentations concluded with a passionate account of Tam Son Yachting’s successful building by Doan Viet Dai Tu (above), Chairman, of Openasia Group, which also succeeded in bringing other luxury brands to Vietnam, such as Patek Philippe timepieces and Audi motorcars.

In 2017 he started distributing Beneteau motoryachts and sailing boats, and then Azimut Yachts. “In 2017,  large commercial boats had the same regulations as an 8m yacht – so we worked to change this.

“I looked at Hong Kong and Singapore as good examples of how leisure yachting could be in place in Vietnam, and I recruited captains and experts to develop the country, which I believe has huge potential.

“Navigation has been a problem. Domestic yachts can now navigate but foreign-flagged yachts cannot.”

Significant rising wealth hints at large potential in Vietnam, he said. The younger generation aspires to quality of life: 80 marathons are held in Vietnam per year, and watersports interest is growing, adding that cruising between Hong Kong and Thailand has huge potential for stop-offs along Vietnam coast.

In the last week of April, Tam Son Yachting got its license for chartering an Azimut Grande 32 that it sold – to be the first superyacht charter in Halong Bay – which will be undertaken to “world standard, and offered at the same price as anywhere else: US$25,000 per day, for an overnight stay”. Charters will start in July, and are listed in the global Azimut Charter Club.

The Asia-Pacific Superyacht Summit 2025 networking dinner took place at the end of Day 1, at The Verandah restaurant, preceded by outdoor cocktails on its lawn, in Repulse Bay.  

More details of the Asia-Pacific Superyacht Summit 2025 itinerary can be read here.