What a yacht management company does

Most large yachts are not run day to day by their owners. They are run under a written agreement by a management company: a firm that holds the maintenance plan, administers the crew, keeps the vessel in the condition its flag state and its insurers expect, and accounts for what all of that costs. This page describes what that service usually contains and how it is usually priced. It does not price any firm's work and it does not say which firm an owner should appoint.

Technical managementLink to this section#

Technical management is the engineering half of the job: the planned maintenance schedule and the record that proves it was followed, the survey and certificate calendar, spares and stores, yard periods, and the contractors who come aboard to work on machinery, coatings and systems. A superintendent visits the vessel, reviews the engineer's reports and specifies work before it is tendered. The value of the arrangement is continuity. The manager is the party who notices that a certificate is about to lapse, or that a defect keeps recurring across reports a rotating crew never sees together.

Safety management and the ISM CodeLink to this section#

The International Safety Management Code, adopted through the International Maritime Organization, is the instrument that turns "operate the vessel safely" into a documented and auditable system. In outline it asks the company responsible for operating a vessel to write down how that vessel is operated, to appoint a designated person ashore with direct access to the highest level of management, to record drills, defects, near misses and non-conformities, and to be audited against its own documentation by or on behalf of the flag state. Security sits alongside it under the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, with its own assessment, plan and designated officer. Whether a particular yacht falls inside the scope of either code, and on what terms, is a question for its flag state and its manager rather than for a general guide.

Crew administrationLink to this section#

Crew work is the other standing commitment: employment agreements, rotation and leave, payroll, travel, training and certification records, medicals, and whatever the flag state requires of the manning level. Some managers run this in house and others place it with a specialist agency and supervise the result. See how yacht crew placement works for how that side is usually organized.

Charter administration and accountingLink to this section#

Where a yacht charters, the manager commonly works alongside a central agent and retail brokers, and the commercial paperwork often runs on the MYBA charter framework, the standard agreement forms published by the Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association and used widely across the market. Accounting runs underneath all of it: a budget agreed before the year begins, reporting against it, an approvals threshold for unbudgeted spend, and a vessel operating account kept separate from the manager's own money.

How management fees are usually structuredLink to this section#

Management is normally quoted as a fixed retainer, monthly or annual, set against a defined scope of service rather than as a share of what the vessel spends. Scope moves the price: technical management alone is a different undertaking from technical plus crew plus accounting plus charter administration, and a commercially operated vessel with a safety management system to maintain is different again from a private yacht used for a few weeks a season.

Alongside the retainer, the vessel's own operating costs sit as pass-through items: crew wages, fuel, berthing, insurance premiums, yard work and consumables are drawn from a float the owner funds in advance and reconciled in the periodic accounts. Whether anything is marked up, and whether the manager takes a commission on purchasing or on charter income, is a term to see written down rather than assumed either way, and work outside the agreed scope is usually charged separately. This page names those structures and states no rates: what a specific manager charges belongs in a specific quotation.

Is a management company required?Link to this section#

No. What is required is that the flag state's obligations for the vessel are discharged by somebody. That party may be the owner, an owning company with its own staff, or an appointed manager, and most vessels large enough to carry professional crew appoint one rather than build the function.

Does the manager employ the crew?Link to this section#

Sometimes. In some structures the crew are employed by the owning company and only administered by the manager; in others the manager, or an employment company related to it, is the employer of record. The difference decides liability and social security, and it belongs in the agreement in writing.

How should an owner choose a manager?Link to this section#

By reading the scope first: which obligations the manager takes on, who holds the safety document, how crew are employed and how charter money is accounted for. Read the yacht management spoke for the fee shapes.

Where can an owner put these questions to a firm?Link to this section#

This page is informational rather than advice. The right structure depends on the vessel, its flag and whether it charters. Tell us what you are looking for and choose which specialists to speak to.