Industry Insight
A Future Of Firsts
For four decades, Holland's Heesen Yachts has had its eyes firmly set on the future, never wavering in its pursuit of innovation, next generation solutions and pioneering levels of luxury.
Innovation, craftsmanship and pioneering design have been at the heart of everything that Heesen Yachts does since it was founded by Frans Heesen in 1978. Its insatiable quest to make its clients’ dreams come to life has seen it relentlessly push the boundaries of what is deemed possible to reach new heights of luxury and efficiency.
As a result, Heesen has always been a shipyard of firsts. From building the first yacht to reach 50 knots back in 1988 to becoming the first yard to implement the Fast Displacement Hull Form (FDHF) – arguably one of the most significant performance advances in superyacht design, to developing the Hull Vane, an underwater foil that harnesses the power of the waves and transforms it into kinetic energy, Heesen likes to rethink and revolutionise superyachts as we know them.
Nothing drives this revolution quite like being challenged by visionary clients and Heesen like to say that there is ‘no such thing as mission impossible’. If a client has the courage to think of radical design, the yard’s specialist team of 850 – world-class engineers, designers, naval architects, welders, outfitters – will do their utmost to make it happen.
While Heesen originally only built aluminium semi-displacement yachts, it has since created an extremely diverse hull portfolio, offering aluminium and steel hull constructions in a variety of designs that will serve as platforms for an array of yachting lifestyles. Its latest delivery, M/Y Omaha, for example, is the yard’s first 50m Steel Class, its round bilge steel hull with bulbous bow designed for comfort and unparalleled seakeeping.
With the next generation of owner turning to Heesen to build their dreams, the yard has noted a change in priorities. The need for speed has made way for sustainability and conservation, and a desire to be closer and kinder to nature.
“Efficiency is the new buzzword,” says Peter van der Zander, Heesen’s general manager of design and development. “In the words of the great Mahatma Ghandi, ‘You have to become the change you want to see in the world’. We are fully embracing this philosophy, putting all our effort into building more efficient yachts that use less fuel to take you further.” Heesen’s 2017 launch, the 50m M/Y Home is a poster child for this mentality, being the first hull to couple hybrid propulsion with the proven FDHF to combine efficiency, capability and comfort.
“With every new yacht design comes the challenge to find new solutions – something that we pride ourselves on achieving – and new to the market innovations, from which every future Heesen yacht benefits,” says Arthur Brouwer, CEO at Heesen. “From custom to semi-custom, displacement to fast-displacement, every Heesen is as different as its owner.”