Refit is defined by its challenges. It’s in a constant state of emergency and the pressures it creates can’t be replicated in other parts of the industry. It requires resilience, adaptability and, above all, collaboration. Here, shipyards, captains and managers work side by side to meet tight deadlines and client expect-ations that leave little room for error, and there’s the dedication of teams who know that delivering immaculate work under immense pressure is the standard.

From a shortage of skilled labour to the plethora of supply-chain logistics and complexities of managing projects across global waters, those who work in refit know that success here needs more than resources or expertise. It requires a unified front from the bottom of the supply chain to the owners, amid a changing world and an industry battling against uncertainty.

However, for all its pressures, there’s a rare camaraderie in refit that’s hard to find elsewhere. Even competitors understand that they share the same obstacles and, more often than not, common goals. This became increasingly clear while discussing the current state of the market with some of the most renowned names in yachting.

These captains of industry shared with us their greatest fears, the relationships and professional mechanisms they would change and, perhaps most importantly, how they are actively preparing for the future. Simply put, refit professionals are the backbone of the industry and the future of yachting rests squarely on their shoulders. Without their expertise and commitment, the industry would, quite literally, fall apart.

In our recent Refit issue of The Superyacht Report, we asked CEOs and leaders at established refit yards three questions:

1. What are your biggest concerns, frustrations or threats in the refit sector?  

2. In terms of working with owners, captains or managers, what changes would you like to see in the way refit business is conducted?

3. What investments or improvements to your shipyard infrastructure, operations or processes are on the horizon over the next three years, and how will they impact your business and clients?

The questions obviously touched a chord as many opened up about the burning issues within this vital segment of the industry. Here are their insightful responses to Question 1 (in no particular order). Their responses to Questions 2 and 3 will follow in the coming days ...

WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST CONCERNS, FRUSTRATIONS OR THREATS IN THE REFIT SECTOR?

Pedro Paiva, Director, Feadship Refit & Services
The demanding time frame and ever-changing nature of a refit project is a threat in itself. As such, every project will have its specifics but by working as a team with the client and the crew, we’re able to prevent setbacks, accommodate changes and find solutions. The main point of concern is the OEM supply chain being geared up and ready to support the refits anywhere in the world as much as they’re ready to be engaged in new builds.

Evan Kortman, CEO, Balk Shipyard
One of the challenges that the refit sector faces is the advancements in new build. This year, the world’s first hydrogen fuel-cell-powered superyacht will be delivered. Our job as a refit yard specialising in superyachts is to have the expertise to continuously maintain and repair the superyacht fleet. This means we have to stay on top of the developments and train our staff. We simply can’t afford to sit back. We must be open to keep improving so we can always provide our customers with the required quality.

Image: © Damen Yachting/Amels

Michel Coens, Head of Refit & Service, Damen Yachting
Capacity, over-promising and expectation. The growth of the global superyacht fleet has, of course, been very positive for our industry and, in turn, has created a fantastic potential refit market, whether that’s in refitting or upgrading an owner’s existing yacht or a yacht newly acquired on the brokerage market. But with both of these, there comes a number of challenges. A larger fleet means a larger pool of opportunity but also means a higher demand for refit slots.

Every refit is so unique that yards need to be able to either find the perfect refit in scale and time to fit slots they have or need to limit the refits they can offer to very set parameters. This can lead to yards over-promising on time frames to simply make sure they fill the refit slot rather than focusing on what the client is really looking for, and it means clients tend to ‘shop’ based on slots, location and time frame rather than the end result they want to achieve.

Both refit yard and client can be left open to the risk of unwanted surprises

Sometimes the client might not want to hear that the work they want done needs six weeks longer than they really have, but we have a duty to have honest and frank conversations with our clients to ensure we lay out and agree on expectations.

Understanding what the client really wants – for example, the complete wishlist or to be back out on the water by a certain date – is the fundamental basis of what we do as a builder, and this should be the base point of every refit. Coupled with that is also the rising number of yachts we’re seeing where the as-built documentation is not necessarily available or even sometimes not made available.

Refits always come with a period of discovery, especially when it comes to rebuilding, but there’s no standardisation across countries and yards when it comes to what documentation is available and the shape it needs to be in. It means both refit yard and client can be left open to the risk of unwanted surprises.

Joel Shine, Chief Commercial, Officer Derecktor
A primary concern for our two Florida shipyards is balancing project timelines with client expectations. Yacht refits are inherently complex, involving multiple specialised trades, custom components and unforeseen challenges that arise as the vessel’s condition becomes clearer during the process. The pressure to deliver high-quality work on tight deadlines without compromising standards is a constant challenge.

One of our biggest challenges is the availability of skilled labour

Derecktor is known in the industry for maintaining a large number of in-house trades, which allows us to meet client expectations more effectively than shipyards that rely heavily on subcontractors. However, one of our biggest challenges is the availability of skilled labour. As the demand for refits continues to grow, ensuring access to a workforce capable of upholding the highest standards of craftsmanship and technical expertise remains crucial.

Tony Gale, CEO, Icon Yachts
As vessels became larger over these past two decades, the finite restriction on docking space requires owners to investigate a space for Class survey, repaint or refit much earlier than is customary today. Failure to secure space early enough doesn’t make sense to a shipyard, and for the industry – the yards, the subcontractors and suppliers – organisation and mobilisation of the workforce and materials means better assurance to meet redelivery dates. For the UBO, their team and crew, this would make for a stronger partnership and missed contractual dates less likely.

Norina Edelman, CEO and Co-founder, IMM Yachting
One of my greatest frustrations in the sector is the sense that owner needs are not necessarily driving its development. Traditionally, yachting has been a niche market – more boutique than business, more artisan than industry, more service than profit-centred. But as big business has overtaken the market, this has changed. The central concern seems to be short-term profitability rather than how we can grow and expand to better serve the changing market, the changing owner profile.

The definition of business is to generate profit but this can’t be the purpose of a business. Our purpose should be to serve the vessel, to serve the owner, and my frustration is watching this spirit and priority disappear. Our desire to be responsive to market needs is what led to the creation of European-standard operations in the Caribbean – out of a belief that to best serve owners, we need to be willing to complete works where the boats are, and that, as an industry, we must be willing to do the hard work to make owning a yacht more pleasurable.

A concern is how we sustain the quality of refit given the increasing size of facilities and
worldwide labour challenges

Yachting has changed. Owner profiles are different, cruising patterns have changed. The industry must adapt to these realities. Although there are significant barriers for new locations to enter the market, these can be overcome with investment, effort and resolve. After having spent time in the past year running a refit advisory group, whose purpose is to understand what clients would like to see change in refit, it’s clear that the sector is missing the mark. We need to be better about standards, transparency, clarity of quotes and invoicing, to name but a few.

A concern is how we sustain the quality of refit given the increasing size of facilities and worldwide labour challenges. It’s a challenge to find skilled workers at every level today – from project management to skilled labour. To do yacht refit well requires considerable expertise. It’s increasingly difficult for existing facilities to accommodate client needs in reasonable time frames, especially where works were not previewed but are essential (there are, invariably, items discovered during a significant refit period).

A critical component to change this is to invest in training – again, training is something that will ensure long-term success but may diminish near-term returns. Relying on imported labour is not only costly but, even more importantly, it’s also inconsistent with being a good corporate citizen, which requires us to act in ways that boost our local economies. By training locally, spending locally and investing locally, we’re doing the right thing while also ensuring long-term success and profitability.

Ferdinando Pilli, General Manager, Lusben
We’re coming off a period of great success in new builds and, consequently, the demand for refit work is increasing. The current risk in the refit industry is not having sufficient facilities and skilled workers to meet this growing demand. Therefore, investing in facility upgrades and workforce training is essential at this time.

Txema Rubio, Commercial Director, MB92 Group
The planning phase is absolutely critical. There’s often a misconception that we have huge quotation teams and that we can just pull a quote out of our hat like magicians. The reality, however, is that early planning is essential to secure the best prices and resources. The time between receiving an enquiry and starting work remains as tight as ever, and the seasonal nature of our industry only amplifies the challenge. During peak periods, supply chains, especially for OEMs, are stretched thin, making it difficult sometimes to secure materials and skilled labour quickly.

It all comes down to the ‘five Ps’ – Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

We strongly encourage clients to plan months in advance. By doing so, they can benefit from more competitive rates, cost savings and a more efficient project timeline. It all comes down to the ‘five Ps’ – Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. The more proactive clients are, the better the outcomes.

Alberto Perrone Da Zara, Sales Director Yacht Refit, Lürssen
The biggest challenge to refit work right now is simply a shortage of skilled people. There’s a lack of high-quality professionals in the industry, and there really aren’t many of us to begin with. Because good refit specialists are so scarce, they’re able to command quite high salaries, which means companies like ours can recruit the best talent. We’re sometimes even able to bring in people from new build, which suffers from the shortage even more than we do.

It’s easier nowadays to find a brain surgeon than to find someone skilled in sanding wood floors

This challenge is particularly tough in Northern Europe, where people tend to be quite realistic about the resources available. When someone asks if we can take on a big refit, we must look at the skilled personnel available and often the answer is “No, we don’t have the resources”. We hear that all the time. For everything else, there’s usually a solution, but skilled people are hard to come by.

It’s easier nowadays to find a brain surgeon than to find someone skilled in sanding wood floors. Skilled trades, the sort of handiwork our industry relies on, are becoming increasingly scarce across the board. The long-term solution is also the intriguing one. In Italy, they’re starting to introduce initiatives that encourage people towards skilled trades, even integrating it into university fees, creating pathways into industries such as yachting. I hear these discussions happening occasionally within our industry but, frankly, I don’t see Germany or the Netherlands taking similar actions. Why that is, I have no idea.

There’s a committee within SYBAss (Superyacht Builders Association) focused on these issues. They’re interested in improving the lifestyle of people who work in the industry. I think there’s this general belief that manual work isn’t seen as a desirable career path. Everyone seems to think it’s preferable to sit at a desk rather than engage in hands-on work. This mindset makes skilled labour rarer over time.

Giorgio Campini, CEO, Tecnopool Refit
The biggest concern right now is that the refit approach varies greatly depending on the type and size of the yacht. We work with vessels ranging from 30 to 150 metres and this range requires completely different approaches, structures and management. Smaller yachts have a different level of planning and resources compared to larger vessels, which means the organisational demands are very different for each. I’ve been in this industry for more than 35 years and I can say it’s become much more cwomplex over time.

Years ago, the relationships were more straightforward. The shipyard communicated directly with the captain and manager but now, especially with larger yachts, we’re dealing with captains, managers, surveyors, technical representatives and even the owner’s accounting team. Each of these needs different levels of detail and management and it’s far more involved than it used to be.

Refit projects aren’t like new builds. With a refit, the yacht is almost ‘alive’, often still occupied by crewmembers, and operates with ongoing energy that isn’t there with new builds. People are living and working on board, so the shipyard’s approach has to accommodate this environment too.

Refit projects aren’t like new builds. With a refit, the yacht is almost ‘alive’, often still occupied by crewmembers, and operates with ongoing energy that isn’t there with new builds.

The movement of the fleet poses another hurdle. More yachts are spending time in the Gulf region and South East Asia, creating a demand for shipyard support in these new markets. We’ve already invested in facilities in locations such as Thailand to accommodate this shift because yachts no longer stay solely in Europe but travel globally throughout the year.

We also face challenges in sourcing skilled labour for these projects, especially with changes like Brexit. Many skilled British workers who used to work in our shipyards now face restrictions, with a limit of 90 days in Europe. This affects us heavily because we can no longer rely on those experienced professionals as we once did. It’s a big mess and it affects both the yards and the crews who need to move around Europe freely, and this is something that urgently needs a resolution between Europe and the UK.

The challenge of finding skilled labour becomes even harder when we think about expanding into new regions too. It’s much tougher than in Europe. We often need to send our experienced team from Europe to train people locally, but our long-term goal is to have fully trained teams in different areas around the world because we can’t expect clients to bring their yachts to us.

Stewart Parvin, CEO, Cantiere Rossini
One of our primary concerns is the pressure to meet growing demand in the refit sector, particularly as we compete with the new-build sector, which often commands more resources and talent. As the global superyacht fleet expands, specialised refit facilities and skilled labour are increasingly in short supply. This capacity crunch is exacerbated by the rising size and complexity of yachts, which demand advanced infrastructure and highly specialised expertise.

Managing spontaneous requests from owners, without sufficient lead time, can strain shipyards that need structured project management to ensure quality and timely outcomes

Adding to this challenge is a limited pool of skilled workers, with many professionals gravitating towards larger players, intensifying competition for talent. This makes it crucial to attract new talent and build a steady, skilled workforce to prevent project bottlenecks and delays. Additionally, managing spontaneous requests from owners, without sufficient lead time, can strain shipyards that need structured project management to ensure quality and timely outcomes.

Sustainability also remains an industry-wide challenge. While there’s progress in prioritising eco-friendly practices, there’s still a need for unified industry standards and a collaborative push towards responsible sourcing and green technologies. As regulations tighten, the sector must evolve rapidly to meet environmentally conscious expectations.

Carlos Albons Llompart, Production Manager, STP
As the STP Palma shipyard is a technical area for the repair and maintenance of ships that operates on an ‘open slipway’ model, it’s a highly specialised and very high-quality area, where each ship can choose the contractors or companies it wishes to work with to carry out its refit or repair project.

Thanks to this management model, STP receives more than 1,000 ships a year for repair and carries out more than 2,000 travelift movements, so it’s very important – and also very difficult [to manage] – that project start and end dates are met in order for the dry-dock dynamics to run smoothly.

If a ship misses the end date of its project, the ship that was supposed to take its place is unable to do so and it’s up to STP to solve the problem. However, sometimes it’s not possible to reschedule the vessel, in which case the vessel has to change its entire schedule, including the schedules of the companies with which it had already agreed to do the work.

We believe that with good communication between owner, master, project manager and contractors, a lot could be improved to understand the scope of the project, assign real times and get the work done on time.

Alberto Amico, President, Amico & Co
The refit industry continues to be buoyant owing to the sheer volume of the fleet to be maintained, yet vessels are ever more evaluating what refits are achievable based on the amount of downtime that the owner would like to have from their yacht. Owner expectation is managed superficially, supply-chain issues remain and requests to assist with large-vessel warranty are growing.

Flexibility in timing is a plus in refit and service because of constant unforeseen events,
such as emergent works

The combination of these effects is already leaving many boats ‘stranded’ – that is with less assistance than necessary. Seasons and periods of use are getting longer; refit, service and vessel idle times are getting shorter.

Planning is now critical. This doesn’t just mean deciding in advance when the vessel programme will stop for maintenance, but also allocating and reserving the yard, the necessary resources and spare parts at least six months before the refit. This only happens for a tiny fraction of boats, well under 50 per cent.

Flexibility in timing is a plus in refit and service because of constant unforeseen events, such as emergent works.

Image: Image © YachtShot

Toby Allies, CEO, Pendennis
A major industry-wide challenge is ensuring vessels have a clear idea of what they want to achieve before entering a refit period. It’s essential to have a structured approach, with clear responsibilities across department heads and realistic timelines. The best results come when everyone approaches the project as a team, all working towards the same outcome for the client.

The political climate and stability in Europe and the Middle East are on everyone’s radar, with possible impacts on business over the next 12, 24 or 36 months

We’ve built long-term relationships with many yachts that come well-prepared for their projects, and we take an open approach to these timelines. But not all yachts are on the same page and that has always been a challenge. Communication is, and always will be, the vital component in managing a successful refit.

Looking at the bigger picture, there are always risks, particularly with political changes such as what’s happening in the British Parliament or potentially in the US. The political climate and stability in Europe and the Middle East are on everyone’s radar, with possible impacts on business over the next 12, 24 or 36 months.

We employ 700 people, so issues affecting both employer and employee are key to running a successful business. Brexit, for example, has brought both opportunities and challenges. Operating across Europe and the UK means we’ve had to adapt to new processes, especially with moving people across borders and navigating visa requirements and immigration policies.

This article first appeared in The Superyacht Report – Refit Focus. With our open-source policy, it is available to all for a limited period by following this link, so read and download the latest issue and any of the previous issues in our library. Look out for the New Build issue coming in February!

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