Thanks to you, Burgess nears its 49th year on a high

The superyacht industry has reached a critical point in its history and as a result tough questions are being asked. At Burgess, we have enjoyed another successful year across the board, in fact it is one of our top three years to date in terms of revenue. However, this year we are looking at our other triumphs as our successes.

Business as usual across our 360-degree services

For Brokerage we expect to end the year with over USD 1.3 billion in sales bringing us back to business-as-usual following unprecedented demand during the Covid years.

In Charter 804 trips were booked by the team meaning our clients collectively spent 942 weeks or 6,807 days aboard this year.

Burgess Technical Services successfully delivered LEONA and have another 12 yachts in build, totalling over 700m in length.

Burgess Yachting Financial Services is up year-on-year by 17 percent, and Yacht Management is also delivering exceptional service to over 115 yachts across the globe, up by 10.6 percent from 2022.

Ian Armstrong, Managing Director, Burgess commented, ‘We have had an historically strong year in 2023, building on our leading position, and continuing an almost 50-year legacy. Our global footprint and reach gives us the insight and capacity to deliver the best service to our clients across all our lines of business. 

‘Burgess is the leader in the highest-quality part of the market, which we expect will continue to be attractive to the brokerage and charter markets. Notwithstanding the uncertainties in the geopolitical and macroeconomic environments, the industry can go into 2024 with optimism.

‘We will continue to deliver an unmatched 360-degree offering to our clients as they look to enjoy the benefits of construction, ownership and usage in the years to come.’ 

ESG - Environmental, Social and Governance

The Burgess Blue Oceans team successfully deployed a number of initiatives this year with a major focus on our environmental programmes.

By the end of 2023, Burgess, together with our clients and our staff, will have donated over GBP 100,000 to our conservation partner Blue Marine Foundation since the partnership began in 2021. Thank you! These funds go directly to restore vital marine habitats, develop sustainable fishing models, create marine-protected areas to revive and protect threatened species and to sequester carbon. 

In addition, in 2023

• We donated USD 10,000 to Oceana's US Plastics Campaign
• GBP 56,062 has been donated to charities worldwide chosen by our staff and crew via the Burgess Charity Policy
• A further 18 staff used the Burgess Charity Policy to volunteer at their chosen charities worldwide 
• We sponsored Team Hold On for Dear Life (HODL): three men rowing across the Pacific, raising funds for The Ocean Clean Up and setting a new world record at the same time! 

In May, Burgess initiated the ‘Global Clean Up’ where over 300 people across the world from employees to crew to our industry colleagues took some time out of their busy days to collect plastic from oceans, rivers, and lakes.

Following a successful 2022 Global Impact Project to The Philippines with All Hands and Hearts, another three Burgess staff members headed to Poland in November 2023 to join the Ukraine Crisis Relief mission. Spending a week volunteering their services, the Burgess team helped build shelters, renovate rooms, and organise donations ahead of another cold winter for the displaced Ukrainian refugees.

The US

The USA has consistently been our most loyal market with over 40 percent of transactions taking place in brokerage, and over 50 percent of clients embarking on a charter. As a result, we heavily invested in the US market in terms of initiatives.

We moved the team to Aspen for the winter and spent 12 weeks with our clients, and prospective clients. Over the course of those three months, Burgess joined fine-art photographer Gray Malin and premium lifestyle leader ASPENX to host an immersive après-ski beach club.

We relocated our office in Miami to the 27th floor of the state-of-the-art 1450 Brickell office tower designed by the celebrated architectural firm, Nichols Architects. The 35-story Class-A tower has tenants including JP Morgan Chase, Bilzin Sumberg, and several leading law firms, family offices and private equity firms.

Our expansion is set to continue into 2024. Until then, Happy Holidays!