Sanlorenzo chairman tells EU: green fuel infrastructure must catch up with yacht technology

Sanlorenzo Executive Chairman Massimo Perotti took the stage at Venice Climate Week to make a case that resonates far beyond the luxury yacht market: the biggest barrier to sustainable boating is no longer the technology itself but the infrastructure needed to put that technology to work. For anyone watching developments in New Zealand waters, the argument rings uncomfortably familiar.

Consider what has unfolded in Auckland. The city's first hybrid-electric fast ferry, Waitematā One, was unveiled last week ahead of a planned entry into service on the Devonport route next month. The vessel is ready. The charging infrastructure is not. Three mega-chargers at a new $27 million Queens Wharf charging facility, originally scheduled for completion in 2024, remain under construction. In the meantime, Waitematā One will charge overnight at Half Moon Bay and rely on its onboard diesel generator throughout the day to maintain battery levels. It is a neat, local illustration of precisely the problem Perotti placed before European policymakers.

"The technology is ready. The infrastructure is not," he said.

Perotti's vehicle for that message was the "Venice Call for Maritime Action," an open letter addressed to EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall and copied to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The letter argues for urgent, coordinated investment in green fuel supply chains and port electrification across Europe. "The challenge is no longer proving the technology. It is scaling the infrastructure around it," Perotti said.

The commercial logic underpinning his position is straightforward. Without reliable fuel supply and adequate shoreside infrastructure, sustainable propulsion stays out of reach for the overwhelming majority of owners, regardless of how sophisticated the technology has become. Writing in Il Sole 24 Ore, journalist Raoul de Forcade reported that Perotti used a direct exchange with a prospective client to make the point concrete: offer to build them a yacht capable of running 70 per cent on green methanol, and they will decline, because they have no confidence they could find anywhere to refuel.

The figures behind that reluctance are difficult to argue with. As Jill Sayles reported for IBI, less than one per cent of global methanol production currently comes from renewable sources, with supply concentrated around major industrial ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp-Bruges. Mediterranean marinas remain almost entirely without access. "Northern Europe is beginning to build the ecosystem," Perotti noted. "The Mediterranean now needs to accelerate."

Port electrification sits at the core of the initiative. "Port electrification is not separate from the sustainability debate," Perotti said. "It is central to it." As Andrea Pefianco reported for Superyacht Times, the Venice Call for Maritime Action urges European institutions, port authorities, energy producers and coastal cities to work in concert. The proposal includes tax-exempt status for methanol under European legislation as a mechanism to drive investment, with a six-month progress review built into the framework.

Perotti was equally plain-spoken about what it will take to shift owner behaviour. "If we want owners to choose cleaner propulsion, we must make it usable, accessible and desirable." He sees yachting as well positioned to drive that change. "Yachting has the opportunity to lead because it combines innovation, visibility and desirability." Yet the gap between what is technically possible and what is practically available shows no sign of narrowing. "We are seeing innovation move faster than accessibility," he said.

Sanlorenzo has committed considerable resources to developing exactly the technology it is now asking governments to support. The company's Road to 2030 strategy incorporates bi-fuel methanol capability, with 50Steel Almax recognised as the first superyacht fitted with a methanol reformer fuel-cell system. Its Bluegame brand developed the hydrogen-powered BGH-HSV foiling support vessel to deliver zero-emission operations during the 37th America's Cup. Construction of a 50-metre dual-fuel hull has been paused as of early 2026, however, with Perotti pointing to geopolitical headwinds constraining green fuel production and major finance players retreating from sustainability commitments, as Alliance News reported.