b'THE HIGHLY SPECIALIZED BUSINESS OF TRANSPORTING YACHTSMiami-based Florida Maritime Transport (FMT) moves yachts all over the world. And as Founder and CEO Dmitry Faber explains in an exclusive interview with AJOT, it is a highly specialized niche of the heavy lift/project cargo market. by George Lauriat, AJOTJuly 2023 | Published in AJOT Issue #755AJOT: When you went into business forsurprised, as we paid for port call. And he yourself in 2012, do you remember was happy to [be able to] load his boats putting together your first voyage for yachtas well. In our industry, if you do not put a transport?clause that yacht bookings on your voyage have to be booked through Charter party DmitryFaber:Yes,itwasFallof2012.only,youlosemarketingadvantageandYachts aboard a special BBC MPP carrier.WehiredfromSALaheavyliftvesselcompetitionwilltrytoloadotheryachts and loaded 3 boats from Port Evergladesagainst you on the same vessel.toKoreawhichwereInace85trawler,AJOT: Is there a seasonal cycle to yacht Azimut80andMagnum55speedboat.transport or is it a fairly consistent Wehadbeenblessedtoworkwith Interestinglyenough,Ididnothavebusiness year round?Jordan Tilton of JTA Yacht Deliveries and experience in chartering andtheclausesSecondarily, are there certain key tradeConsultingwhogrewupintheMidwest where yacht transporters usually inform thelanes in the yacht transport business? andhasbeenofferingcrewdelivery ship owners that no other yachts booked byservices to many yacht owners in/out of other [transporters]are allowed to be loadedGreat Lakes via St Lawrence Seaway, Erie on the vessel and all yacht bookings for theDmitry Faber: Yes, yachts head from FloridaCanalorHudsonRivernorthandsouth. ship have to go though charter party. So,and the Caribbean to the Med (Spain, Italy,Jordan and I became great friends, and we Rick Gladych with Raven offshore loaded 5Greece,Turkey,andAdriatic)betweenoffer clients the option to ride the ship or other boats on the same vessel, and I wasMarchtoJuneandcomingbackfromhave Jordans crew deliver yachts on their Med/AdriaticinthefallfromSeptemberown bottom. For those fortunate enough toDecember.SamewithNorthAmericatobeinEurope,cruisingBalearicSea,in the spring yachts head to the PacificAdriatic Sea, Aegean Sea between Spain/Northwest, Mexico and California for theItaly/Greece/Turkey/Sloveniaissomeof summerandinthefallcomingbacktothebestintheworld.PacificNorthwest Florida and the Caribbean. We have had 4hasputgoodeffortintoattractingmore sailings in/out of Great Lakes from Floridayachts for the summer here and had done departinginMay/offloadinginSarnia,well with trade shows. Special thanks go OntarioandcomingbackinSeptember/ toNorthwestYachtBrokersAssociation October to bring yachts back who cruisewho had been very active with promoting the Great Lakes in the summer. The GreatyachtinginthePacificNorthwestand Lakesofferssomeofthebestcruisingdoing a great job advocating with the city inthesummeraroundMackinacIsland,and state municipalities for boating rights Petoskey, MI. With places like Bay Harborand infrastructure. FMT opened an office in Yacht Club, where most of our yacht ownersSeattle in 2022 and has enjoyed being part hang out and have slips in the summer andof PNW culture. in the winter. They like Ocean Reef Club in Dmitry Faber the Florida Keys.AdditionalkeytradelanesaretheUSA andMedtoAsia/HongKong/Indonesia/10'