Feadship Yachts

Over the years, the name “Feadship” has become synonymous with the finest quality luxury motor yachts. Feadship’s focus on perfection also has helped to establish The Netherlands as one of the world’s most important yacht-building countries. Today comprising two builders, four yards and a naval architecture firm, Feadship delivers superyachts from 50 - 100+ metres in length.

The history of Feadship

Feadship was established in 1949 as a marketing partnership between six Dutch shipyards, de Vries Lentch, Van de Stadt, Witsen & Vis, Akerboom, De Vries Scheepsbouw and Van Lent Shipyard, and De Voogt Naval Architects.  An acronym for First Export Association of Dutch Shipbuilders, Feadship’s original mission was to market superyachts to buyers in the United States. Today the company, now solely De Vries (f. 1906) and Van Lent (f. 1849) shipyards – albeit now with royal appellations in respect of their centenary status – plus De Voogt Naval Architects, is a global yacht building juggernaut. While Dick van Lent sold controlling interest in the Royal Van Lent operation to luxury brand goliath LVMH in 2008, De Vries Group is still a family owned and run company.

As Feadship’s success grew in the US and around the world throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, so did the size of the yachts it delivered. Feadship’s reputation was enhanced by celebrity owners such as magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes, who commissioned the 46-meter superyacht Highlander, designed by Jon Bannenberg and delivered in 1986. The late Jim Moran, a U.S. auto dealer and philanthropist, and his wife, Jan, also made headlines by building eight Feadship luxury yachts named Gallant Lady. One of those was purchased on the brokerage market by IndyCar team owner Roger Penske and renamed Detroit Eagle (now Boss). Penske has since built two more Feadships, a 46m in 2000 also named Detroit Eagle (now Excellence) and the latest, a 2020 73m delivery called Podium. Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs is on the client list with Venus, styled by Philippe Stark

Feadship now operates four shipyards in the Netherlands delivering high quality custom superyachts with Kloninkljike (Royal in Dutch) De Vries headquartered in Aalsmeer and a satellite yard accommodating the construction of its largest vessels in Makkum, and Royal Van Lent operating from its historic Kaag Island facility and the newest property in Amsterdam.

Notable Feadship Yachts

The 85-metre turbine-powered superyacht Ecstasea was delivered by Feadship in 2004 to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. She features naval architecture by De Voogt and interior styling by Terence Disdale.

To date, the largest luxury yacht built by Feadship – or any Dutch shipyard, for that matter – is the 110.50-metre Anna launched in 2018; Michael Leach Design created her exterior styling and interior layout and design with Bran J. McCarthy. With the launch of 78.2-metre Venus, in 2012 Feadship and glass engineering firm Eckersley O’Callaghan made groundbreaking advances in the use of glass aboard a superyacht, these advances were followed by equally striking advances in glass aboard 46-metre Lady May (ex-Como) in 2014, 83.5-metre Savannnah (2015), and 77.25-metre Pi (ex-Syzygy) in 2019, which won a Boat International Design & Innovation Award for Innovation. Savannah was also the first hybrid Feadship featuring diesel-electric power. In the early to mid-2000s, Feadship briefly offered a platform yacht, the F45, with a modular interior layout, of which six were built.

Among the many standout yachts delivered by the yard are 72.8m Predator (2008) designed by De Voogt, which featured the builder’s first reverse bow, the high speed 49.5m Sussuro designed by De Voogt with Don Shead (1998) and the (2018) launches of 73.6m Sherpa, its first expedition-style yacht and 51-metre Promise, Feadship’s first ice-classed yacht, designed by De Voogt and Bannenberg & Rowell. Symphony, launched in 2015 with exterior styling by Tim Heywood and an interior by Peter Marino and François Zuretti, and built for the head of LVMH, is the largest Feadship to date in terms of gross tonnage, its first yacht

Specialisations

Feadship offers new, high quality, custom superyacht construction in steel and aluminium and operates dedicated charter and comprehensive refit services exclusively for Feadships. It has its own in-house design and engineering team (De Voogt) headquartered in Haarlem and conducts a regular research and development program for design and technical innovation. Feadship hulls are created by its subsidiary yards and towed to the four yards for completion. Through the last decade, the builder has typically disclosed 8 to 10 yachts under construction in each annual Global Order Book.

The Feadship Heritage Fleet was established in 2013 for owners of Feadships 30 years old and older. Although an independently operated social club, Feadship supports this group and helps with its research.

Feadship uniquely offers a Certificate of Authenticity program where Feadship owners can submit their yachts to an inspection program by Feadship experts to evaluate the current state of older Feadships including repairs, refits and additions. The Authentication Certificate is an industry-unique system that provides official recognition to Feadships that have been maintained to the builder’s standards of perfection. Feadship owners and captains can request a comprehensive inspection to check all key aspects involved and if their yacht passes this stringent evaluation it will be granted the Feadship Authentication Certificate, giving a guarantee to buyers of pre-owned Feadships that they are investing in true brand value.