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The Largest Superyachts Set to Launch in 2024

By Frances Flannagan

Details about the largest superyachts in build are often kept tightly under wraps, guarded as industry secrets and generally only seen for the first time when they are launched. Using a combination of research into vessels currently under construction and acknowledging recent speculations, we take a look at the largest superyachts set to launch in 2024 as the industry eagerly awaits more information on these stand-out vessels.

SOMNIO - 222m 

SOMNIO is set to be the world’s largest yacht with a LOA of 222m. Shipbuilding giant VARD is undertaking this mammoth build, working closely with  Winch Design and Tillberg Design of Sweden who are responsible for her design. She will be the world's first 'yacht-liner', offering a number of exclusive, and highly customisable, residences onboard for purchase.

SOMNIO translates to ‘Dream’ in Latin, which is no surprise as this 222m vessel is certainly something of a dream-like quality. Referred to as ‘the most exclusive address in the world’, she is set to offer her owners and guests an intimate community at sea, exuding effortless style and comfort onboard. She will be equipped with all of the services that one would find in a six-star resort; for example, her aft deck will be the main hub, featuring a lavish beach club, two spas and sumptuous outdoor lounges. 

SOMNIO embodies the new era of yacht life, and her launch is set to be a ground-breaking moment for the superyacht industry. 

Project Deep Blue - 130m+ 

Following her technical launch which took place in July 2023, Lürssen’s Project Deep Blue is set to officially launch this year. She is estimated to have a LOA of over 130m, with all aspects of her build and design being kept tightly under wraps.

It is speculated that she has an interior volume of around 9,000 GT and she is set to be the 14th largest yacht built by the German yard, taking her place between 135m CRESCENT and 126.2m OCTOPUS.  She will take the rank of 26 in the Superyachts.com Top 100 largest yachts in the world following her official launch. 

Project 821 - 118.8m

In April 2022, Feadship revealed the hull of 118.8m Project 821: the largest yacht ever built by the Dutch yard. Her construction is highly secretive, with little known about the project, although the initial renderings show her to have a voluminous exterior and a sleek, curvaceous profile. 

Project 821 will prove a highly exciting event for Feadship as she will become the shipyard’s flagship vessel, surpassing 110m ANNA , launched in 2018, and 118m Project 1010 . She will rank 37 in the Top 100. 

Freire Explorer (NB-729) - 105m 

Following the successful launch of 112m RENAISSANCE  last year, Freire Shipyard is currently building NB-729: a 105m motor yacht and the third Top 100 superyacht built by the Spanish shipyard. 

Her build is highly secretive, with no information revealed as of yet, although we can expect her to follow in the footsteps of her 112m sistership as a vessel exuding unparalleled luxury and comfort. RENAISSANCE can accommodate 36 guests with an entire deck dedicated to fitness, wellness and pampering, these features setting the precedent for another exceptional build by the Spanish yard. NB-729 will rank 68  in the Superyachts.com Top 100 list. 

Project  JASSJ - 103m 

Technically launched in December 2023, Lürssen’s 103m Project JASSJ is due to be officially launched this year. She features a steel hull, aluminium superstructure, powerful profile and several spacious decks. Her exteriors and interiors are penned by RWD and is able to accommodate 20 guests across ten cabins, speculated to harbour numerous expansive social spaces. 

Moran Yacht & Ship are the project managers of this build, which is expected to boast a traditional Lürssen bow shape, a tender garage, a beach club and an aft swimming pool. Project JASSJ will take the 73rd spot in the Top 100 world's largest yachts this year. 

- - - 

Other large superyachts set to launch in 2024 are Turquoise Yachts’ 87m Project VENTO , Damen Yachting’s 80m Amels 80 and Lürssen’s 78m ACE 21 . 2024 is already geared up to be an exceptional year for the superyacht industry, and we at Superyachts.com cannot wait to see what exciting events will unfold throughout the year. 

To find out more about the Top 100 largest superyachts in the world, check out Superyachts.com’s Official Top 100 list here . 

"With 39 private residences and 6-star facilities, her Owners and invited guests will form an intimate community circumnavigating the globe in effortless style and comfort." Somnio Superyachts

"With 39 private residences and 6-star facilities, her Owners and invited guests will form an intimate community circumnavigating the globe in effortless style and comfort."

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Founded in 1907, Abeking & Rasmussen is globally renowned for producing high-quality custom motor yachts from 45-125m.

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Custom Line

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Damen Yachting

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Delta Marine

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Fincantieri

Fincantieri Yachts, part of the leading Western shipbuilder Fincantieri, is a world leader in both superyacht and cruise ship design and construction.

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Mariotti is a world leader in the fields of ultra-luxury cruise shipbuilding, superyachts and supply vessel construction.

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Perini Navi

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Royal Hakvoort

A family shipyard since 1919, Royal Hakvoort builds luxury yachts in steel and aluminium up to 65m in length.

Royal Huisman

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Terence Disdale Design

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Tim Heywood Design

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Winch Design

A full-service award-winning British design and architecture studio specialising in the exterior and interior styling of motor and sailing yachts, aircraft, residential and commercial properties, Winch Design was established in 1986 and has to date completed seven collaborative projects with Burgess.

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Mike Lynch’s yacht was ‘unsinkable’, says boss of company who built boat

Giovanni costantino insisted there are no flaws with the design and construction of the bayesian, article bookmarked.

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Boats like Mike Lynch’s superyacht are “unsinkable”, according to the chief executive of the company that builds and sells the vessels.

Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, said there are no flaws with the design and construction of the Bayesian and it is “one of the safest boats in the world”.

The Bayesian, a 184-ft superyacht carrying 22 passengers and crew, was anchored off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, when it disappeared beneath the waves in a matter of minutes after a freak tornado struck.

The Italian Sea Group owns Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini that built the vessel owned by British tech magnate Mike Lynch, who was confirmed dead on Thursday after his body had been recovered from the wreck of the boat.

Mr Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter Hannah is still unaccounted for. The bodies of the other four people who vanished when the boat went down were recovered from the yacht on Wednesday.

“The ship sank because it took on water, from where investigators will have to say,” Mr Costantino told television news programme TG1 late on Wednesday.

Citing data from the yacht’s automatic tracking system and based on available footage, Mr Costantino said it took 16 minutes from when the wind began buffeting the yacht, and it began taking on water, for it to sink.

Mr Costantino said the Milan-listed group had suffered “enormous damage” to its reputation, with shares falling 2.5 per cent since the disaster.

The disaster has baffled naval marine experts who said such a high end vessel should have top-class fittings and safety features and should have been able to withstand such weather.

Besides Mr Lynch and his daughter, the other people who failed to escape from the boat were Judy and Jonathan Bloomer, a non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International; and Clifford Chance lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife, Neda Morvillo.

Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch’s wife, managed to get to safety, while the body of the onboard chef, Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, was found near the wreck hours after the disaster.

Specialist rescuers have been searching inside the hull of the sunken yacht for the past three days, but operations have been challenging due to the depth and the narrowness of the places that the divers are scouring, the fire brigade said.

Additional reporting by agencies

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Bayesian superyacht was ‘virtually unsinkable’, says shipbuilder

Prosecutors in Termini Imerese, close to where vessel went down on Monday, have opened an investigation

The Bayesian superyacht was “virtually unsinkable”, the chief executive of the firm that built it has claimed.

Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, close to Porticello, where the vessel went down in the early hours of Monday , have opened an investigation into the disaster.

They will seek to establish what caused the yacht to sink and whether any of the crew are criminally liable.

They are expected to investigate the keel on Mike Lynch ’s superyacht after it was found “partially elevated”, and also examine whether the yacht’s crew had failed to close access hatches into the vessel before it was hit by a tornado .

Giovanni Costantino, the founder and chief executive of The Italian Sea Group, which owns the Perini Navi shipyard where the superyacht was built, has defended the boat’s construction and blamed human error for the sinking .

He claimed the Bayesian was “one of the safest boats in the world” and was virtually “unsinkable”, telling Corriere della Sera: “The passengers reported something absurd, that the storm came unexpectedly, suddenly. That is not true. Everything was predictable.

“Ask yourself – why were none of the Porticello fishermen out that night? A fisherman checks the conditions and a ship doesn’t? The disturbance was completely readable on all the weather maps. It was impossible not to know.

“A Perini vessel survived Hurricane Katrina. You don’t think it could survive a tornado like this?”

Mr Costantino said the strong winds had pushed the boat for four minutes, in what he called “drifting”. He claimed the boat then rotated and had begun taking on water before it sank.

When divers searched the Bayesian 165ft underwater, it was reported that they found the vessel’s retractable keel was partially raised, sparking questions about the boat’s stability at the time of the sinking.

The fin-like structure under the hull helped to stabilise the yacht – acting as a counterweight to the mast – and stretched to 9.83 metres when the vessel’s centreboard was fully extended, according to a brochure about its performance.

Experts have suggested the keel would normally be fully extended for extra stability during bad weather.

It has also been reported that the space housing the boat’s tender was not fully closed when it went down.

From photos and video images of the sinking that have been published, Mr Costantino said it was clear the boat had a blackout that had been caused by a surge of water inside it. 

He said there was no doubt the aft hatch had been left open, adding: “It tilted 90 degrees for only one reason – because the water kept coming in. From the time it started coming in to the time it went down was six minutes. Those who say it disappeared in a few seconds are speaking rubbish.”

Mr Constantino said the crew should have closed all the doors and portholes and gathered all guests on deck in preparation for an emergency evacuation.

James Cutfield, the 51-year-old captain of the yacht was questioned by prosecutors from the Termini Imerese Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday after the vessel sank, Corriere della Sera reported.

Mr Cutfield, originally from North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand, was described as a “well-respected” lifelong seafarer by his brother Mark. He told The New Zealand Herald that his brother was recovering in hospital, but that his injuries were not “too dramatic”.

Four British inspectors from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch also arrived in Porticello to look at the site of the sinking.  It is understood they are looking into what happened because the yacht was flying the British flag, and are not involved in the search for the remaining missing passenger.

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Yacht Sank in Sicily Due to ‘Endless Chain of Errors,' Ship Maker's Owner Speculates: ‘Everything Was Predictable’

"A series of activities should have been done to avoid finding oneself in that situation," argues Giovanni Costantino, who owns the firm that built the vessel in 2008

• Giovanni Costantino — who is the CEO of The Italian Sea Group, the company that now owns Perini Navi, which built the  Bayesian  in 2008 — blames an "endless chain of errors" for the luxury yacht’s sinking on Monday, Aug. 19
• "Everything was predictable. I have the weather charts in front of me here," Constantino told Italian newspaper  Corriere della Sera  of the storm the boat was caught in
• "An unsinkable ship but from the crew an endless chain of errors," the CEO claimed to the outlet

The sinking of the luxury Bayesian  yacht off the coast of Sicily this week  resulted from an "endless chain of errors" by the crew, the ship maker's CEO is speculating.

"This episode sounds like an unbelievable story, both technically and as a fact," Giovanni Costantino — who leads The Italian Sea Group, the company that now owns Perini Navi, which built the  Bayesian  in 2008 — said,  according to CNN .

While speaking to  Italian newspaper  Corriere della Sera , Costantino said he believes those on board should not have been in their cabins, as he claims they were, when the Bayesian sank in the early hours of Monday, Aug. 19. 

Many details of why the yacht went into the water so quickly remain unclear and it's not yet known what the passengers and crew were doing before tragedy struck.

The 183-foot British vessel sank around 5 a.m. local time on Monday after a "violent storm" while near Porticello, the Italian coast guard said in a statement that was previously obtained by PEOPLE.

"Everything that has been done reveals a very long sum of errors. The people should not have been in the cabins, the boat should not have been at anchor. And then why didn't the crew know about the incoming disturbance?" Costantino said in his interview, translated from Italian.

Related: Italian Authorities Currently Don’t Have Anyone ‘Under Investigation’ over Luxury Yacht Sinking

"The passengers reported an absurd thing, namely that the storm came unexpected, suddenly. It's not true. Everything was predictable. I have the weather charts in front of me here. Nothing came suddenly ... Ask yourself, why was no fisherman from Porticello out that night? A fisherman reads the weather conditions and a ship doesn't? The disturbance was fully readable in all the weather charts. One could not not know," he argued.

"An unsinkable ship but from the crew an endless chain of errors," the CEO asserted.

The coast guard has said 22 people were aboard the  Bayesian  when it sank — 12 passengers and 10 crew — and that 15 of those were subsequently rescued.

The body of the yacht's chef, Recaldo Thomas, was recovered nearby. 

Costantino's comments came as it was reported that five bodies had been found in the search for the missing six people as of Wednesday, Aug. 21, a source close to the rescue operations confirmed to PEOPLE. Authorities have said that their work is ongoing. 

An Italian government official, Massimo Mariani, reportedly named one of the dead as British tech tycoon Mike Lynch . The other bodies have not yet been publicly identified by authorities. 

Lynch was celebrating with family and friends on the yacht following his acquittal in a fraud trial in June, PEOPLE previously reported.

Related: 'We Are in Shock,' Prominent N.Y.C. Attorney's Firm Says After He and His Wife Go Missing in Yacht Sinking

Costantino offered his view of how the tragedy could have been avoided: "To begin with, in a weather alert situation it was inappropriate to have, as I read, a party. Not that evening. The hull and deck needed to be secured by closing all doors and hatches, after putting the guests at the ship's meeting point as per emergency procedure. Then start the engines and pull up the anchor or release it automatically, put the bow to the wind and lower the keel.

"The next morning they would have departed with zero damage." 

When discussing whether the crew were at fault, Costantino reiterated to the Italian outlet that he believes "errors were made."

"A series of activities should have been done to avoid finding oneself in that situation," he said. "I as the ship's captain would have moved, but even if for some reason I had to stay there, I would have managed those weather conditions which then, let's face it, weren't so crazy."

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Costantino contended that there would have been "a zero risk if the correct maneuvers had been made and if situations that compromised the ship's stability had not occurred," adding to the newspaper that reports that the boat went down in seconds is "nonsense." He believes the yacht would have "went down" after water "started to enter" within "six minutes."

The remaining missing  Bayesian  passengers are Lynch's daughter Hannah as well as Chairman of Morgan Stanley International  Jonathan Bloomer, his wife, Judy , and New York City-based lawyer  Christopher Morvillo and his wife, Neda , sources have said.

Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, was among those rescued, PEOPLE previously reported.

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'Indescribable' crew errors led to Sicily shipwreck, yacht maker says

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Questions for Investigators Trying to Unravel Mystery of Luxury Yacht’s Sinking

The investigators searching for answers about the shipwreck, leaving seven dead, face questions about extreme weather and possible human error or problems with the yacht itself.

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By Alan Yuhas

More than 180 feet long, with a mast towering about 240 feet and a keel that could be lowered for greater stability, the Bayesian luxury yacht did not, in the eyes of its maker, have the vulnerabilities of a ship that would easily sink.

“It drives me insane,” Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive of the Italian Sea Group, which in 2022 bought the company that made the ship, said after its wreck last week. “Following all the proper procedures, that boat is unsinkable.”

But the $40 million sailing yacht sank within minutes and with fatal results: seven dead, including the British technology billionaire Michael Lynch, his teenage daughter, four of Mr. Lynch’s friends and a member of the crew. Fifteen people, including the captain, escaped on a lifeboat.

Mr. Lynch had invited family, friends and part of his legal team on a cruise in the Mediterranean to celebrate his acquittal in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

The Italian authorities have opened a manslaughter investigation, searching for answers from the survivors, the manufacturer and the wreck itself. They face a range of questions and possible factors.

An ‘earthquake’ in the sky?

When the Bayesian sank around 4 a.m. on Aug. 19, the waters in its area, about half a mile off the Sicilian port of Porticello, were transformed by an extremely sudden and violent storm, according to fishermen, a captain in the area and meteorologists.

But what kind of storm is still a mystery, compounded by the fact that a sailing schooner anchored nearby did not have its own disaster. Also unclear is whether the crew was aware that the Italian authorities had issued general warnings about bad weather the night before.

Karsten Börner, the captain of the nearby passenger ship, said he’d had to steady his ship during “really violent” winds . During the storm, he said, the Bayesian seemed to disappear behind his ship.

Severe lightning and strong gusts were registered by the Italian Air Force’s Center for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology, according to Attilio Di Diodato, its director. “It was very intense and brief in duration,” he said.

The yacht, he said, had most likely been hit by a fierce downburst — a blast of powerful wind surging down during a thunderstorm. His agency put out rough-sea warnings the previous evening, alerting sailors about possible storms.

Locals have said the winds “felt like an earthquake.” A fisherman in Porticello said that he had seen a flare go off in the early-morning hours. His brother ventured to the site once the weather had calmed about 20 minutes later, he said, finding only floating cushions.

The Italian authorities have so far declined to say whether investigators had seen any structural damage to the hull or other parts of the ship.

Open hatches or doors?

The boat executive, Mr. Costantino, has argued that the Bayesian was an extremely safe vessel that could list even to 75 degrees without capsizing. His company, the Italian Sea Group, in 2022 bought the yacht’s manufacturer, Perini Navi, which launched the ship in 2008.

Mr. Costantino said that if some of the hatches on the side and in the stern, or some of the deck doors, had been open, the boat could have taken on water and sunk. Standard procedure in such storms, he said, would be to switch on the engine, lift the anchor and turn the boat into the wind, lowering the keel for extra stability, closing doors and gathering the guests in the main hall inside the deck.

At a news conference on Saturday, almost a week after the sinking, investigators said the yacht had sunk at an angle , with its stern — where the heavy engine was — having gone down first. The wreck was found lying on its right side at the bottom of a bay, about 165 feet deep.

12 guests occupied the yacht’s six cabins. There were also 10 crew members.

Open hatches, doors and cabin windows could have let in water during a storm, according to the manufacturer.

Open hatches, doors and

cabin windows could

have let in water

during a storm,

according to the

manufacturer.

Source: Superyacht Times, YachtCharterFleet, MarineTraffic

By Veronica Penney

Water pouring into open hatches or doors could have contributed to the sinking, experts say, but that on its own may not account for the speed at which such a large boat vanished underwater.

Asked about the hatches at the news conference, the authorities declined to comment on whether they had been found open at the wreck.

The authorities have also not specified whether the boat had been anchored, whether it was under power at the time or whether its sails had been unfurled.

A retracted keel?

The Bayesian had a keel — the fin-like structure beneath a boat that can help stabilize it — that could be retracted or extended, according to its manufacturer. On some yachts, keels can be raised to let the large vessel dock in shallower water, and extended downward to help keep a boat level.

But like the hatches, the status of the keel alone may not explain why a large ship sank with such precipitous speed. Investigators have not disclosed what divers may have seen at the wreck, aside from saying divers had faced obstacles like furnishings and electrical wiring in tight quarters. Officials want to raise the wreck to better examine it, a process that may take weeks.

Human error?

Ambrogio Cartosio, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said at the news conference that it was “plausible” crimes had been committed, but that investigators had not zeroed in on any potential suspects.

“There could be responsibilities of the captain only,” he said. “There could be responsibilities of the whole crew. There could be responsibilities of the boat makers. Or there could be responsibilities of those who were in charge of surveilling the boat.”

It remains unclear what kind of emergency training or preparation took place before the disaster, or what kind of coordination there was during it. So far, none of the surviving crew members have made a public statement about what happened the night the ship sank.

Prosecutors said they want to ask more questions of the captain and crew, who have been in a Sicilian hotel with other survivors. They said that neither alcohol nor drug tests had been performed on crew members, and that they have been allowed to leave Italy.

Prosecutors also said they were also investigating why the captain, an experienced sailor, left the sinking boat while some passengers were still on board.

Besides possible manslaughter charges, the authorities are investigating the possibility of a negligently caused shipwreck.

The bodies of five passengers were found in one cabin, on the left side of the yacht, the authorities said. The five were most likely trying to flee to the higher side of the boat and were probably sleeping when the boat started to sink, they said.

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'Indescribable' Crew Errors Led to Sicily Shipwreck, Yacht Maker Says

'Indescribable' Crew Errors Led to Sicily Shipwreck, Yacht Maker Says

Rescue personnel work at the scene where a luxury yacht sank, off the coast of Porticello, near the Sicilian city of Palermo, Italy, August 22, 2024. REUTERS/Louiza Vradi

By Matteo Negri

MILAN (Reuters) - A series of "indescribable, unreasonable errors" by the crew led to the shipwreck in which British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and six others died earlier this week, the yacht manufacturer's CEO told Reuters on Thursday.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long (184-foot) superyacht with 22 people aboard - 12 passengers and 10 crew - capsized and sank on Monday within minutes of being hit by a pre-dawn storm while anchored off the coast of northern Sicily.

"The boat suffered a series of indescribable, unreasonable errors, the impossible happened on that boat ... but it went down because it took on water. From where, the investigators will tell," Giovanni Costantino said in an interview.

Costantino helms The Italian Sea Group, which includes Perini Navi, the Italian high-end yacht maker that built the Bayesian in 2008. The vessel has been refitted twice, last in 2020, but not by Perini.

The CEO ruled out any design or construction errors, which he called unlikely after 16 years of trouble-free navigation, including in more severe weather than on Monday.

He blamed the Bayesian's crew for the "incredible mistake" of not being prepared for the storm, which had been announced in shipping forecasts. "This is the mistake that cries out for vengeance," he said.

Costantino said passengers should have been summoned out of their cabins and assembled at a point of safety while the boat was being prepared for the storm by pulling up the anchor, closing doors and hatches, lowering the keel to increase stability and other measures.

Six out of 12 passengers died in the shipwreck, and five bodies were found inside the wreck. Emergency services are still trying to locate the body of the last missing person, Lynch's daughter Hannah.

Had correct procedures been followed, all passengers would have gone back to sleep after one hour "and the next morning they would have happily resumed their wonderful cruise," Costantino said.

Another yacht anchored near the Bayesian escaped unharmed. The captain of the sunken yacht and other crew members have not commented publicly on the disaster, while Italian prosecutors investigating it are due to hold a press conference on Saturday.

(Reporting by Matteo Negri; Writing by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Richard Chang)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

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