Tankoa Yachts

A young yard from an old shipbuilding city

Tankoa was founded in 2007 by the industrialist Guido Orsi together with former members of the Baglietto management team, and production began in Genoa the following year. The global financial crisis forced the young company to pause its first projects, and it restarted in earnest in 2013 once conditions improved. The wait ended in style. Tankoa's debut yacht, the 69.3 metre Suerte, arrived at the 2015 Monaco Yacht Show as a fully formed statement from a shipyard almost nobody had heard of, and earned nominations at the World Superyacht Awards.

The yard sits at Genoa Sestri Ponente, in the heart of a city with centuries of shipbuilding behind it, on a facility of around 20,000 square metres. Tankoa keeps output deliberately low, a few yachts a year, so that each build gets the attention of a one-off. A new production hub of more than 30,000 square metres in the port of Civitavecchia is being developed to add space for carpentry and pre-fitting as the order book grows.

A record built hull by hull

After Suerte came a run of deliveries that established the name. The 50 metre S501 Vertige arrived in 2017 and proved so popular that the series ran to five hulls, closing with Grey in 2023. In between, the 72 metre Solo of 2018 collected the Game Changer Award and a RINA Green Plus Platinum notation, and today sails as Casino Royale. Bintador, delivered for the 2019 Monaco Yacht Show, was the yard's first hybrid, pairing twin MTU diesels with two 300 kW electric motors.

The pace has quickened since. The 58 metre full-custom Diamond Binta was delivered in August 2024, the 45 metre T450 series launched with Go the same summer, and two 55 metre T55 Sportivas hit the water in 2025. In February 2026 the second of them, Loewe, took the Outstanding Exterior Design prize at the BOAT International Design and Innovation Awards. A month later Tankoa announced the sale of the 72 metre full-custom T720 Fenice to an American client.

Semi-custom platforms, full-custom freedom

Tankoa builds in steel and aluminium from 45 metres up to a possible 100, and it typically starts hulls on speculation so an owner can step into a build with the slow engineering already done. The current catalogue spans the compact T450, the sub-500 GT S520 and T55 Sportiva, the 56 and 76 metre Apache pair, the 58 metre T580 and the 70 metre Milano. Above the platforms sits a genuine full-custom capability, proven by Diamond Binta and the T720 Fenice.

For an owner the practical appeal is control. A boutique yard of this size gives direct access to management and engineers, and the semi-custom platforms leave layout, interior and even propulsion open. Several models are offered with hybrid systems, and the 70 metre Milano has been engineered to accept methanol fuel cells, a hedge on where marina rules and fuel supply move next.

A designer roster instead of a house style

Tankoa has no single in-house look. Francesco Paszkowski, the yard's longest-standing collaborator, shaped Suerte, the S501 series, Diamond Binta and the S520. Luca Dini drew the T55 Sportiva, Giorgio M. Cassetta the T450, Alberto Mancini both Apaches, Enrico Gobbi's Team for Design the Fenice family and Nauta Design the Milano. Each line carries its designer's signature, and an owner effectively chooses a studio along with a length.

That structure suits buyers who arrive with a point of view. The yard's own phrase for it is a whole other story, yours, and the recent order book backs the claim, with owners from the United States and South America commissioning boats configured around private terraces, wellness decks and beach clubs cut to their own habits. Resale has been kind too, with Tankoa hulls moving quickly on the brokerage market.