Can a yacht pay for itself? A Broker’s honest guide to charter income

Yacht brokers frequently get asked if listing a superyacht for charter can ever make the owner a profit. It is perhaps one of the most nuanced questions within our industry because it is incredibly circumstantial and carries a staggering margin for error – so it’s tricky to give owners a simple yes or no answer.

While we would love to tell every aspiring yacht owner that, yes, absolutely, this yacht will make you even wealthier – the truth is most of the time, it won’t.

However, in unique circumstances there are yachts on the charter market which are driving such a demand, and are run in such a way, that the yacht will not only cover her own costs, but also deliver a surplus to the owner each year. The holy grail!

In this blog post I am going to look at the realistic operating costs of a superyacht including:

·      financing interest rates

·      discussing charter demand and how this demand is influenced

·      examples of ‘profit generating’ yachts

·      a picture of what can go wrong and some considerations

·      the importance of having a great team behind you to make it happen

Spoiler – the answer is yes, a yacht can, sometimes, pay for itself.

How much will this yacht cost me per year? The elusive figure…

It is no secret that yachts are a black hole for cash; the maintenance alone on some of the larger vessels could bankrupt a small nation. But it is very difficult to give an exact prediction of said running costs because the specific way you own, use and operate your yacht could vary drastically from the previous owner – and could end up costing you an additional (or decreased) 30% to the figures you discussed when buying.

The myth of the 10% rule

For a while, the ‘back of the napkin guideline’ was an annual cost of approx. 10% of the value of the superyacht. However, with an ever-growing market of competing options, increased berthing, ever aging fleet, ever rising new-build cost, never-ending ways people use their yachts and ever-increasing labour costs – this 10% figure rarely holds, and I have seen anywhere from 3-30%.

So, for the layman, sure – 10%. For the aspiring yacht owner, we are going to need some details on how you want to use this thing.

The financing factor

Your first cost is financing the vessel, and this is the one aspect of ownership the client usually knows more than the broker: often due to their entrepreneurial expertise. But typically, LTVs are between 30-60% of the vessel depending on shipbuilder, age, usage, flag state and a few other determinants. Rates right now (as of April 2025) are looking between 1.5% - 5% over Euribor, with tenors usually being between 5 – 7 years.

With our ever yoyoing interest rates this is of course a fluid market, but I had a client recently obtain a 4.2% over Euribor on a EUR 3,270,000 loan for a yacht of EUR 5,450,000 value. The terms were over 60 months paying EUR 40,520 per month with a balloon payment of EUR 1,619,000 – for a slightly older yacht in the 38m size bracket.

Crew: your biggest expense

The largest cost in running a yacht is always the crew. You will employ a full-time team to run and maintain the vessel and, depending on if you want to cruise 1 season, or year-round, this will vary in costs by around 60%. Heavily chartered yachts of a larger size (55m and above) will regularly have rotational senior crew, which will increase the level of service onboard as well as longevity.

Parking

Berthing is going to be your next biggest driver of annual cost. Where are you going to keep the boat? Naturally, a berth in Monaco, the yachting Mecca, is going to cost a little more than keeping her in, say, Salerno, Italy.

Keeping her fresh

Maintenance then is another big factor. This is one of the ‘invisible’ costs that can seem excessive but keeps the yacht in perfect condition and running smoothly so she can generate a charter income as well as providing you and your loved ones with the idyllic time spent onboard, all while preserving the resale value.

The list of works can be extensive, but the large-scale jobs are annual services, 5-year survey, general yard periods and a 10-year survey. Consider it normal to spend a small amount of time in a shipyard each year, repairing items, upgrading devices, respraying or wrapping the paint where needed, changing parts and giving your crew a little downtime. 5- and 10-year surveys alone can cost up to EUR 1m for a 40-50m yacht – so these are procedures which need to be planned in advance, and financed accordingly.

Other fees include management costs, IT/AV, fuel, insurance and more. Get in touch if you’d like to see some breakdowns.

Charter demand – who, what, where?

Let me bust a myth here: charter demand is not global – it is very highly concentrated. You will read countless articles from yachting publications spouting the huge demand in ‘experiential travel’, but I have booked hundreds of yacht charters over the last seven years and can tell you one thing – 95% of clients want Greece, France, Corsica & Sardinia or the Amalfi Coast during the summer, and St Barts, St Maarten, and Antigua in the winter.

Sure, if you’d like you can get a cruising licence for Fiji or Costa Rica and be one of the only luxury superyachts in the area – but don’t expect your calendar to be full, and don’t expect to chip off a large amount of running costs with charter revenue. It’s not going to happen.

As an example, there are multiple Navetta 33’s (maybe the most popular production yacht ever) on the charter market, there is one in Italy with 11 (!!) summer bookings already, one in France with 3 bookings confirmed for summer and one in Croatia yet to have anything at all confirmed.

That is of course not to say that Croatia doesn’t generate any charter demand. There are lots of yachts there already fully booked – but there is so much nuance to generating charter enquiries that you need an expert guiding you through the likely results of your decision making, giving accurate and not pie-in-the-sky predictions.

Although there are hundreds of charter options within the Western and Eastern Mediterranean, we (yacht brokers and owners) are blessed that the demand exceeds the supply – so things do get booked, fast, and back-to-back!

Intelligent pricing and marketing strategies are essential. Yachts with more branding, drone shots, videos, previous references, a long-standing and talented crew, sample menus and long toy list will, without a doubt, have an increased demand over those with lazy (or cheap) marketing and crew.

Priced accordingly

In terms of pricing – you would be a fool to think that the most successful businesspeople on earth would lack the agency and common sense needed to correctly price the value of a charter. I have seen so many owners bring their yacht to market for astronomical figures that bear no relation to the current market conditions, and struggle to book business because of it.

As an example, there is a 55m yacht currently on the charter market with seven confirmed charters for the summer, a figure that would likely cover a large portion of their annual running costs. She has a sistership also on the market, of the same age, but 90k per week more expensive – and this boat has no confirmed charters for this summer (as of writing!)… who’d have thought!

Commercially minded owners simply get more business. Dynamic pricing and offers for low season dates are rife in the industry for a reason; it fills calendars.

Word travels

The industry is small (only 2265 yachts available for charter worldwide on the MYBA booking platform), so when brokers have a client interested in chartering a yacht they have no direct experience with, the broker will phone an industry peer and ask them their feedback – if the yacht has a ‘difficult’ captain or stewardess this will be passed on and the yacht avoided, so keeping a squeaky clean record is imperative (See LOON’s recent winter fiasco for real-life charter-demand killing).

What can go wrong (and often does)?

checks long list…

Superyachts are large, mechanical palaces which can transport you from country to country with a full time staff of mixed nationalities and personalities, so therefore, occasionally, things will go wrong – which is another reason why your broker should be feeding you conservative financials, allowing for some wiggle room during times of unforeseen drama or breakdown!

Firstly – not all yachts can be listed on the charter market because not all yachts are made the same. Even within the scope of production yachts, one can be built with commercial specifications, and the very next hull can be a totally different case.

If one is not built to the required standard (often RINA, MCA or LYC) then you (we) will have to make the required changes before listing her on the market. However, this act of listing a yacht commercially is not as simple as it may seem (no matter what the selling agent may tell you) and depends on a myriad of components including build surveyor, build standards, shipyard, flag state, insurance and much more.

I have worked on yacht options where turning a 30m yacht commercial was as simple as adding a rescue tender and some more life-jackets, but likewise I have worked on opportunities where the process involved EUR 1m of upgrades including raising handrails across the whole yacht – it is a really mixed bag!

Then there are also a string of tax, corporate ownership, flag, VAT and crew specifications which need to be strictly adhered to. You need charter brokers to be able to view the boat to recommend to their clients, therefore you need to enter the vessel into relevant yacht shows, which takes available dates from your calendar.

You need to plan for shipyard periods in-between charter seasons, you may need rotational crew on larger yachts to give adequate rest, you may have wear and tear on your beloved from charter guests who like to party. It is a treasure trove of moving parts and decisions.

Who is going to do all of this for me?

Your charter marketing department are going to be your best friends. These are the guys who will step onboard the boat, train the crew to adhere to our industry’s ever-growing standards, organise the photo and video-shoots, liaise with every interested party, handle payments, check over contracts, ensure the VAT on trips is paid, be the conduit between you, your crew and the parties chartering the vessel and all the logistical planning that comes with that – all with the goal of meeting your expectations in terms of bookings and revenue.

Why are these guys important? Because if you use a naff company, you will get naff results. There are charter marketing departments in our industry whose yachts are simply avoided because they / their team / their yachts are not trusted to provide a remarkable experience for our retail charter clients. Use a trusted team with a good fleet of established yachts already.

Success case studies

Now the fun part: let’s look at some revenue generating yachts. Names of vessels are hidden for owners’ privacy, and the numbers are estimates based on internal data – but below are four options across a range of sizes and styles that are generating a fantastic charter revenue on an annual basis.  

We are looking at 2024 charter figures as calendars for 2025 are still filling up, so I wanted to give you a full 12-month picture rather than anything with skewed demand based on time of year.

Example 1: 55m (180’) Heesen 2023. Approx purchase price: EUR 45,000,000.

Dual season - Med and Caribbean, flexible cruising destinations. 13 crew. Approx running costs EUR 3.2 – EUR 4.4m per year.

Charter rate: EUR 400,000 low season and EUR 450,000 high season (not including charterer’s expenses, fuel and VAT)

2024 calendar:

Gross Charter Revenue: Approx EUR 4,670,000

This is before commissions and negotiated discounts – so the total net to owner is going to be around the EUR 3,500,000 point.

Therefore, this gives us a profit / loss scale of -900k to +300k, depending on circumstance and exact owners use, maintenance etc. Nuanced, right!?

Key considerations: I wouldn’t usually advise someone to look at such a premium product (Heesen are the leading aluminium boat builder in the world, and this yacht was purchased brand-new) as an option to consider if they are looking to generate a charter profit, just because of the increased crew and maintenance costs needed to keep something like this pristine. However, this is a great example showing the type of demand you can generate (when marketed well and priced sensibly) in comparison to similar options in the same class.

Example 2: 48m (158’) motor / sailing Gulet. 2021. Approx purchase price: EUR 9,000,000.

One season - Croatia only. 8 crew. Approx running costs EUR 730,000 – 1,100,000 per year

Charter rate: EUR 98,000 low season and EUR 120,000 high season (not including charterers expenses, fuel and VAT)

2024 calendar:

Gross Charter Revenue: Approx EUR 1,185,500

This is before commissions and negotiated discounts – so the total net to owner is going to be around the EUR 900,000 point.

Therefore this gives us a profit / loss scale of -200k to +170k, depending on circumstance and exact owners use, maintenance etc.

Key considerations: This particular example is built for a purpose. In Croatia, by Croatia, for Croatia. Their running costs are significantly lower (I have tried to be conservative with my estimates) and are usually run on a tight but efficient margin. Some of these yachts are owned by savvy Croatian investors, so I would be surprised if this one ran at a loss. 

Example 3: 33m (108’). Approx purchase price: EUR 9,500,000.

One season - Mediterranean only, flexible cruising destinations. 7 crew. Approx running costs EUR 900k – 1.3m per year.

Charter rate: EUR 135,000 low season and EUR 145,000 high season (not including charterers expenses, fuel and VAT)

2024 calendar:

Gross Charter Revenue: Approx EUR 1,479,950

This is before commissions and negotiated discounts – so the total net to owner is going to be around the EUR 1,100,000 point.

Therefore this gives us a profit scale of -200k to +200k, depending on circumstance and exact owners use, maintenance etc.

Key considerations: Being a 33m, this yacht would generate some charter demand in the Caribbean if the owner took it across the Atlantic. However, the added cost, logistical demand, crew effort and wear-and-tear must be taken into account, making this a less common choice.

Final example 4: 95m (311’). Approx purchase price: EUR 110,000,000.

One season - Mediterranean and kept in Greece only, but one winter trip in Saudi Arabia. 30 crew. Approx running costs EUR 7m – 9.3m

Charter rate: EUR 1,110,000 high and low season (not including charterers expenses, fuel and VAT)

2024 calendar:

Gross Charter Revenue: EUR 13,992,000

This is before commissions and negotiated discounts – so the total net to owner is going to be around the EUR 10,500,000 point.

Therefore, this gives us a profit / loss scale of +800k to +3.5m, depending on circumstance and exact owners’ use, maintenance etc. A yacht generating an income, bingo!

Key considerations: This example is pretty much the premium yacht on the Greek charter market, so she generates a good demand by the leading charter clients in the world exploring the Ionian or Aegean Islands. Most of the yachts which are generating a profit will have this uniqueness to them, offering charter clients something a little different or being in a lane of one.

Conclusions

Yachting is expensive, as everyone is well-aware. But with the right team managing your asset and building a well-defined charter program, offsetting a significant portion of your operational costs isn’t a pipedream, it’s a realistic goal.

Is it possible to offset 100% of annual running costs? Yes, it is possible. But it probably isn’t for most. What is more likely is aiming for 50-80% of the costs being covered. A yacht that can cover costs is a huge win and they do certainly exist, but they will have to fill a specific role in a specific niche.

For example:

• Undervalued (most likely older) yachts in Greece, approx. 40m in length with a skeleton crew in winter

• Circa 50m production yachts priced considerably cheaper than their sisterships, dual season

• Croatian built gulets chartering locally with local crew

• Modern catamarans in Greece with excellent marketing

• Premium yachts in destinations with less competition for stock, but a high demand.

As long as the charter market demand stays true to course, there should be no reason why these numbers should fair. However, because of the layers of complexity and nuance (nuance is fast becoming a buzzword for this blog), speaking to someone with vast experience of both the charter and brokerage markets is truly essential to ensure you don’t get caught out.

You need to pour over the projected annual running costs of any yacht you are considering purchasing and look at real data from either retail or charter marketing departments to give yourself a good picture of potential demand.

I truly believe that superyacht ownership unlocks the most premium way to spend time with family and friends, and by chartering your vessel you can justify the investment financially, add a game layer to ownership and elevate the yacht to a shared experience.

If your yacht can cover 50-80% of its costs while you enjoy the lifestyle of dreams – you have won!

If you are interested in buying and listing your yacht for charter; or listing a yacht already owned; or simply looking to charter something yourself – reach out, I would love to hear from you.

Read my blog on the current state of the superyacht market here: Is now the right time to buy a superyacht? A market analysis for 2025