Azzam, the $600 Million Megayacht That's Still the World's Longest and Most Mysterious

Azzam is not just the longest privately-owned motoryacht in the world. It is also the biggest project ever undertaken by world-famous German shipyard Lurssen Yachts. It is a true feat of engineering due to its gigantic size and incredible capabilities on water and an exercise in pure luxury. In reality, not much is known on the latter aspect, since the owner has been, since day one, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, ruler of Abu Dhabi, and supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. He is not the kind of man to open up his megayacht for tours.

Azzam is listed for charter, though a price was never mentioned. Urban legend has it that the listing is merely for tax purposes since chartered vessels are not subject to property tax. That’s just another aspect of Azzam that will probably never be disclosed to the public.

The brief for Azzam asked for a superyacht that was capable of catering for large parties with zero compromises on performance. It had to be big and accommodating and still be able to zoom to and from at the speed of light so that guests could travel with ease and maximum efficiency. The goal was never to deliver the longest yacht in the world, so the initial length of Azzam, on paper, was 145 meters (476 feet).

Engineer Mubarak Saad al Ahbabi oversaw the project from start to delivery. The exterior design was by Mario Pedol of Nauta Yachts on an architecture by Lurssen, while the interiors were penned by Creation Line Decoration. Azzam is 180 meters (590 feet) long and has a steel hull and aluminum superstructure, with a generous interior volume of 13,136 GT spread across five decks.

Accommodation on board is for up to 36 guests and as many as 70 crew, and while no photos were ever released of the interior, it is said to be dripping in luxury. “Heritage” was the main focus when choosing furnishes, so it features swathes of rare woods veneered with mother-of-pearl marquetry. The owner’s suite is said to be bulletproof because security was also of paramount importance. The ship is believed to have an anti-missile system.

Pedol once spoke about the challenges of designing a ship of this size according to the owner’s very exacting demands, referring specifically to the open-plan dining salon. It measures 29 by 18 meters (95 by 59 feet), and it had to be without a single pillar of support in sight, allowing the eye to wander freely from one end to the other. It also had to be flanked by floor-to-ceiling windows. Pedol’s solution was to put 1-meter-wide (3.2 feet) beams on the ceiling and Italian glass thicker than 7 cm (2.7 inches).

Despite Azzam’s size, it has a very shallow draft of just 4.5 meters (14.7 feet), which allows it to sail comfortably even in shallow water. As per the brief, it is very fast, with Pedol once describing it as fast as a Navy frigate – surprisingly so when you consider its length. Two gas turbine engines and two MTU diesel engines delivering a total of 97,000 hp take Azzam to a top speed of well over 31 knots. They also burn 13 tons of fuel per hour at this speed, so Azzam has a long-range mode and a sprint mode to adjust fuel consumption according to needs. In the former mode, it boasts a transatlantic range.

Nothing was left to chance in building this monster of a vessel, which is equal parts competent and luxurious. Building it took over 1.4 million work hours, with the entire project, including the one year spent in engineering, totaling an incredible 6 million work hours for over 4,000 people. According to Lurssen, these numbers should convince regular folks to stop hating billionaires who buy super- and megayachts, because they put food on the table for workers in the maritime industry.

Speaking of how nothing was left to chance, for instance, Pedol once told Boat International that a great amount of work went into making sure vibrations from the engine room weren’t felt on the ship. The mission was accomplished, so the chandelier in the main salon doesn’t tinkle even when the ship is traveling at full speed. “It was difficult to know in advance how this would behave, but it was tested in every possible way with sophisticated software and set up challenging targets and it was not a problem,” Pedol explains.

The price of Azzam is estimated at $605 million, with a $60 million reported figure going into annual maintenance alone. It is not the most expensive in the world, and it’s also not the biggest, but it holds onto the title of the world’s longest. It will lose it once REV Ocean is delivered.