Angry Locals Force $31.5M Oceandiva Party Superyacht to Leave London

One of the boldest development projects in recent years on The Thames has come to a screeching halt. Oceandiva London, a super-fancy luxury party superyacht that should have set sail this spring as a floating events center, has been canceled following heavy pushback and thousands of formal complaints from angry locals.

Oceandiva is a Dutch company that operates similar vessels in Germany and The Netherlands, to great success. They're described as superyachts due to their size and luxury features, but they're essentially luxe barges that host corporate events, private parties and weddings, and all manner of live entertainment.

Oceandiva was looking to expand to the UK, on The Thames, with help from Smart Group.

Oceandiva London was initially scheduled for debut in 2022 but blew through several deadlines as public opposition against the project mounted. Regardless of the many promises the company made – how London would benefit from the project, from an increase in revenue to sustainable, net-zero sailing and the installation of a network of chargers along The Thames – locals would simply not get onboard, figuratively speaking.

Their main gripe was that extended sailing times would disrupt the peace. In much simpler words, no amount of advantages for the city made up for the fact that there'd be a barge the size of a "battleship" moving up and down the river, playing loud music and carrying with some 1,500 rowdy partygoers looking to disembark at six piers, all of them historical places.

The last time we covered the story in November 2022, Oceandiva London still hoped for a start date for operations for late that year or early 2023, at the most. Earlier this month (February 2024), the company announced that all plans had been scrapped. Angry locals have won, and the luxury party barge will never sail on The Thames.

The Oceandiva London project is returning to EU waters, where it has already enjoyed great success, the company says in a statement. This luxury superyacht, "a shining example of green technology" and "a beacon for the future, the world’s first carbon-neutral floating event venue of its caliber," is going back to the builders in The Netherlands.

The decision is prompted by "prolonged challenges in navigating the complex web of regulatory and certification processes in the UK," which is only a delicate way of saying that all those formal complaints filed by residents with the council have made development impossible.

While striving to get certification, Oceandiva London made several compromises as criticism mounted. They included an agreement not to serve alcohol onboard after 10 p.m., curtailing daily operations at 2.30 a.m., and not allowing passengers to leave the ship at some of the stops planned along the route so as to cause minimal disruption. None of that worked to convince residents to back the project.

It didn't help that the ship, which was eventually brought on The Thames with some delay in May 2023, struck an unmanned barge during testing maneuvers just one month later.

A dream that will never be

While Oceandiva London will never be, it was a nice dream – and not just because of its size and fancy features. The party superyacht was a three-deck, 282-feet (86-meter) vessel that cost an estimated $31.5 million to build and would have offered 2,625 square meters (28,255 square feet) of highly curated spaces designed exclusively for premium entertaining.

Whether used as a wedding venue, a concert hall, or a gala venue, Oceandiva would have offered the finest in terms of live entertainment, cuisine, and drinks for its 1,000-1,500 passengers, or 500 seated. Partners for the project included The Last Supper, which caters for Gucci, Mont Blanc, and Sotheby's; Moving Venue, which creates menus for Kensington Palace and the Victoria Museum; and London's most celebrated mixologists.

That said, the project's most publicized promise was that of bringing in increased revenue to the capital and, in the process, paving the way for green, net-zero transportation – if only for the well-heeled.

The company pledged to "decarbonize the Capital's river by Net Zero Marine Services (NZMS)" through the installation of high-voltage electric Smart Docks on The Thames and the reduction of the carbon footprint of each event whichever way possible, from sourcing, food and drinks choices, transport to and from the vessel, "and everything else in between."

Note that the promise of more sustainable transport was to be achieved mostly through carbon offsetting. Not that this made any difference in the end. The Brits, much like the residents of Rotterdam in 2022, were able to make their voices heard and stop a development they felt wasn't right for their city.