The 14th edition of YARE, which took place from 13 to 15 March in the Tuscan Boating District, was host to 120 international captains as well as businesses and shipyards working in superyacht refitting and after sales. Among these was also Lusben, who have, for over 60 years, been working in the maintenance and repair of large vessels.

Lusben was one of the first businesses to begin working in this field, and, as time passed, it has grown, creating high end facilities and working with qualified professionals. Their facility in Viareggio is recognised as a centre of excellence for the construction and refit of luxury yachts. To further expand their services, in 2004 the company acquired a new site in Livorno in order to be able to work on yachts of 120 metres.

During the YARE event, Daily Nautica interviewed Gianni Paladino, Sales Director for Lusben, who talked to us about new developments in the refit sector.

On the first day of YARE you organised a guided tour for captains around your Livorno shipyard: how did it go?

During the YARE 2024 District Tour, we had the opportunity to show the captains the great investments we have made, in particular in the Livorno site, which covers a vast area, and which, thanks to this work, is becoming a centre of excellence in international boating under a number of aspects. One example is the new basin which will soon be operating within the facility and which is the biggest in the Mediterranean.  

During the Captain’s SuperYacht Forum you talked about a number of environmental issues. What strategies are you starting with?

Making the yachting segment more sustainable is a journey that requires the participation of all the players in the boating industry, from shipyards building new boats to those working in refitting like Lusben. In general there are two paths that need to be taken in parallel: the first is to promote small investments that contribute to modernising a yacht, without making the investment too heavy, also because there is a lack of financial support for these kind of investments. And this leads us to the second point: we need to promote government incentives and measures that incite shipyards, but even more so, yacht owners, to choose a greener option.

What are some of the most frequent requests, and how do you reconcile these with the concept of sustainability?

Our job is to listen to client needs, but we also promote innovative solutions so we have the chance to propose sustainable alternatives and become pioneers of a new culture. It isn’t easy, though, because not all yacht owners are ready for this kind of change, also because, as I mentioned previously, there are no financial incentives to do so. One of the most frequent requests from owners is almost always interior renovation and, even if it starts off being mostly aesthetic, this work can be done in a more energy efficient manner.

We need to pass on the message that even a luxury good like a yacht can follow an energy-saving concept. There is an entire series of jobs connected to reducing energy waste and that don’t just require engineering of the engines, but onboard domotics, like illumination, water systems, and anything else that consumes electricity. It is true that we can produce energy more efficiently, but it is also true that we can make systems that use less energy with the same performance.