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Photo: York Giebichstein/Superyachtblog (composite)
You’d think keeping a huge secret would be harder, especially when that secret is one of the world’s biggest megayachts, but luxury shipyard Lurssen is a specialist at keeping secrets, which is a prerequisite for building bespoke vessels for some of the world’s wealthiest people.
One of these people is preparing to take delivery of a brand new mega-yacht, a vessel so huge and so secretive that not even the trade press seems to know its exact length, or even its internal code name, for that matter, but the vessel, dubbed the Alibaba, the Alibaba Project, or the Alibaba by sources for some light weekend reading, is undergoing sea trials and a delivery date is set for later this year.
Lürssen is a household name in the rarefied world of ultra-luxury custom superyachts, the go-to destination for billionaires with very special tastes and the budget to afford them. To date, the company has delivered some of the world’s most iconic, and sometimes largest, superyachts and megayachts, but the biggest one is yet to come.
The ship is the Alibaba, and it’s reported to be 466 or 449 feet (142.1 or 136.8 meters) long, which will make it the largest Larsen has ever built when delivered. For the general public (and superyacht watchers), the expected delivery date of late 2024 means we don’t have too long to wait for the first official details and a closer look.
Photo: Jörg Giebichstein/Superyachtblog
A project shrouded in secrecy
Alibaba has had it under construction since 2019, so it’s been in the works for much longer than that. Larsen rarely speaks to the press about ongoing projects unless they’re incorporating new tech or features that they plan to make standard in future projects, so it’s no surprise they’ve remained quiet about this particular build.
The information available about the Alibaba comes from unofficial sources, word of mouth, and a few reported sightings of the ship, the first of which was in May 2022 when the Alibaba was being moved in half from its construction shed, giving a first real sense of its size.
Then, in December 2023, the Alibaba was launched earlier than planned after a technical malfunction at the dock gates of Lürssen’s Bremen facility caused the ship’s bow to be wedged into the dock curtain. To prevent damage to the hull, Lürssen launched the ship without the usual fanfare. The video at the bottom of the page shows the unfinished structure being removed from the hold before work resumed.
Photo: Lürssen
The Alibaba is currently officially undergoing sea trials, which means construction is complete and fine-tuning is being carried out pending the results of those trials. This first voyage also gives us a better look at the vessel, including its slender bow and military-inspired styling, as well as some of the features, superstructure and stylistic similarities to previous builds.
One trade publication has highlighted that Alibaba appears to be the successor to Pacific (now Pacific X), built by Lürssen in 2010 for Russian oligarch Leonid Mikhelson. The 279-foot (85-meter) superyacht boasts an exterior design by Germain Frères and an interior by Bannenberg & Rowell, and is finished in a custom mirror grey paintwork that makes it “invisible” in certain light conditions.
If the name Pacific rings a bell, it’s because it garnered a lot of attention online in the spring of 2022, when sanctions against Russian billionaires were looming. At the time, it was becoming common for superyachts to turn off their AIS (Automatic Identification System) and “disappear” in order to travel around the world without risking seizure, and Mickelson did the same with Pacific.
Photo: Lürssen
Mysterious Ownership
Which brings us back to the story: Online reports suggest that the bigger, fancier and more expensive Alibaba has also been ordered by Mickelson, presumably as a replacement for the Pacific.
This makes sense, since it’s actually not that unusual for yacht-owning billionaires to return to the same shipyard for upgrades to their superyachts. The report notes that the Alibaba boasts approximately 9,400 GT of interior volume across four decks, twice the luxury amenities (including two helipads and twice the number of pools), and a lavish interior that has to be seen to be believed.
And that’s exactly how much money you can expect to spend on a “boat.” The asking price for this megayacht is $450 million, but when you look at the asking prices for yachts of this size over the past few years, that number seems reasonable.
Photo: Lürssen
But Mickelson isn’t the owner preparing the delivery, which may be a surprising development: Alibaba reportedly sold it at the production stage, meaning another billionaire with all that cash and no international sanctions is about to give himself the gift of a lifetime.