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FUEL prices are soaring and credit markets tightening, but the super-rich are still lining up to pay tens of millions of dollars for mega-yachts.

The well-heeled buyers of the floating mansions are increasingly coming from emerging economies – the Middle East, Russia and South America. The source of their wealth runs the gamut – technology, venture capitalism, new industries, and, yes, oil.

“There are a lot of people with new wealth looking for relaxation and enjoyment,” said John Dane III, president of Trinity Yachts.

These days, the biggest problem at Trinity’s shipbuilding yards is acquiring enough workers to handle the 24 custom contracts the company is currently working on.

“Nobody is buying these yachts because they need them,” said William Smith III, Trinity’s vice president. “They’re buying them because they want them.”

London’s YCO Deuxil, has nine yachts under construction, more than double from last year. Sales for the first five months exceeded the entire amount for last year.

According to Camper & Nicholsons International, a broker of yacht sales and charter contracts, there are about 3 800 yachts over 80 feet in service throughout the world now.

About 1 800 of those have been built since 2000. The study predicts that by 2010, there will be 5 000 such yachts.

“There’s not enough supply,” said Ed Slack, editor of International Boat Industry. “It takes two years to build some of these yachts and the demand hasn’t slowed down.”

So far, Trinity’s largest vessel has been a 59m yacht that would carry a replacement price of $60 million to $65 million. The company is working on a 74m vessel that will have a price tag in excess of $90 million.

In the Netherlands, the First Export Association of Dutch Shipbuilding can construct a 39m yacht for $40 million. On the upper end of an already high scale, a 91m monster yacht is a steal at $150 million.

Francois van Well, chief executive of Feadship America, said about 50% of his company’s business comes from the US, but more buyers are coming from the rest of the world. And it is not old family money. “Most of our clients have earned their wealth in one generation.”

Trinity, which once had an almost exclusive US buyer base, is also gaining more overseas buyers who have recently acquired substantial money, Dane and Smith said.

At the Global Superyacht Forum, a meeting of yacht owners in Amsterdam last November, the manager of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners Steven Rattner said that there are 90 000 families in the world with a net worth of more than $360 million each.

That number is expected to increase over the next three years by 10% a year.

Because most of the new buyers are still active in business, they only have limited time a year for their yachts. Many also have vacation homes overseas. And they are investment savvy.

Enter the charter business, especially in the Mediterranean where, according to Dane, a 50m yacht can easily bring $350 000 a week.

By chartering a boat 10 weeks a year, the owners can pay operating expenses for a full year, Rattner said.

And these vessels don’t depreciate in price.

Trinity has about 900 employees at its yards. Feadship has three European yards with 1 200 workers turning out an average of five yachts a year. – Sapa-AP

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