I once interviewed someone working on the development of a refit and repair shipyard in Spain. He was English, and the investors were Spanish. His job was to convince the investors why they should develop a superyacht refit shipyard, instead of a traditional Spanish boat-building shipyard. One of his most imperative suggestions was to implement an English-speaking, Anglo-Saxon culture in the shipyard. 

On one hand, there is logic to this, you can see how it could be a reasonable suggestion, as the majority of the crew working on superyachts are indeed English speaking. And yet, at the same time, you can’t help but wonder why the industry insists on cultural deprivation, especially given how global and far-reaching the market is.

While there are numerous benefits to having everyone speaking the same language, insisting that every infrastructure development should have an Anglo-Saxon culture just because ‘that’s the way the industry works’ could have detrimental long-term effects. This is a burgeoning industry expanding across the world with particularly exciting developments in Asia, the Red Sea and Central America. There is a massive opportunity to start fresh and consider the needs and methods of different cultures instead of simply replicating what happens in the Meditteranean.

The superyacht industry needs to prepare for a future with clients from all over the world. According to the NASDAQ, the fastest growing economies in the world are Libya, Macao, The Maldives, Guyana and India – in that order. Moreover, Barbados, Estonia, Bulgaria and Uruguay produced their first billionaires in 2022. If any industry wants to attract potential clients from these countries, they are more likely to achieve this by reflecting a diverse workforce. Many stakeholders will take the stance that there are ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ of the superyacht bubble, but if the insider group is predominantly made up of white, English-speaking Westerners, then maybe it says something about the industry that stakeholders don’t want to acknowledge. 

I know what people will say to counter-argue against this. They will say that the mono-culture model is important for communication and that it makes for an easier working environment. I understand the sentiment from crew members especially, if a colleague comes from a…