BENETTI YACHTMASTER 2025
At its annual gathering for captains, surveyors, owner representatives and industry experts, Benetti reaffirms its leadership in innovation and design by presenting the latest products and sustainable technologies from the company’s Design and Research & Development departments and the new customer service through to after-sales.
Devised and launched with great passion and foresight by Azimut|Benetti Group founder Paolo Vitelli in 2000, the Benetti Yachtmaster has this year reached its 25th edition, held in the splendid setting of the Fairmont Royal Palm Hotel in Marrakesh from February 12 to 14. With over 200 guests, the two-day event was organized for major international industry players, captains, surveyors and owner representatives to share their experiences.
Day 1 was devoted entirely to an innovative coaching session based on a Serious Game. Sitting around a table, groups of 10 people used ‘conversation cards’ as a dynamic tool to stimulate discussion around the most relevant work issues. In a collective brainstorming session, participants shared ideas and solutions to identify areas for improvement guided by three key principles: communication, collaboration and connection. The goal was to foster an open, constructive dialogue, promoting innovative strategies to strengthen relationships between colleagues and improve overall efficiency.
Day 2 was an opportunity for all the participants to get a closer look at Benetti’s vision of the future in terms of innovation and design, sustainability and assistance, with the contribution of the Group’s refit division Lusben. Azimut|Benetti Group CEO Marco Valle opened this plenary session by celebrating, in this particularly significant year for the Shipyard, the Yachtmaster’s first quarter of a century and its profound significance for relationships with stakeholders. He also underscored the Group’s successes by analysing the results of the Global Order Book promoted by BOAT International and published in December 2024.
Benetti General Manager, Massimiliano Casoni focused the conversation on the strategic value of collaboration between the Shipyard and the main players in the boat building industry, which is what underpins Benetti’s determination to establish deeper relationships, rooted in trust and shared values, for the ultimate purpose of greater owner satisfaction. To further consolidate these relationships, the Shipyard conducted interviews in 2024 using the Net Promoter Score (NPS), an effective tool for measuring customer satisfaction and understanding customers’ propensity to recommend the brand. Together with other tools, the interview results helped identify Benetti’s strengths and areas for improvement.
In explaining this strategy, Benetti GM Massimiliano Casoni added that “Benetti’s success is based on constant dialogue with the various players, including captains, who play a key role in telling the yacht builder what the real onboard requirements are. This is an ongoing dialogue that’s far more than the mere delivery of a product: Benetti’s goal is to create made-to-measure yachts that meet the specific needs of owners, captains and crew, thereby guaranteeing an exclusive yachting experience”.
Next, Benetti Sales Manager Daniela Petrozzi illustrated the order backlog up to the end of 2028, with 60 yachts under construction and on order totalling over 2.7 km in length, each built to meet the needs of a specific owner. Every Benetti yacht, in fact, is tailor made and built to meet the customer’s expectations, and this is made possible by the wide range of products. Petrozzi drew attention to the backlog’s breakdown by geographical region – Europe (35%), MEA and APAC (33%), Americas (32%) – and extended a special thank you to the captains, brokers and surveyors with whom Benetti works and who contributed to securing 75% of the contracts involved.
Benetti Head of Product, Sebastiano Vida spoke about Benetti’s special role as ‘The House of Yachting’, a definition that reflects the pleasure boat sector’s perception of the brand’s excellence and at the same time its huge responsibility towards everyone who wants to enjoy the experience of owning a Benetti yacht. This calls for exceptional design, Italian craftsmanship and quality, technological innovation, commitment to sustainability and solutions providing unique levels of customisation. It’s also why the Shipyard launched a new initiative, “Perspective from the Bridge”, enabling captains to explain their point of view at a roundtable focusing on topics such as innovation, sustainability and insights into owners’ ways of enjoying their yachts, the aim being to continually improve their onboard experience. This was also an opportunity to illustrate the projects presented at the Monaco Boat Show last September.
Benetti Green Route
Gilberto Francesini (Benetti R&D Project Manager) and Marco Coiatelli (Benetti Custom Head of Engineering) presented the Shipyard’s Green Route up to the present day and anticipated some future developments. Benetti and the Group for over 20 years have been actively engaged in seeking out real-world solutions for cutting CO2 emissions. The most recent developments at Azimut|Benetti Group’s R&D department have centred on the study of alternative fuels, which led to the adoption of HVO, a biofuel obtained from renewable raw materials* that makes it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared to the standard fossil mix, depending on the materials used in its production**.
HVO is seen as the ideal solution today, but given the limited availability of raw materials to produce it, the Group R&D office performed new research on green methanol from renewable sources to be used on Benetti yachts as soon as 2025. A methanol engine room simulator (based on a new 68M project) will be installed in Livorno to help captains familiarize themselves with the functions, safety and management of this new solution.
Lifecycle Experience
Benetti Class Warranty Manager Pierluigi Rago and Benetti Custom Warranty Manager Luigi Spina illustrated one of the pillars of Benetti’s strategy, the new assistance programmes serving owners and crews of the Class and Custom yacht lines, offering constant personalized support to the Shipyard’s highest standards wherever the boat is and not limited to the new build phase but for the yacht’s entire life cycle. Every unit has the benefit of a dedicated Service Manager during the warranty period and a global network of Service Points designed to guarantee prompt and highly specialised intervention worldwide, not only at the Livorno HUB but also in the Americas, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.
Ferdinando Pilli, General Manager at Lusben since September 2024, outlined the changes being implemented in the Lusben division and the new services and infrastructure following completion of the €12 million investment package in the three-year plan, and spoke about future projects at the Livorno site to support captains and crews.
“The division’s recent results confirm that investments in infrastructure and personnel in the last few years are bearing fruit,” said Lusben GM Ferdinando Pilli. “We’re still investing to make stays more enjoyable for captains and crews and we’re sure that all this, along with the quality of our work, will enable Lusben to consolidate its role as the refit Hub for the entire Mediterranean.”
Thanks to its consolidated expertise and in-depth knowledge of Benetti products – the two companies are in the same Group – Lusben is also capable of providing yacht maintenance beyond the warranty period. As announced by Lusben Sales Manager Gianni Paladino, the company will be managing Benetti’s after-sales service from 2025 on, offering full, integrated support in terms of yacht maintenance, assistance and refits. And Head of After-Sales Service Andrea Moschese added that the new hub will also guarantee service after the warranty period, with a five-year maintenance contract covering preventive and corrective maintenance, refitting services and integrated support for spare parts supply, as well as technical documentation and consulting. Thanks to Lusben’s made-to-measure approach and advanced facilities, customers will be able to enjoy highly specialised assistance globally.
In the second part of the day, the participants engaged in some team building activities in the Medina quarter of Marrakech, providing an opportunity for interaction and creating genuine connections based on a sharing of values. Because synergy and relationships are the true heart of Yachtmaster.
Benetti extends thanks to the following partners and sponsors whose contribution is vital to the production and success of the event: GIGA partners: AWLGRIP, Viraver, Volvo Penta. MEGA partners: Asea nautica, Asea power, Boero, CMC Marine, Crew Pro, DYT YACHT TRANPORT, Jotun, Raymarine, Rina, Saim Marine, mtu, Telemar. CLASS partners: CGT, Fincantieri, Fraser Yacht, Memetti yachting, Naiad/samos, Sail ADV, SAMOS, Sea Ai, Videoworks, VSS, ZF Group.
The Benetti Yachtmaster will also be held in Miami on April 2nd and 3rd, given the event’s huge success on the other side of the Atlantic too.
* Pursuant to Directive (EU) 2018/2001 “RED II”.
** According to the criteria established by Directive (EU) 2018/2001 “RED II”, the reduction of CO2eq emissions reported by HVOlution across the logistics and production chain in 2022 was between 60% and 90%, compared to the benchmark fossil-based blend (i.e. 94g CO2eq/MJ), depending on the raw materials used for its production.
