The arrival of the 66m (216ft) motoryacht Triple Seven arrived in Auckland last week has highlighted a serious shortfall in the number of superyacht berths in the city. According to The New Zealand Herald, around five superyachts have so far been turned away from Auckland with others possibly set to face the same problem.

Auckland's mayor John Banks has publicly acknowledged the problem telling the The New Zealand Herald that "the new supercity would live up to its name by building a superyacht marina by the city's Bledisloe container terminal". All this is happening at an unfortunate time as Auckland looks to increase its yacht events. In March the Auckland International Boat Show will be running alongside the Louis Vuitton race series. To accommodate this combination a number of changes are understood to have been made within Auckland's Viaduct Harbour area, the main superyacht berthing zone and this has caused some reduction in the number of available berths.

The Herald reported that one of the yachts for which no berth was available was the 60m (197ft) Vive la Vie. This design award winning craft was berthed in the city but had to leave because the berth was required and no others were free. One superyacht captain in a letter to local yachting industry representatives described the berth shortage "as a shame". The unnamed captain called upon the city not only to provide more berths but also larger berths. He claimed that the city only had one berth for a 60m (197ft) yacht and it was pity that more and larger facilities were not on offer with a number of yachts keen to visit New Zealand. He suggested that extending Viaduct Harbour "would be easy". No information or timing on the new superyacht marina was available.


Superyacht Business / David Robinson, 27 January 2010