MONCOLE - BOATS AND COAST SURVEY

WEDNESDAY 1st JUNE 2016

Chris Cecil-Wright 

Founder of Cecil Wright & Partners 

Cecil Wright & Partners is a three-year-old boutique yacht-brokerage company based in London and Monaco, which manages the sale, purchase and construction of new and secondhand yachts on behalf of its clients. It also organises charters. Chris Cecil-Wright founded the company and has 25 years of experience. 

Q: Over the years you’ve been in the brokerage industry, how have things changed and what are some of the key trends you’re seeing right now? 

A: In the 1990s and up until 2003, I would spend one week of every month in Moscow. There aren’t really any Russians now. In the past three years I’ve been in touch with a lot of Americans; the European yards are cheaper for them now with the strong dollar. On the other side, the yards I deal with – the Royal Van Lent shipyard, for example – are all full of orders, so the industry isn’t struggling. There have always been rich people with the appetite to spend money on a yacht. 

Q: Have you had more business from emerging markets? 

A: We never really saw China emerge – in general, the Chinese buy smaller boats such as Sunseekers, not superyachts, which is what we generally deal in. With Southeast Asia the yachting culture is, again, very different.