Not every superyacht builder is asked by a client to help make the industry more sustainable. But when the owner of 111-metre DreAMBoat approached Oceanco with sustainability as a top priority, it sparked the development of a proprietary Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool, which calculates a yacht’s entire carbon footprint across construction and operation.
“I wanted to utilise Oceanco’s leadership in this area,” DreAMBoat’s owner explains. “Their willingness to stretch their own boundaries and bring new sustainable practices to life.” The result was a collaboration with engineering consultancy Haskoning to co-develop a tool that, the shipyard claims, measures a yacht’s carbon footprint in far greater detail than anything else currently available.
How Oceanco’s carbon footprint tool works
While there are existing generic tools in the superyacht industry that assess a yacht’s operational footprint, Oceanco’s goal was to more accurately measure the entire yacht lifecycle, including the energy used for construction and the materials involved. As Wim Verhoeff, sales director at Oceanco, says: “We wanted to develop a tool specific to our facilities, processes and suppliers to give us insights we can actually trust and act on.”
The development of the LCA tool started with the fundamentals of yacht design and construction. Every project begins with a weight budget – a breakdown of over 10,000 onboard components by weight and location. That list provided the foundation to begin tracking the material composition, production method and installation process behind each component. It also factors in supplier location, waste disposal and the energy consumed throughout the yacht’s life cycle.
Based on real data and validated by an expert third party, the tool enabled Oceanco to calculate the full carbon footprint of DreAMBoat. These insights then allowed the owner’s team to make data-driven decisions to reduce the carbon footprint of both the yacht’s construction process and its future operations.
“Although the tight timeline limited what could be implemented in terms of new propulsion systems or alternative fuels, the results did influence key decisions,” explains Edske Smit, project director at Oceanco. “For example, the owner opted to include a battery pack to enable peak shaving, which significantly reduces the yacht’s operational emissions. There’s also extensive use of sustainable finishes onboard from Nature Squared, a company that uses waste materials like coconut shells and eggshells to create high-end interior details.”
Using the LCA tool in superyacht design
Oceanco is now using the LCA tool as a design-stage asset across all superyacht projects, giving clients a complete view of how different design and material choices can positively impact a yacht’s energy usage and environmental footprint. “We can use it side by side with clients to show them the impact – right down to the nuts and bolts,” adds Verhoeff. “By providing accurate calculations, we can explore the benefits of different materials and processes together, in real time.”
Insights from the tool are already highlighting clear areas for improvement in eco-friendly yacht construction. Steel and aluminium, for example, are the most significant contributors to material-related emissions, accounting for up to 60 per cent when considering the energy used in manufacturing. This has led Oceanco to investigate the use of recycled aluminium in future superyacht builds, which could save nearly 1,000 tonnes of CO₂ per project. Green steel is another area of exploration – while not yet viable for a large yacht project, it has the potential to deliver significant carbon savings in the future.
Operational emissions have also been analysed in detail. At the yacht design stage, electrical load balance data shows how energy is consumed in different operational modes, from cruising with full guests and crew on board to sitting idle on shore power. The LCA tool has confirmed that HVAC systems are the single biggest energy consumer on board, typically accounting for 60 to 70 per cent of total energy usage and even exceeding propulsion systems. “This tells us where we need to focus our innovation,” says Verhoeff. “Smarter yacht designs and alternative HVAC principles are the next steps.”
Why custom carbon footprint tools matter for the superyacht industry
For Oceanco, the ultimate goal is to create a sustainable yacht design philosophy where energy consumption and carbon footprint are not afterthoughts, but core metrics evaluated and optimised from the very beginning of every superyacht project. “It started with DreAMBoat, but it will benefit every project and client going forward,” adds Verhoeff.
As more superyacht owners look for transparency, and future environmental regulations begin to require it, tools like this will become essential across the yachting industry. But rather than wait for a universal solution that may never reflect the nuance of custom yacht building, Oceanco chose to develop one grounded in its own processes and validated by independent experts.
To find out more information about Oceanco’s LCA tool and how it could benefit your next superyacht build, contact Oceanco directly.
Sponsored content created for Oceanco