Sunsail and The Moorings sign with Dufour Yachts
At the Cannes 2023 boat show, the Travelopia Group's two charter brands, Sunsail and The Moorings, major players in the yacht charter market, announced a major change in their monohull yacht purchasing policy. The brands have announced a plan to acquire 75 yachts over a short 2-season period. A first delivery of 25 boats is expected in spring 2024, followed by a second delivery in winter 2024-2025 for the Caribbean and a third for the 2025 season in the Mediterranean. These will be the Dufour 37, renamed Sunsail 37.3, the new Dufour 41 under the name Sunsail 41.3, the Dufour 44 under the names Sunsail 44.3 and Sunsail 44.4, and finally the Dufour 530, now Sunsail 53.5.
Franck Bauguil, Vice President of Boat Sales and Product Development for The Moorings and Sunsail, is delighted with the agreement, which should see Dufour become the only brand in the monohull fleet, and mark a move towards more premium positioning: "We look forward to this long-term partnership and close collaboration on product development. A high level of convergence exists between the two companies in terms of product design, comfort levels and sailing sensations, laying the foundations for an unrivalled charter experience."
Changing relationships between rental companies and construction sites
The announcement by Sunsail The Moorings marks the end of a 41-year partnership with the Bénéteau Group. Following the Covid crisis, the Bénéteau Group intervened with the PPF Group to recapitalize Dream Yacht and Navigare Yachting, two of Sunsail The Moorings' major charter competitors. For the Travelopia Group, head of the charter brands, these investments, followed by PPF's acquisition of the Robertson and Caines catamaran shipyard, with which Sunsail has an exclusive agreement to market Leopard catamarans, led to a fundamental rethink of sailboat purchasing. While the outcome is now a foregone conclusion for sailboats, the Group is not disclosing any current plans for multihulls.
