萬國法律事務所

The yacht-building industry was one of the most prosperous industries in Taiwan back in the 1980’s when there were more than 100 yacht-building companies that exported more than 1500 yachts worldwide at that time.  Although this number decreased to less than 20 companies due to the revaluation of the Taiwanese currency, the increase in the cost of labor, the inflation of raw materials, and other various reasons in the 1990’s, the remaining yacht-builders did not give up.  Rather, they changed their strategies and focused on building high-end luxury yachts, and eventually regained their solid reputations and competitiveness.

According to the US yachting magazine, ShowBoats International, Taiwan’s yacht-building industry has climbed to 5th place in the world in 2007, and comprises 6% of the global market, now behind only Italy (43.6%), the US (11.7%), the Netherlands (9.2%), and Germany (8%).

Taiwan yacht-builders received orders for 71 “super yachts”, which measure at least 80 feet.  The total number of feet on order with Taiwanese yacht-builders in 2007 was 6,867 feet, representing record growth of 60%, according to ShowBoats International.

Taiwan’s super yacht building industry had already been quite successful by 2007.  However, only one Taiwanese company ranked among the world’s top twenty builders in 2007.  This number increased to three companies in ShowBoat’s 2008 rankings: Horizon (12th), OceanAlexander (16th) and KhaShing (17th).  Fantastic “Taiwan Yacht” has become one of the things that people think about when they think of Taiwan.