World's largest yacht builder slapped with massive fine for controversial company practice

The world's largest superyacht is "fitted bow to stern" with illegal timber.

The 127-meter (416-foot) boat, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the second-richest person in the world, was built by Oceanco, which used teak from Myanmar for the decks, furniture, and furnishings, Wood Central reported.

This broke the European Union Timber Regulation, and the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service fined the company, owned by Omani billionaire Mohammed Al Barwani, over €150,000 (about $156,000 USD) in a settlement.

Days prior, Sunseeker, the United Kingdom's biggest boat builder, was fined nearly £360,000 (nearly $444,000) for violating UK timber regulations, per Mongabay.

The outlet reported that brokers have long profited from selling conflict timber through European supply chains. Myanmar teak is frequently imported to the EU and the United States, even years after regulations and sanctions were designed to halt the practice. Myanmar's authoritarian military regime controls the timber trade, using profits to finance its violent rule, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

"Ensuring compliance within global supply chains and sourcing materials ethically and legally is becoming harder than ever," Super Yacht News stated, via Wood Central. "The EUTR prohibits the import of illegally logged timber into the European Union and requires companies to conduct due diligence to verify the legal origin of the wood they use."

That publication reported Oceanco vowed in 2019 to halt its use of teak from Myanmar in new projects. Bezos' ship was commissioned in 2018 and completed in 2023.

"The latest court action point[s] to a day of reckoning for the industry," Wood Central wrote.

Super Yacht News added that it "highlights systemic failures in due diligence within the industry and indicates an urgent need for the sector to adopt more rigorous practices."

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The outlet noted that companies and entrepreneurs are eager to change the sector by using sustainable alternatives to teak as well as blockchain technology for supply-chain transparency.

ICIJ reported that the EU Deforestation Regulation could help. The law will take effect Dec. 30 after a year-long delay, but it will be largely unenforceable because countries don't have the personnel. The EU, via its consumer products, was responsible for 10% of global deforestation from 1990 to 2020, with the total worldwide loss covering "an area larger than the EU itself," per ICIJ.

"Far more needs to be done. … It's unacceptable that Myanmar teak imports to the U.S. and EU are happening at all," Justice for Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung told ICIJ.

"The sale of teak helps the junta pay for the bombs and jet fuel it needs to slaughter Myanmar people. No yacht is worth the price of blood Myanmar people are sacrificing for this abhorrent trade."

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