Building your own superyacht is the pinnacle of yacht ownership. But how to decide which shipyard is the right one to take your dream and turn it into reality? There are a multitude of luxury yacht builders all competing for your dollar, so how do you choose between them?

That depends very much on you, and what kind of yacht you want to build. Do you want a fully-custom yacht or a semi-custom yacht? Are you looking for a performance yacht, a displacement yacht, or sailing yacht? Steel, aluminum, or composite? Do you want to push the boundaries of design and engineering, or are you happy to rely on a proven platform and enjoy the time and money savings that decision will bring?

What is your budget, and what kind of timeframe do you envisage until you take possession of your yacht? Do you want a shipyard that is located in your region so that you can visit the project regularly throughout the build stage, and how much does your impression of the yard’s heritage and people factor into your decision?

The decision on which luxury yacht builder you want to carry out your superyacht project is one of the most important of the entire process. Here are 10 of the best yacht builders in the world, sorted by country.

Germany

Lurssen and Blohm + Voss

Custom yacht builder Lurssen is a towering force in the superyacht industry, and is the current titleholder for building the largest yacht in the world, 590’ (180M) AZZAM, and has four other yachts in the global top 10. Lurssen is family owned and has an incredible history of yacht building stretching back to 1875, and lays claim to building the first-ever motoryacht.

Lurssen also took over Hamburg shipyard Blohm + Voss in 2016, which is responsible for iconic custom motor and sailing yachts including M/Y A and M/Y ECLIPSE, once the largest yacht in the world.

The Netherlands

Amels

Amels is one of the great Dutch yacht builders, delivering motoryachts up to 100m from its ultra-high tech Vissingen shipyard. Amels offer a fully custom yacht building experience for its clients, as well as its highly popular Limited Edition series, whereby the yacht’s framework is built on a proven platform, leaving matters of design and layout to the yacht owner’s discretion. Famous Amels yachts include M/Y HERE COMES THE SUN and the award winning M/Y EVENT, as well as their successful SEA AXE support yacht range by their parent company, DAMEN.

Feadship

One of the oldest and most prestigious names in the yachting world, Dutch yacht builder Feadship dates back to 1849, creating fully custom, ‘one-off’ superyachts that are unlike any other. Priding themselves on heritage, innovation, superb quality, and a completely bespoke experience for their clients, the 450-strong Feadship fleet is full of famous yachts, including VENUS, AQUARIUS, ECTASEA, and their latest offering, the revolutionary M/Y HASNA.

Heesen

Heesen launched in 1978, becoming rapidly acclaimed for building sporty, high-quality performance superyachts with iconic styling. Heesen has launched an impressive 170 yachts since inception, with a reputation for design and engineering innovation, most celebrated with its revolutionary use of the fast displacement hull in GALACTICA STAR and GALACTICA SUPERNOVA. Heesen currently builds motoryachts up to 260’ (80m) at its shipyard in Oss, with a fleet that includes aluminium, steel, displacement, semi-displacement and fast displacement.

Oceanco

Rounding out the incredible offering from Holland’s yacht builders is Oceanco, which launched in 1990 and moved rapidly into the large yacht sector, building steel and aluminium yachts between 260’ and 460’ (80 and 140m). Offering a fully custom service to their clients and a high tech approach from their Alblasserdam shipyard, Oceanco’s fleet includes great names like ALFA NERO, ANASTASIA, and the largest yacht ever to be built in Holland, the 360’ (110m) M/Y JUBILEE.

USA

Westport Yachts

Based in Vancouver, WA, Westport prides itself on its high quality American build process, as well as a proud history of delivering every one of its yachts on time and on budget. One of the early adopters of cutting-edge composite technology and using modular construction to improve strength and speed of build, Westport offers an extremely popular line of tri-deck and raised pilothouse models between 112′ and 164’ (34m and 50m). Dating back to 1964, Westport is America’s largest yacht builder with over 200 vessels launched in that time.

Christensen Yachts

American yacht builder Christensen is founded and owned by superyacht owners who understand the yacht construction and ownership experience from a personal perspective. The Christensen shipyard in Vancouver, DC, constructs fiberglass yachts between 115’ and 165’ (35 and 50m) in length, while the yard currently under construction in Tennessee will have capacity to build yachts up to 70m. Christensen produces both custom and semi-custom yachts, with their fleet including the award winning ODESSA and SILVER LINING.

Italy

Perini Navi

Perini Navi is one of the great names of the yachting world, with a fleet of modern sailing superyachts from 130’ to 200’ (40 to 60m), as well as a new line of luxury motoryachts from their Picchiotti sister brand. The iconic 288’ (88m) S/Y MALTESE FALCON stunned the world upon launch in 2006, in a long line of Perini’s successes that dates back to 1982. Perini’s large volume interiors afford a luxurious sense of space, while their state of the art sailing systems have made them the leader of large sailing yacht design.

Benetti

Benetti is one of the oldest yacht builders in Europe, with a history dating back to 1873, and is part of the Azimut Benetti Group, the largest producers of luxury yachts in the world. Benetti constructs semi and fully custom composite, aluminum and steel yachts between 100 and 330’ (30 and 100m) across their three yards at Viareggio, Livorno, and Farno, and has a long order list with many repeat clients. Their long yacht building history and fine Italian styling has produced many famous yachts, including groundbreaking KINGDOM in 1980, ULYSSES, and M/Y 11.11.

England

Sunseeker

The great British yacht builder, Sunseeker, has earned a top reputation as a manufacturer of performance yachts with a wide range of sport yachts and superyacht models from 50′ to 155’ (15m to 50m). With sporting styling and lightning-fast models including the Predator series, Sunseeker dominates the fast luxury yacht market. Sunseeker clients can adapt their designs on the proven Sunseeker platforms, giving them wide scope for customization.

This list is certainly not exhaustive and there are numerous newer shipyards such as Fincantieri in Italy and SilverYachts in Australia which are proving to have a huge impact on the industry and can be expected to appear on this list before long.