It may seem like someone who buys a megayacht has an endless sum of money, but those wells run dry more often than you'd think.
Luminosity, commissioned by Kutayba Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim in the mid-2010s, was never delivered to the Kuwaiti billionaire, who refused it. Instead, Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev bought it in 2022, though he was put under international sanctions shortly thereafter, and the boat has languished since then, Autoevolution reported.
Last year, it was listed for sale at half its original $270 million price. It has never sailed the seas aside from its trials and transfer from berth to what has become a holding dock in Montenegro, which seized the vessel. No crew member has ever been paid for their work, though "special permission" was obtained for this purpose over a year ago, according to Autoevolution.
"When it rains, it pours," the outlet wrote.
The 353-foot creation is the largest diesel-electric yacht in the world, with a three-megawatt battery and two 2,200-kilowatt electric motors plus six 1,000-kilowatt diesel generators. It can reach 16 knots and has a range of over 8,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.
Boatmaker Benetti hailed it as "a gigayacht for the 21st Century. A hybrid of technologies and dreams built with a visionary spirit. An innovative, soundless cruising experience."
The ship features a glass superstructure — with 9,000 square feet of glazing — and six decks with 12 staterooms, as well as a helipad with a refueling station. Twenty-seven passengers plus 37 crew can board the ship — when it's not detained, of course.
But even without that small problem, the megayacht presents issues. Even though it is greener than most, it cost vital resources to construct and requires even more to operate. The maintenance of similar boats has led governments to burn through cash. In one such case, the United States has spent tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to staff a seized ship.
When they do take to the ocean, megayachts release thousands of tons of carbon pollution annually, even though they are in use only 10-20% of the time, according to Bloomberg. There are almost 6,000 100-foot craft in the world — four times as many as there were 30 years ago.
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Definitely 👍 This not only contributes to human health problems, biodiversity loss, and the changing climate, but it exacerbates inequality and hunger, Oxfam International reported.
It's unlikely you'll see billionaires walking, biking, or using public transit any time soon, but maybe if their megayachts and private jets are rendered unusable, they won't have a choice.
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