There has been an encouraging start to 2011
with the business showing significant increases over the same period last year.
In line with the overall luxury yacht market, the refit business also seems to be picking up. So far this year Lusben refit yards have seen an increase of 30% in comparison to the first quarter of 2010.
However, this increase has come in the form of more contracts rather than a greater overall value.
There has been a recent tendency to perform fairly serious refits on smaller boats (20-25m), something that we’ve not really seen over the last few years.
Owners in this size-range appear keen to refit and refurbish rather than trade-up at present.
During the winter months the yards have been full with charter boats getting ready for the Mediterrean summer season.
Another notable point is that the Russian clients have definitely returned to being some of the key, major contractors for large refits.