Azimut Benetti confirms it is the top builder of super yachts in the world. Recognition which the shipyard, led by the Vitelli family, has achieved for the 22^nd year. There are 7 Italian shipyards in the “top 15”.

With a record number of 128 designs built, equivalent to 4,601 metres in length, for the umpteenth year, the Azimut Benetti Group is in the lead of the Global Order Book 2021, the yearly ranking of the biggest builder of yachts over 24 metres in the world, published by the boating publication, Boat International. Azimut Bnetti is the first out of 186 shipyards actively working in over five continents, with a number of designs worth 12.5% of the total, a significant amount for such a fragmented market.

An achievement that confirms the statistics recorded by the Group, which has an order portfolio of over 1.5 billion euros and a production value, for the current season, forecast to be over a billion euros, 20% growth compared to the 2020/2021 financial year. Leadership that comes from afar: for 22 years Azimut Benetti has been nominated the top shipyard in the world.

Giovanna Vitelli, vice president of Azimut Benetti Group.

“Our Group – says Giovanna Vitelli, vice president of Azimut Benetti – owes its long-standing achievement to its skill in creating very innovative yachts, and for this reason they are appreciated by the market, for the size range typical of Italy, up to 50 metres. But to this important segment are also added a number of super yacht designs in steel and aluminium for larger sizes, traditionally covered by shipyards in Northern Europe.”

“We have been first for over twenty years – notes Giovanna Vitelli – because we are the only ones in the world to work in both of these ranges and create indisputably successful models, caring for our clients, and building quality products.”

The Group strategy is therefore based on determining factors: offering diversified models, innovative designs with top-of-the-line solutions and a skill level that places Azimut Benetti in a privileged position in the current market.

“We stand out – explains Giovanna Vitelli – because we work in harmony with the entrepreneurial vision, with this intuition in developing new products, and the absolute professional value of a team of managers, working together to make us a solid company. This is how we have kept our place throughout all the fluctuations in the market, both positive and negative.”

It is this consolidated asset that ensures Azimut Benetti respects their company mission, which is to make product innovation its main driver. Over the last 15 years, in particular, the Group has concentrated on protecting the oceans, working successfully to find solutions aimed at reducing environmental impact both in the short and long term.

The most recent examples are the 108 metre giga yacht, Luminosity, the biggest hybrid in the world, which can sail in electric mode for over 10 nautical miles, and the B.Yond 37M, a steel super yacht, equipped with the E-Mode Hybrid system. When it is launched, in the first half of 2022, it will be the greenest yacht in the the industry.

Experience which will now allow the shipyard to transfer the solutions created for giga yachts to units of a smaller size. “Efficiency and reducing consumption are not just slogans for the future to us – notes Vitelli – but goals for the present: we have invested in research and infrastructure in order to reduce the consumption of our vessels by 30% with a noticeable reduction in emissions.”

“A tangible result – concludes the vice president of Azimut Benetti – which we have achieved through the extensive use of carbon fibre, internalising its processing to make it appropriate for boating use, and investing on streamlining the hulls and propulsion systems.” The Group has confirmed a three-year investment in research and development equivalent to 100 million euros.

Running through the list of the top 15 mega yacht builders according to the Global Order Book, nearly half are Italian. In the first 15 spots there are 7 Italian builders of yachts over 24 metres. In second place is Sanlorenzo, with 4,159 linear metres and 117 designs.

The Global Order Book 2021 published by Boat International