CUSTOMIZED LUXURY AT SEA

LUXURY YACHTS: You have to be worth millions to afford a luxury yacht from Royal Denship. But in return you get the best of the absolute best. Care is lavished on everything, down to the tiniest detail

Ever since the Vikings ruled the waves in their longships a 1,000 years ago, craftsman-ship and quality have characterised Danish ship building. Danish designed and Danish built yachts are acknowledged all over the globe as state-of-the-art.

“Most yacht builders can pour luxury into the hulls, but there are few who can supply both customized luxury and quality yachts, where construction and technology go hand in hand with finish and luxurious accommodation,” says Hans Schneider, director of Royal Denship, which is headquartered in Århus. In the space of just a few years, Royal Denship has become a leading supplier of specially designed and customized luxury yachts for the super wealthy.

The combination of outstanding design, quality craftsmanship and customized luxury, where only the best is good enough, while carefully meeting the owner’s requirements for layout and equipment, has made Royal Denship into a significant player in this very special market.

Citizens of the world
“It is naturally a market which reflects a strong increase in the number of very wealthy people all over the world,” says Hans Schneider. “Our customers are citizens of the world, who have a nationality, but feel at home everywhere. In many cases by virtue of their yacht which is equipped with everything that makes it possible to live 100% on board. They are people to whom luxury is not necessarily an external thing, like creating an impression in fashionable marinas. Instead, the yacht caters for these people’s needs for privacy in a quiet bay in Mexico, or serves as a floating headquarters in the part of the world in which they have a periodic interest.”

 
Royal Denship’s director Hans Schneider on board a 137 foot luxury yacht which is being completed at Århus Shipyard. For filling and finish alone, before the ship gets 11 coats of paint, more than 5 tons of two-component filler is being used. Then the ship is perfect.

Expedition Yacht
Royal Denship’s entry into the market is due to owner Peter Johansen’s absorbing interest in yachts and his ability to create the right network necessary for the result to become a personalised yacht throughout. “Peter Johansen put his entire personal prestige into his first yacht commission,” says Hans Schneider. “It was a very special craft, an Expedition Yacht, ordered by a successful American lawyer. It was only for use in the icy waters of the Arctic and Antarctic, where he was engaged in studying penguins. In addition to being a professional expedition yacht, it had to contain all the things that characterise a luxury yacht. Johansen succeeded by having the yacht built in a trawler yard in Denmark, then bringing in some of the world’s best designers of luxury accommodation to furnish the ship. The ability to bring together the right people with the right ideas, is Peter Johansen’s very own.”

Seaworthiness comes first
The first yacht won the admiration of that special group of people in the world who not only have enough money to buy a very special yacht, but also to crew it, operate it and maintain it. The success of the first yacht whetted Peter Johansen’s appetite and Royal Denship’s second vessel was started without the company having a buyer. He appeared during the building process, and so Royal Denship gained a hold on the market. So far the company has built 16 different yachts, from 80 foot high-speed motor vessels in the high-tech class and 258 foot floating palaces to yachts in the America’s Cup class.

“Just about everything is possible if there is enough money,” says Hans Schneider, who was hand-picked by Peter Johansen to run Royal Denship. “But the basis is always a good seaworthy vessel. The decoration comes afterwards, and here the Danish shipyards that we use enter the picture. The know-how and craftsmanship involved have been gained by virtue of Denmark’s role as a shipping nation.”

Royal Denship is currently building nine different yachts and boats. The first to be delivered is a classic 137 foot luxury yacht, ordered by a Hong Kong based businessman.