The Luminosity megayacht has been rotting away at a dock for years, and it's never even been properly sailed.
According to Autoevolution, Luminosity was finished in 2020 by the high-end shipyard Benetti. It cost around $270 million and was supposed to have a superstructure made entirely of glass. It wasn't easy to build, but it holds the record for "most amount of glazing used on a superyacht."
The construction of what the shipyard called "the gigayacht of the 21st century," per Autoevolution, began in 2014. The lengthy build time is why the initial owner, Kuwaiti billionaire Kutayba Yusuf Ahmed Alghanim, refused to accept the yacht when it was finally finished.
Following that, Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev purchased it. However, he appears on several sanction lists, causing the megayacht to be seized in Montenegro. It's no longer a sanctioned vessel, per The Wall Street Journal. As of last month, the megayacht has not been sailed, aside from its initial sea trials.
It still sits at the Montenegro port, with paint chipping, metal rusting, and panels falling off. According to Autoevolution, the teak decks are "completely destroyed," and the hull is overgrown.
Not only is this a prime example of excessive waste, but it's a missed opportunity. Despite the extravagance, the megayacht is an impressive feat in sustainable sailing.
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The hybrid propulsion system minimizes the boat's planet-warming carbon pollution. It also has a large battery bank that allows for up to 24 hours of hotel functions. The yacht features clean exhausts, reduced noise, and other characteristics that make it more environmentally friendly than most ships of this size.
This yacht has turned out to be a massive waste — a waste of materials, technology, time, labor, and space. As it sits in Montenegro, unsailed, it's becoming a piece of floating garbage.
The rusting metal, rotting decks, and chipped paint leach toxic substances into the ocean. The overgrowth noted around the hull could also disrupt ecosystems. Even while docked, the boat requires energy, which creates planet-warming pollution. It's harming biodiversity and creating pollution, accelerating climate change.
Despite being "the most technologically advanced and greenest superyacht around right now," per Autoevolution, it's become a monument to unnecessary excess and wasted innovation. Hopefully, it will be restored and sailed one day, and its revolutionary green technologies can be used to make more boats efficient.
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