The Money Behind This Superyacht Repair Facility Will Stop You In Your Tracks

The French Riviera, running along the southern coast and the Mediterranean Sea, has long been associated with the highest reaches of wealth. This is still the case today as port towns along this coast have become increasingly saturated with members of the world's 1%. While the wealthiest people in America live in 4 states, including California and Texas, one coastal French town is home to several billionaires' floating villas.

Even the most expensive yachts need maintenance, and when it comes to the best in the world, few shipyards compare to the facilities at MB92 La Ciotat. A visit to this shipyard can cost upwards of $10 million. La Ciotat has a long history as not only a port town but also as a central part of French culture, with the port credited as the birthplace of cinema. With this being said, La Ciotat is a relatively young town in the luxury yacht world, with the company MB92 first opening a shipyard there in the early 2010s. From then on, the company has invested heavily in the town, expanding the shipyard which caters to the richest yacht owners in the world. This investment has come in the form of multiple high-tech boat lifts; the company states the facility has lifts with upwards of 4,300 tonne capacity. Because of this, the most expensive yachts in the world can be found at La Ciotat.MB92 has also recently opened yards near Nice, a more popular vacation destination on France's coast.

This past summer, La Ciotat played host to some of the richest people on earth, with yacht owners including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Larry Ellison. These ships head to La Ciotat not for leisure or to bask in the sun, but for routine maintenance known as refitting. Refitting is a whole-scale process where ships refuel and repair between outings, often fixing electrical and mechanical issues. This process is part of what goes into the astonishing cost of maintaining a super yacht, which can cost owners nearly 10% of the ship's value every year. It is this yearly cost that makes the average net worth of people who own a private yacht so high.

The refitting process at La Ciotat is one of the most luxurious in the world, with MB92 saying the port has nearly 900 full-time employees. The cost to stay at La Ciotat is steep, with quay occupancy alone running $30,000. A typical stay will last at least 30 days, which was the case for Zuckerberg's yacht, known as Launchpad. During these stays, ships will often undergo electrical rewiring and AV-IT updates along with hull refreshes, which can be quite expensive for ships that exceed 4,3000 tonnes. One such ship is Bezo's Koru, which recently spent some time in dry dock at $900 a day.