Analysis of the fleet delivered since the turn of the millennium indicates that the superyacht sector has relied on consistent horse-power from the major engine brands of Caterpillar and MTU Rolls-Royce. However, in the past five years, we’ve seen the emergence of MAN as a supplier of energy to the fleet.

This has been in part because of supply-chain and delivery issues and some changes in focus, but as we saw during the early phase of Covid, lead times for new engines had become unworkable for some shipyard delivery schedules. Gear boxes and spare parts were at a premium, suppliers were unable to meet the demand and the market opened up for MAN to grab a piece of market share pretty quickly, especially in the semi-custom superyacht fleet.

Top three engine manufacturers individual year-on-year market share

Engine manufacturers by LOA size segment

The most important aspect of this brief look at the engine market is the fact that the majority of the fleet is still being delivered with conventional fossil-fuel-burning engines and some form of hybrid package. If we look at the report on HVO by environmental expert Awwal Idris at Water Revolution Foundation, our biggest opportunity as an industry is to build a strategy to migrate their fuel source to HVO now and over the coming years.

Many of the yachts built with modern engines over the past 20 years are capable of being converted or are already suited to burn the green fuel source HVO – if you’re willing to make a few sacrifices and adopt a different operational profile. However, when considering the size of the current fleet versus the number of new builds being delivered and factoring in the number of projects that have zero emission or hydrogen or methanol at their core, the smartest strategy to clean up our act is to focus our attention on the supply of HVO over the next five years.

Yes, we’re competing for HVO supply with the truck market, as well as the aviation and shipping sectors, but if we want to make big steps in the right direction and demonstrate that our industry really wants to become more sustainable and reduce our impact, perhaps this is where we need to focus our attention now.

If we think purely about generators and main engines, and work with the fuel-supply chain and get the right investment and buy-in from our existing owners, we can make huge strides and even demonstrate in tangible terms what the reduction in emissions would be.

There’s huge value in switching to HVO not only as the core of sustainability,
but also for the reduction of soot and the cleaner burning of fuel.

The three big engine manufacturers have all invested in making sure their various yacht propulsion and energy ranges are HVO-ready, but there still seems to be an operational perception barrier, a price sensitivity and a supply-chain issue. However, there’s huge value in switching to HVO not only as the core of sustainability, but also for the reduction of soot and the cleaner burning of fuel.

At the end of the day, diesel may be unavailable in certain locations and the burning of fossil fuels will be banned in ports and marinas, so the time has come for the engine manufacturers, the fuel suppliers, the management companies, the builders, the captains and engineers and the owners to make an industry-wide policy decision to change what we consume to reduce our impact.

Some yards such as Feadship are already delivering their new builds with HVO in the fuel tanks, and then it’s up to the owner and captain to keep using this valuable alternative. However, there needs to be a wave of energy, a momentum shift and powerful surge in changing our behaviour by doing the right thing.

If a few thousand yachts are all demanding HVO and buying it consistently, we may be taken seriously by the fuel suppliers and more capacity will be made available. This is one big step we can make in the right direction of filling those YETI footprints from Water Revolution Foundation.

Analysis undertaken by SuperyachtIntelligence, our in-house data and research consultancy.

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

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