Founded upon established relationships with repeat yacht transport customers, US-based Allied Ocean Transport is now offering a unique solution for safe, reliable, and cost-effective yacht shipping and associated logistics services for yachts any size and weight worldwide.
As boat owners with offshore charter experience, Capt. Justin Royal and Allen Davis were first introduced to yacht transport when Royal shipped his 36-foot Luhrs from Port Everglades, Florida, to Costa Rica. The pair made the trip to Golfito in December 2018 to take delivery of the boat, then ran up the coast of Costa Rica to Marina Pez Vela in Quepos on the way to the boat’s new home in Guatemala. That night in Quepos, the team decided to look into the yacht transport business.
After more than 30 years developing new startups in multiple sectors, Davis was looking for something new. After working and fishing for many years with Royal, who has extensive maritime experience, pursuing a new opportunity involving boats, oceans, and ships provided a good opportunity, and the concept of combining experiences and abilities was good place to start. After returning from that first adventure, they reached out to Vadim Yegudkin, a well-known yacht transport veteran with whom Royal had booked the transport of his boat to Central America. Shortly after that initial contact, their plans began to crystallize, and in October 2019, the trio formed Allied Ocean Transport. In August 2020 they took delivery of their first transport ship, St. Georg, in Tampa, Florida, and made their first westbound trip from Palm Beach to Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and eventually to Victoria, British Columbia. The experience gained by being directly responsible for all aspects of sailings from bookings to port call logistics and documentation to operations provided the management team with the expertise required to coordinate and manage all aspects of a successful yacht transport sailing.
Since August of 2020, Allied Ocean has successfully completed 13 sailings, managed operations in 11 different ports in five countries, transported more than 200 yachts and vessels, and generated more than $8 million in revenues. The Allied Ocean corporate management team is the only vertically experienced professional yacht transport team in North America. In addition, they have designed and manufactured custom steel shipping cradles specially designed for yacht transport and purchased loading and lashing equipment sufficient to fully equip two yacht transport ships.
Since 2021, international shipping has been substantially impacted by supply and demand related changes causing a dramatic increase in shipping rates and decreasing the availability of ships, which has dramatically affected the yacht transport sector. Worldwide demand for the 5,543 multi-purpose ships repurposed to support the growing number of cargo opportunities and historically high shipping rates has limited the number of ships available for yacht transport in North America and internationally. Traditionally, North American providers have transported yachts through one-off voyages by chartering ship deck space based upon unused cargo space and cargo schedules. While the yacht transport sector is experiencing ever-increasing demand, substantial increases in worldwide freight rates have significantly reduced opportunities to charter space on ship decks for yacht transport. One-off voyage charters for yacht transport have never been a sustainable solution and are now even less predictable. As a result, the number of ships available for charter is limited, charter rates are at all-time highs, and sailing schedules are driven by cargo commitments and not based upon the needs of yacht transport providers. Building on their extensive foundation to meet market demand with a sustainable solution, the Allied Ocean management team is introducing Ship Share.
Allied Ocean Ship Share is the optimal yacht transport solution for dealers, brokers, or owners who transport yachts and appreciate the benefits of owning an interest in the transport ship; the program is designed to exclusively support Allied Ocean customers in North America, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. Ship Share owner benefits include reserved space on Allied Ocean ships, predictable yacht transport expenses, and regular sailing schedules. Ship Share protects owners from being affected by fluctuations in international shipping rates and unpredictable schedules when transporting their yachts to their preferred international ports of call.
Current offerings available to strategic investors include equity, preferred debt, and ownership interest in two yacht transport ships in service to exclusively provide yacht transport to customers in North America, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. Visit http://www.allied-yacht.com/ for more information.
