(CNN) — Superyachts have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks as more and more vessels linked to Russian oligarchs are temporarily frozen.

In the weeks since then, Axioma, a superyacht with ties to another Russian billionaire, has been detained by authorities in Gibraltar, while a group of Ukrainian sailors were seen attempting to block a yacht linked to soccer club-owning billionaire Roman Abramovich as it docked in Turkey earlier this week.

Buyer hesitancy

This sudden turn of events have served as a major blow to the superyacht industry, which has been booming over the last two years, with demand soaring higher than ever.

Figures from Boat International’s Global Order Book indicated that the number of vessels in production or on order worldwide hit a new record high at the end of 2021.

“We’ve had a phenomenal couple of years in the industry,” international luxury business strategist Alice C. I’Anson Widdows tells CNN Travel. “Demand has been outstripping supply. Then suddenly we’re being halted mid-production.”

The circumstances also appear to be having an impact on sales, at least in the short term.