In hospitality, there are people known as Aman hotels junkies, feet firmly on the ground. At sea, there are Feadship addicts, reaching for their superyacht dreams, which this 70-year-old, category-leading shipbuilder fashions into reality.
By way of a signature bespoke process that enables purchasers to collaborate with experts, a Feadship is as much feat as it is finery. The company’s in-house creative team, Studio De Voogt, is the world’s third largest studio devising 45–100-meter-plus superyachts, tailor-made to client’s wish list. They’ve designed the majority of Feadship’s fleet, from concept to drawings and renderings to specifications, working hand-in-hand with the engineers of De Voogt Naval Architects and Feadship Yards.
In 2019, Feadship celebrated 70 years of yacht building with a string of notable launches, beginning with a new shipyard (the world’s most sustainable and high-tech) in Amsterdam, which was toasted in May 2019 by Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. The company also leaned into its brand presence, utilizing digital media and a series of videos and films as powerful storytelling tools and lifestyle influencers, building an ecstatic, exclusive community.
Looking back on some the shipbuilder’s most iconic and accoladed builds, nearly every launch has something remarkable. In recent years, there has been the 2018 Sherpa, the explorer-like ship for a repeat client, complete with helicopter platform and capabilities of transporting a range of large tenders and land vehicles for around-the-world adventures. Also in 2018, Feadship launched Anna, the company’s largest ship to date, coming in at 110 meters and featuring the first bespoke diesel-electric propulsion system and landing pad for a tilt-rotor aircraft. The architectural ship shows sculpted balconies, slabs of glass, and metallic silver and jet-black accents.
And of course, there’s the 83.5-meter Savannah, launched in January 2015 as the world’s first hybrid superyacht, complete with eco-friendly diesel engine, three gensets, batteries, propeller, azimuthing thruster, and streamlined hull—not to mention exquisite curvilinear interiors free of corner. The ship also features a glass wall on one side of its hull, for aquarium-like viewing, which can be covered with a screen to become a movie theater.
It’s apropos. Beyond exquisite design, Feadship is part of a more epic journey. The Netherlands-based company’s own storied past, rising out of the devastation of World War II to continue family traditions that date back to 1849, takes legacy to a daringly modern edge, designing and building luxury vessels with one outstanding mandate: imagine. It’s what Dutch shipbuilders have been doing since they dominated the Golden Age. feadship.nl
All images are courtesy of Feadship
