Every year, the yachting industry heightens its threshold of innovation.  

VIKAND’s participation during this year’s yacht show season—including Monaco and Fort Lauderdale, the Superyacht Technology Show & Conference and The Superyacht Forum and METS Trade Show—resulted in the knowledge that innovation excelled with equal attention paid to sustainability, crew welfare, alternative energy vessels, high-speed mobile internet, and onboard air quality. 

VIKAND was well represented at every event, maximising our global message of crew and seafarer sustainability by presenting at seminars, gaining insights on emerging trends in superyachting through attendance in programming, appreciating the richness of experience meeting one-on-one with clients, and enjoying the camaraderie of walking the docks with our fellow yachties. 

• The hot topic across every event was sustainable yachting, including issues such as overall crew welfare, high-speed mobile internet access, onboard air quality and more. 

• Participants discussed factors impacting the guest experience, including odors, mold problems, allergies and more. Preventing disease, congestion and other health issues is also key to keeping crew well-rested, fresh and alert. Onboard air quality in the age of COVID and other airborne viruses was top-of-mind for everyone. 

• Another key theme to emerge from these events was energy savings in the yachting industry. At present, according to widely-read media sources, the maritime industry is not currently on track to meet the IMO ambition for a 50 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Reducing emissions, switching to alternative fuels and lowering energy consumption are all critical to the sustainable future of yachting. 

• The other major theme was a renewed focus on crew welfare – especially mental health. Stakeholders at all four shows were eager to discuss crew health and wellbeing and agreed that wellness at sea is something to address through a proactive approach. This bodes well for VIKAND, which is well positioned to address these needs through a range of total healthcare solutions. 

Peter Hult, Len Quist, Bo Larsen, Paul Morgan, Chloe Hekmati, and I appreciate the time our yachting colleagues afforded us during the critical yacht show season. We are always available to continue these conversations for the good of crew, owners, and industry alike.