Billionaire Wants to Pay for His Seized $600M Megayacht Lest It Goes Into Disrepair

Sailing Yacht A is a fully custom sail-assisted megayacht delivered by Nobiskrug in 2017 after a very short and quite turbulent construction period. With naval architecture by Dykstra Naval Architects, and exterior and interior design by Philippe Starck, it's 143 meters (469 feet) long and features that have earned it the moniker of the world's most technologically advanced vessel – rightfully so this time.

Despite its incredible size, A is very efficient and has a reduced carbon footprint due to hybrid propulsion and a hull of the kind you won't find elsewhere. Even its design is unmatched in the industry, from the three 100-meter (328-foot) carbon-fiber freestanding masts and massive wingsail to the fact that it's able to pack features impossible to put on a standard sailing yacht.

In the spring of 2022, while in dry dock in Trieste, Italy, to undergo some maintenance work, and just days after its reported owner, Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, was included on international sanctions lists, A was arrested. It's been in Italy ever since, incurring huge costs for the local taxpayer. The most recent estimate is over €12 million ($12.7 million at the current exchange rate).

With the war in Ukraine and the decision to enforce sanctions against Russian oligarchs, third-party countries seizing luxury assets ended up stuck with the maintenance bill for the same assets. Italy is one such country, with billions of dollars in arrested or seized assets from superyachts to real estate, all of which it must maintain in the same impeccable condition as they were on the day of their arrest or seizure.

A has a reported cost of $600 million ($500 million of which was allegedly subsidized by the German government, but that's another story for another time), so annual maintenance and upkeep costs are in the $50 million to $60 million range. The money from the Italian taxpayer only covers a fraction of that amount, as you can see.

So, Melnichenko is taking the necessary steps that would allow him, a sanctioned individual, to cover the expenses for the maintenance of A, according to the latest report from eSysman Superyachts. This means the Italian government has to grant him a special permit, allowing him to transfer funds into the country, something that's already been done with the equally impressive Scheherazade, a megayacht that's currently being upgraded while under arrest.

It is believed that Scheherazade is owned by Vladimir Putin himself, though the paper owner is someone else. Melnichenko also went to great lengths to bury the ownership of A, which allows him to deny he's the owner and say that the megayacht is owned by a trust fund he can't control. Still, he's offering to foot the bill for the maintenance, crew, and general upkeep of the vessel lest it falls into disrepair.

According to the report, A is currently under-crewed and under-serviced, and it's a situation that will damage the vessel if it continues. A is under-manned by at least 20 crew and under-serviced by some $40 million per year, and Melnichenko is willing to pay to make things right again.

The 10% rule in yachting has it that the annual costs of yacht ownership represent 10% of its value. That's 10% the Italian government would have to pay every year it keeps Sailing Yacht A in the country. To put things even more into perspective, that's dozens of millions out of the country's budget for a boat they'll probably have to give back to the owner once all this is over.