A year ago, many yacht brokers and manufacturers still dared to hope that the intensifying financial crisis, although obviously severe, would spare the world’s wealthiest people and leave them with enough cash or credit to buy the $100m superyachts they had always wanted.
With hindsight, it is clear that the luxury boat industry, fattened by years of rising production volumes and improving profit margins, was far too optimistic. There was a shockingly abrupt decline in the market in late 2008 and early 2009, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank.
