Lurssen was founded in 1875, when the twenty-four-year-old Friedrich Lurssen opened a boatbuilding workshop in Aumund on the outskirts of Bremen. The firm has stayed in family hands ever since and is now run by the fourth generation, with Peter Lurssen as chief executive and Friedrich Lurssen as managing director. In 1886 the yard is credited with building one of the earliest seagoing motorboats, a project it pursued alongside the engine pioneer Gottlieb Daimler. That founding instinct for propulsion has run through the company for close to a century and a half.
For much of the twentieth century the yard was known for fast naval craft and workboats as much as for pleasure vessels. The modern reputation, the one that draws the world's wealthiest owners to Bremen, was built over recent decades as Lurssen turned its engineering discipline toward very large custom yachts. Today the group also remains a serious defence and commercial shipbuilder. That breadth is something few of its yachting rivals can claim.
What sets Lurssen apart is a willingness to build at a scale almost no other yard attempts. The 180-metre Azzam, delivered in 2013, stood for years as one of the largest private yachts ever completed, and the yard has since delivered a run of vessels above 140 metres. These are ocean-going ships in every technical sense, with the classification and redundancy that size demands. The work is spread across several sites around Bremen and Rendsburg, where covered halls allow year-round construction away from public view.
The house style leans toward restraint rather than flash. Lurssen tends to let the naval architecture and the quality of the build speak for the owner, and it works with the leading external design studios rather than imposing a single look. Secrecy is part of the offer. Projects run under code names for years, and many owners are never officially confirmed.
In the market for the largest custom yachts, Lurssen sits alongside a very small group of northern European yards, and at the extreme upper end it often stands alone. Owners who commission a vessel here are usually repeat clients or come by direct referral, and delivery slots are booked years ahead. The client list over the years has included owners such as Paul Allen and David Geffen, along with members of several Gulf ruling families. That roster is the clearest measure of where the yard sits.
Resale values tell their own story. Well-kept Lurssen yachts hold their price better than almost anything afloat, and several have changed hands within a year or two of delivery at figures close to or above their reported build cost. For a buyer at this level the name on the builder's plate is a form of insurance. That is why the order book stays full regardless of the wider economic weather.
List your brand, claim your profile, or plan a campaign with the desk that owners, brokers and builders read first.
I am interested in Lurssen
The stories that move the yacht world, before the market does. Join the owners, brokers and builders who start the day with Yotters.