Best Yacht Charter and Boat Share Companies for Sustainable Sailing

Are you looking for a charter, boat share, or boat rental company that provides sustainable “eco” options?

We couldn’t find good resources summarizing green yacht charter and boat share/rental companies, so we did our own research and summarize our findings below. We hope our list of green yacht charters and boat shares helps you to plan your next adventure .

THE QUICK STORY: If you are in a hurry, our winner is We Are On A Boat. Our recommendation for best large boat share company is Boatbooking.com.

We looked at the world’s largest boat charter companies and dozens of mid-sized companies. Companies with only motor yachts were not included. We also did not review the many excellent boat tour operators that offer activities like whale watching or puffin tours.

The article first summarizes growth trends in the yacht charter market. It also describes how these trends may influence the future of green yacht charters.

The size and growth of the yacht charter market: Implications for green yacht charters

The yacht charter market is large and growing. Research by Allied Market Research (AMR) valued the global yacht charter market at US$ 15 billion in 2018 and projected the market to grow to nearly US$ 28 billion by 2027, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.0%.”¹https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/yacht-charter-market Grand View Research (GVR) valued the global yacht charter market size at US$ 6.5 billion in 2019 with a projected growth approaching US$ 10 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 5.2% from 2020 to 2027.²https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/yacht-charter-market

There are many assumptions that go into these valuations, including how the market is defined and variables used to project growth. These assumptions will need to be adjusted because of COVID-19. But the bottom line is: This is a huge potential market. There is likely to be continued robust growth in coming years.  

The reasons for the projected growth are varied. According to AMR and GVR the growth of the yacht charter market is driven by:  

• Growing tourism sector generally, including outdoor recreation
• Improvised purchasing power across the globe and growth in number of high net worth individuals.
• Increase in demand for leisure activities due to rise in disposable income and hectic lifestyles
• The ease of booking a yacht has led to a rise in the popularity of yacht vacations
• Increase in number of private islands on cruise itineraries
• Use of alternative source of energy

This growth has environment costs. More mega yachts, people flying, fuel, emissions, and more waste is not good for the environment or people.

But change is in the air and water. A growing number of charter companies are recognizing that they need to do more to reduce their environmental impact.

The Oceanco NXT roundtable in October 2020 brought together leaders from the yachting, technology, and design world. Participants discussed how innovation and sustainability could transform the future of yachting and superyachts. Panelists also discussed supporting the goal of zero environmental impact. Giles Taylor, Global Vice President of Design at FAW Group, China’s oldest and largest automotive group, reportedly noted that society is on the cusp of change where sustainability is increasingly becoming a requirement for new customers. The “race is on”, he said, “the big brands in automotive are already competing, and the yachting industry is on the grid and ready to go.”³https://www.ypiyachts.com/en/news/industry/Oceanco-NXT

Indeed, the yacht charter and sharing market is diverse and there will be innovators and slower adopters. The International Yacht Brokers Association (IYBA) is the world's largest association for the yacht brokerage and charter industry. The IYBA has more than 1,500 members, and many more companies are not part of this association.

The yacht charter market is broadly segmented to target these different types of customers. These segments are based on: yacht size and type, geographic location, and type of experience.

• Yacht size categories include large boats (e.g., over 50 m), medium boats (e.g., 30m to 50 m), and small sailboats (below 30m).
• Yacht type categories include sailing yachts, motorized yachts, and other types of boats (e.g., inflatable boats). Within each of these classes there are additional categories, such as monohull and multihull boats, gullets, and others.
• Geographic regions
• Examples of types of experiences include bare boat (no crew), crewed experiences, luxury cruises, and adventure or eco travel.

How much does a yacht charter cost? In general, yacht charters target higher net worth individuals. Typical charters can range from US$ 10,000 per week on smaller sailing yachts and catamarans to US$ 150,000.⁴https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/yacht-charter-market Prices quickly rise to US$ 500,000 to US$ 1 million and more per week on the most luxurious superyachts even before adding the extra costs of taxes, insurance, crew gratuity, and other costs

The boat sharing business and other business models are also increasing in popularity and helping to drive growth. A growing number of brokers are participating as intermediaries.

So what does this have to do with green yacht charters? According to AMR,⁵https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/yacht-charter-market the adventure travel market, including cruise expeditions, is growing at a rapid pace.  

Future Marketing Insights (FMI) estimates that sailing yachts are expected to hold about 63.4% of the market revenue because of an increase in demand for eco-friendly yachts among consumers who care about the environment .⁶https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/yacht-charter-market

Our goal in writing this review was to examine the state of the green yacht charter market and to identify industry leaders. We also want to promote awareness among consumers for more sustainable yacht charter options. 

Many charter companies provide a blog post or educational materials supporting waste reduction, recycling, or other sustainability activities. Others promote partnerships with conservation organizations. But many charter and boat rental firms demonstrate little substantive commitment to green boating. Few companies include information about their sustainability initiatives in their public marketing.

We believe there is significant market potential for companies that engage more substantively with the environmental impact of their activities.  If you have read this far you are likely already concerned about climate change, pollution, and the environment. One action you can take is to ask your potential charter or boat share company about their sustainability policies. Do they display this information prominently? Is it meaningful or is it simply a post about the environment on a blog from several years ago? Encourage your charter operator to shift to electric propulsion, reduce waste, support local communities, use less toxic substances, purchase local and organic food where possible, and educate others.  

Are you an individual looking to eventually purchase a yacht? As an early adopter you can help drive the market for low-emission boats.

If you are a charter operator, take a leadership role: Encourage green boating and set the standard for sustainable sailing. Let boat builders know that you would like to buy zero emission boats. This will incentivize the major boat builders to produce greener yachts at scale.

Selecting the best eco yacht charter companies

We started by looking at the recognized major players (largest companies) in this space. These included companies that ranked highly (first pages) in Google searches using combinations of the terms: “eco”, “sustainable,” “environmental,” “yacht,” “sailboat,” “charter,” and “boat share.” We also used a “snowball” approach that included companies that were described in trade news and magazine publishers about eco/sustainable/environmental yacht charters.  We looked at educational information (e.g., general calls to reduce environmental impact) and operational information (e.g., ability to actually charter an electric boat or request organic food).

In our review we used several criteria, including:

• Availability of information: Is information readily available on the company web page (e.g., on menus or other prominent locations)? Is the information high quality?
• Propulsion type: Engines that rely on diesel and gasoline. These contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, potential for spills and pollution, and increase passenger and crew exposure to unhealthy emissions.  Do the companies offer and advertise electric or hybrid sailboats and yachts?
• Pollution and sustainable practices: Do the companies clearly articulate how they promote waste reduction? Do they highlight other activities, such as partnering with nonprofit organizations and local communities?  For example, in 2018 Sunseeker International partnered with the Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE) to create Project Menorca. This program supports local sustainability programs on the island. By 2020 Project Menorca had reportedly helped to reduce single-use plastics by local fishmongers. The project supported 143 beach cleanups and an estimated 13.5 tons of plastic was removed from the island.

We only included companies that offer sailing yachts. We did not include companies with only motorized yachts or cruise ships. There are also many smaller cruise operators that offer unique sailing experiences (e.g., Windjammer cruises) or other eco-boat tours and cruises (e.g., whale watching, puffin watching, diving), and other activities that we did not review. We hope to review the best of these in another post.

For many companies it was hard to determine whether electric boats or other green options are available for clients. Larger companies offer thousands of possible boat and location combinations. If it was difficult to find this information (e.g., top-level search criteria, clear directions for how to find this information), we gave companies a lower scores.

A note on size and propulsion. Large diesel-powered mega-yachts are inherently less sustainable than smaller yachts. This is because they require more materials, resources, and (in the case of typical motor yachts), fuel. Sail-powered boats, even with diesel engines, will typically have fewer emissions than boats of similar size without sails. There are other considerations that come into play as well, such as number of passengers and crew per boat. In general, larger boats have a bigger environmental impact than smaller boats. Similarly, sailboats tend to emit fewer greenhouse gasses than similarly-sized power boats.

Electric boats can be charged by solar power, wind power, and shore power. Ideally, recharging from shore would use energy from wind or solar and not coal or gas power! The life cycle of the materials used to build a boat is also a factor. How long a boat is used and how it is retired and disposed of can also influence the environmental impact.  

Several companies advertised “eco-friendly mega yachts”. Be careful: This is an oxymoron. More efficient propulsion and healthier materials are better than not. But ultimately there is little a diesel-driven mega yacht can do to reduce environment impact.

There are some famous mega yachts that were explicitly designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impact. The Black Pearl is a 106.7 meter sailing yacht built by Oceanco. It was delivered to its owner in 2018. The boat uses three DynaRig masts with a steel hull, aluminum superstructure aluminum, and carbon fiber masts. The yacht is one of the largest sailing yachts ever built. It has a hybrid propulsion system as well as other onboard systems such as waste heat recovery.  The Black Pearl won the 2019 World Super Yacht Sailing Yacht of the Year for Sailing Yachts 60m.⁷https://www.superyachttimes.com/yacht-news/world-superyacht-awards-2019-winners The Black Pearl was inspired by Perini Navi's award-winning 88m Maltese Falcon. The Maltese Falcon has three free-standing, DynaRig carbon fiber masts developed by Dykstra Naval Architects. The Maltese Falcon is available for charter

Some yachts are advertised by multiple companies. For example, you can book the Maltese Falcon from International Yacht Charter (IYC), Yacht Charter Fleet, and Navis Yacht Charter (NYC) . 

The actual ownership group of charter companies is also not always clear. For example, Travelopia brands include SunSail and The Moorings.  The same goes for yacht boat builders. The portfolio of HanseYachts AG features three well-known sailing yacht brands: Hanse, Dehler, and Moody. HanseYachts in turn has a shareholder structure nearly 80% controlled by Aurelius Group.

Given the huge size of the yacht charter industry and the limitations of our search methods we know we may have missed high quality green yacht charter and boat share companies. This is particularly the case for newer, smaller, and boutique firms.  We hope our list will encourage charter companies and their sales affiliates to better promote tangible green sailing options.

Please send us a note if you represent or have experience with worthy companies we should add in future updates.

The Sail Greener List of Best Eco Yacht Charter Companies

Best Overall: We Are On A Boat

Our winner for best sustainable boating charter or boat sharing company is We Are on A Boat Sustainable Boating.  If we had an award for most whimsical name they would probably win that category as well. The company bills itself as a community marketplace to promote and rent electric, wind, or solar eco-friendly boats.  The company says it also wants to motivate people to share their boats while meeting new, interesting people and build constructive and meaningful relations. While the web page was minimal and had little information about other areas of sustainability (e.g., non-toxic gear or pollution) this was the only company we found that focused on electric yachts and boats.

PROS

• Only company we found that focused entirely on electric boats, batteries, motors, and services. They even have a link for hydrogen-powered boats (but none were offered when we checked January 2021).
• The prices were competitive compared to other similar operators.
• A wide range of options were available, including monohull and catamaran sailboats, and even houseboats.

CONS

• Almost all the company’s advertised listings (as of January 2021) were in Europe (104), and 80 of these were in the Netherlands. Seven were listed in the United States, suggesting growth potential.
• The web page is minimal compared to many charter and boat rental companies.
• The blog entries were interesting (e.g., “Greta’s [Thunberg] Atlantic Crossover – An Example of Courage and Commitment“) but over a year old. While they may not need information for their already-converted customers, additional information could help to convert and educate new customers about the benefits of electric sailboats.
• The web page did not provide information or guidance on other areas of sustainability, like sustainable materials or pollution.

Best Global Yacht Charter or Boat Share Company: Boatbooking

Boatbooking.com provided the most information about sustainability among the major yacht charter and boat share companies we reviewed. The company provides charter vacations, adventures, and experiences on motor and sailing yachts, catamarans, and gulets in the world’s major sailing destinations.  For example, Boatbooking provided information about carbon offsets and low carbon emissions chartering opportunities with their Lagoon 420 hybrid catamarans⁸https://www.boatbookings.com/yacht_charter/carbon_offset.php.The blog also included a range of helpful articles, such as, “Green Chartering to Preserve the Seas and Help Fight Climate Change.”

PRO

• Most readily available information about sustainability among the major yacht charter companies we examined
• Tangible information about carbon offsets and educational materials about the value of “green chartering.”
• Opportunities to charter hybrid catamarans. While the options were limited, we could at least easily find these boats unlike most other charter companies that do not provide links or search criteria for electric or hybrid boats

CONS

• The company’s overall sustainability rank is still relatively low, but they ranked higher than their competitors and they should get credit for this.
• The company offers few electric or hybrid options, but hopefully their baseline commitment will help this category to grow over time. Providing information is relatively easy. Converting fleets will be more challenging.
• We still had to search for the information we did find.

Close Competitor: Boatsetter

Boatsetter reports that it has approximately 200 electric boats for rent on its website, with the most in Washington D.C., Seattle, Chicago, and Los Angeles.⁹https://www.boatsetter.com/boat-rental-experiences/eco-friendly The company reports that these are now regularly sold out.

PRO

• The company has a large number of electric boats for rent
• Boatsetter was one of the first major companies to develop a strategy for helping the victims from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas.
• As an industry leader, the company has enormous potential to encourage electric yacht sharing

CON

• We found it difficult to find information about their sustainability initiatives
• Boatsetter does not have as much useful environmental information readily visible as boatbooking.com

Honorable Mention Luxury Yacht Charter: Helm

Helm is a yacht charter company that seeks to prioritize client enjoyment and to help clients, whether seasoned sailors or those planning their first yacht adventure, to plan a “perfect trip.” The company provides boats that run on electric power and other information about sustainability.

PROS

• Clients can charter boats like the Sunreef 50 Eco and Suncreef 60 Eco, which Helm advertises as the first charter catamarans to run solely on electrical power.
• In the luxury class, clients can charter the Black Pearl. Built in 2016, the Black Pearl is one of the world’s largest “zero impact” sailing yachts and features propellers that act as water turbines, along with black DynaRig sails that include solar panels.
• The company provided information on “green yacht charters”, including information about more sustainable materials like bamboo, pollution, and more sustainable food options.

CONS

• It was not easy to find the information on the “top level” web page
• While we applaud the “eco” offerings available, these were still in the minority.
• There was little else that suggested a corporate focus on sustainability on the company “about” page.

Companies Receiving 1 or 2 Stars

The following companies earned 1 or 2 stars out of 5. This means the companies provide some form of educational materials, sustainability options, or other “green” activities compared to their peers, but these are modest compared to what is possible. Still, something is better than nothing and credit where credit is due! These companies made our list and many more did not!

Companies listed in alphabetical order.

• BlueWater Yachts
• Charter Yachts Australia
• Fraser Yachts
• Hop A Yacht
• In the Wild Charters
• Island Yachts (Virgin Islands)
• Ocean Getaways
• Sail Ionian
• Sun Sail
• Yachting Partners International (YPI)
• Your Boat Holiday

Companies with some sustainability activities (but not enough for a full star)

Companies listed in alphabetical order.

• Blue Water
• Camper and Nicholsons International
• Dream Yacht Charters
• Kiriacoulis Mediterranean
• Luxury Yacht Charter Group
• Nautal
• Sailingeurope.com
• Sunseeker
• World Wide Boat
• Yacht Charter Group /Yacht Charter Guide
• YachtXperiences
• Your Boat Holiday

Conclusion

The yacht charter and boat share market is large and growing. A key driver of this growth is a growing number of high net worth individuals. But younger people are also showing greater interested in sailing, particularly after the pandemic. As of today, relatively few yacht charter and boat rental/share companies are emphasizing sustainability. This is especially the case relative to the overall market. But the above list suggests this is changing.

The world needs viewer emission-spewing mega yachts and more attention to the impact—direct and indirect—of recreational boating (and the marine economy generally) on people and ecosystems.  Recreational boating will never be without environmental impact. However, the industry will reduce its contribution to global warming and ocean pollution by doing more to encourage sustainability. These changes can include sail over engine, electric over diesel, smaller over larger, and educating passengers, crew, and investors about the importance of these decisions for the health of people and the oceans they want to enjoy

Extra Credit: Dream Yacht Charter did not rank highly for sustainability. It does, however, have some superlative links to educational opportunities for new sailors. We were impressed that in 2019 Dream Yacht Charter became t the only major charter company to become a preferred partner of the American Sailing Association (ASA). ASA has 400 affiliated sailing schools worldwide. It also has a mission to teach people to sail competently and safely through its Learn to Sail program. The schools offer ASA certification and have awarded over 1 million certifications to over 500,000 sailors. Dream Yacht Charters also has a new exclusive partnership with Nautilus Sailing Schools, offering high-end Learn to Sail vacations.  We hope they will consider adding additional sustainability education and boat charter opportunities.

Please let us know if you notice errors or omissions. Let us know if you have companies you would like to suggest we add to this list! With each passing month we expect more firms to add electric yachts and sustainability information.

Additional Information

For additional information, check out these excellent articles from other publications:

• Sail Green: Sustainable Escapes: What charter companies are doing to lessen their environmental impact at their base locations
• Ecological Yachts Luxury Yacht & Superyacht News
• The Rise of Green Yachting
• Yacht Charter Market – Increased Involvement of Intermediaries & Hybrid Business Models