Njord, the World's Largest Private Superyacht, Will Mix Business and Pleasure

They’re calling it Njord, the world’s largest private superyacht and the next generation of luxury superyachts. Njord is the god of the seas and winds in Norse mythology, and no better name would have been possible: this monster of a vessel is a luxury superyacht doubling as research vessel, based on Oino’s idea that if you’re going to have people cruising on luxury vessels, you might as well strap scientific equipment to those vessels for research.

There is no other vessel quite like Njord, neither in real life nor on paper. For the time being, it’s just a concept, but Oino believes a 2024 delivery date could be possible – assuming a shipyard were attached to it, which it’s not as of the time of writing. Talks are reportedly well underway, but nothing official has been made public yet.

Measuring 924.5 feet in length (281.8 meters), Njord features 12 decks and 118 private residences, in addition to cabins for guests and crew. Boat International describes it as a “mammoth” vessel and recently released renders confirm that it’s just that. Furthermore, Oino also wants to be customizable to an unprecedented degree, allowing owners of those private residences to choose the layout and the furnishings according to their liking.

Imagine a giant residential neighborhood sailing the seas, and it’s probably the closest to what Njord will look like. The 118 private residences will come with 20 different configurations, and will range from 2 to 6-bedroom apartments, each with a living room and access to an open terrace. These residences will be available to buy, unlike the 16 guest and butler suites.

“The next generation of private superyacht, [Njord] will be the home to an exclusive community of like-minded individuals who relish travel and sharing extraordinary experiences,” Ocean Residences says of the vessel.

That’s on the fun side. On the business side, Njord will feature equipment necessary to undertake scientific and oceanographic research, collecting environmental and marine data that will then be handed over to international research laboratories. There will be labs on board as well, including a fully fitted oceanographic research laboratory staffed by expert scientists, according to the aforementioned trade publication.

Njord will also feature a telescope and drones for environmental research, as well as underwater drones and submersibles that will map the ocean floor and detect sea bed features, and look for sunken ships. Two eight-seat, Airbus ACH 160 helicopters will be made available exclusively to owners and guests.

Ocean Residences says that Njord will also be used in support of various philanthropic missions and charities, in addition to lending services to research.

Amenities will include an inflatable marina with foldout platforms at the stern, a central seawater swimming pool, two other outdoor pools, an indoor hydro pool, various wellness facilities, a nightclub and jazz lounge, a telescope observatory, a sundeck and countless open terraces.

Njord will have a 311+ crew, each with their private cabin, which brings the guest-to-crew ratio to 1:2.

While Njord is an impressive concept, it’s not new. Oino and Ocean Residences have already developed a similar vessel in REV, which stands for Research and Expedition Vessel. REV is scheduled to make its maiden voyage sometime in 2020, carrying rich guests and researchers across the globe on cruises that will both entertain and serve a very specific purpose: that of collecting data that will (hopefully) help humanity out of the current climate change crisis.

Oino described REV as a “yacht with a noble purpose” and the same applies to Njord. Only this one is built on a much grander, more luxurious scale.