2021 was an exceptional year, and in spite of the challenges Covid-19 continues to inflict, we delivered four yachts and sold another five. As always at Heesen, we are anticipating the Chinese New Year with great enthusiasm and expect 2022, the year of the Water Tiger, to be another intense and exciting one. 

In the Chinese horoscope, the Water Tiger is known for its strong moral compass and belief system, and for its bravery and ability to learn. Since the pandemic hit, we learned how resilient and dedicated our workforce and the extended Heesen family are. We count on our 1,000 highly specialised workers and subcontractors to keep up with the very many yachts we have to deliver to our clients, including large custom projects such as the 60-metre Falcon and the mighty, 80-metre Cosmos. With no fewer than 14 yachts under construction, our order book takes us through to 2025. 

Thanks to our financial stability, we have a bold speculative yacht-building programme in the 50- to 57-metre range, making Heesen the perfect port of call for wealthy clients who have no time to waste. In the new realities imposed by the pandemic, yachts have proved to be the ultimate haven to escape to, and more than ever, time is of the essence. This ability to offer customers shorter wait times for new-build yachts has proved an important asset for our commercial department. 

But there is no future for our industry, or for yachting in general, unless we play our part in tackling climate change. What unites us all around the world is our love of the ocean, and if there is anything we have learned in the year of COP26, it is that we must take responsibility to protect it better. At the Monaco Yacht Show, we launched our new sustainability programme, BlueNautech.

We committed ourselves to increasing hull and propulsion efficiency, introducing energy-saving solutions at anchor, improving the operational efficiency of our yachts, sourcing recycled and alternative materials, and adopting sustainable production methods at the shipyard. Furthermore, we remain an enthusiastic anchor partner of the Water Revolution Foundation, a science-driven NGO that works to neutralise the superyacht industry's ecological footprint. With these steps, we strive to protect our beautiful planet and its precious waters to ensure the future of yachting.

We look forward to seeing you all in person at our shipyard, at the boat shows, or online, if Covid-19 continues to keep us at our computer screens.